County Facts

Location: South Texas Rio Grande Valley. Bounded by: Zapata County to the west, Jim Hogg and Brooks counties to the north, Hidalgo County to the east,and the Rio Grande River to the south. The county seat is Rio Grande City;other principal communities include Roma, Escobares, and La Grulla. Starr County is one of the nation's poorest counties with over a third of the population living in poverty.

People Map Stats	Starr County	Texas
Population, 2000	53,597	20,851,820
Population, 2003 estimate	56,997	22,016,911
Population, net change, 1990 to 2003	16,479	5,030,576
Population, net change, 2000 to 2003	3,400	1,165,091
Population, percent change, 1990 to 2003	40.6%	29.6%
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2003	6.3%	5.6%
Population under 5 years old, 2000	5,569	1,624,628
Persons under 5 years old, percent, 2000	10.4%	7.8%
Population 65 years old and over, 2000	4,399	2,072,532
Persons 65 years old and over, percent, 2000	8.2%	9.9%
Persons under 18 years old, 2000	20,042	5,886,759
Persons under 18 years old, percent, 2000	37.4%	28.2%
Female persons, percent, 2000	51.5%	50.4%
White persons, 2000 (a)	47,120	14,799,505
Black or African American persons, 2000 (a)	79	2,404,566
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, 2000 (a)	133	118,362
Asian persons, 2000 (a)	151	562,319
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, 2000 (a)	22	14,434
Persons reporting some other race, 2000 (a)	5,309	2,438,001
Persons reporting two or more races, 2000	783	514,633
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, 2000 (b)	52,278	6,669,666
White persons, percent, 2000 (a)	87.9%	71.0%
Black or African American persons, percent, 2000 (a)	0.1%	11.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2000 (a)	0.2%	0.6%
Asian persons, percent, 2000 (a)	0.3%	2.7%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, percent, 2000 (a)	Z	0.1%
Persons reporting some other race, percent, 2000 (a)	9.9%	11.7%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2000	1.5%	2.5%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2000 (b)	97.5%	32.0%
Births, 1997	1,382	333,974
Deaths, 1997	234	142,776
Infant deaths, 1997	6	2,150
Food Stamp program participants, 2002	17,308	1,582,547
TANF program participants , 2002	3,014	330,418
Family Violence, Residents & Non-residents, 2002	309	72,646
Medicaid Eligibles, 2002
Families & Children	12,101	1,388,046
Aged & Disabled	5,180	687,722
Long-Term Care Information, 2002
Nursing Facilities	88	64,982
Medicaid Related	3,234	122,057
Non-Medicaid Related	211	15,802
Living in same house in 1995 and 2000, persons age 5+, 2000	34,772	9,545,367
Foreign born persons, 2000	19,758	2,899,642
Language other than English spoken at home, age 5+, 2000	43,596	6,010,753
Language other than English spoken at home, pct age 5+, 2000	90.7%	31.2%
High school graduates, persons age 25+, 2000	9,618	9,676,332
High school graduates, percent of persons age 25+, 2000	34.7%	75.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher, persons age 25+, 2000	1,921	2,972,293
Bachelor's degree or higher, pct of persons age 25+, 2000	6.9%	23.2%
Persons with a disability, age 5+, 2000	13,537	3,605,542
Mean travel time to work, workers age 16+ (minutes), 2000	21.4	25.4
Housing units, 2000	17,589	8,157,575
Homeownership rate, 2000	79.5%	63.8%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2000	$37,800	$82,500
Households, 2000	14,410	7,393,354
Persons per household, 2000	3.69	2.74
Median household money income, 2000	$17,835	$39,090
Per capita money income, 2000	$7,069	$19,617
Median earnings (dollars)
Male, 2000	17,398	34,925
Female, 2000	13,533	26,168
Persons below poverty, 2000	23,060	3,041,115
Persons below poverty, percent, 2000	42.2%	14.6%
People Under Age 18 in Poverty, 2000	11,015	1,237,626
People Under Age 18 in poverty, percent, 2000	54%	20.7%

Business MapStats	Starr County	Texas
Personal income, 1997 ($1000)	411,457	459,585,481
Personal income per capita, 1997	7,550	23,707
Civilian labor force, 2002	22,812	10,750,664
Unemployment, 2002	4402	6,80,864
Unemployment rate, 2002	19.3	6.3
Full-time and part-time employment by place of work, 1997	15,352	11,238,887
Full-time and part-time employment, net change 1990 to 1997	4,624	1,952,213
Employment in government, 1997	4,091	1,631,335
Private nonfarm establishments, 1999	398	467,087
Change in private nonfarm establishments, 1990 to 1999	-3	72,605
Private nonfarm establishments, percent change 1990-1999	-0.7%	18.4%
Private nonfarm estabs with less than 20 employees, 1999	362	398,194
Total number of firms, 1997	3,883	1,525,972
Minority-owned firms, 1997	3,133	365,450
Minority-owned firms, percent of total, 1997	80.7%	23.9%
Women-owned firms, 1997	756	381,453
Women-owned firms, percent of total, 1997	19.5%	25.0%
Manufacturers shipments, 1997 ($1000)	NA	297,657,003
Retail sales, 2002 ($1000)	150,116	122,156,540
Retail sales per capita, 1997	$3,700	$9,430
Housing units authorized by building permits, 2000	0	141,231
Value of new private housing units, 2000	0	15,418,421
Farm land, 1997 (acres)	636,083	131,308,286
Federal funds and grants, 2002 ($1000)	228,346	123,431,163

Geography MapStats	Starr County	Texas
Land area, 2000 (square miles)	1,223	261,797
Persons per square mile, 2000	43.8	79.6
Metropolitan Area	None

(a) Includes persons reporting only one race.
(b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories.

Figures are in absolute numbers unless otherwise indicated.

FN: Footnote on this item for this area in place of data
NA: Not available
D: Suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information
X: Not applicable
S: Suppressed; does not meet publication standards
Z: Value greater than zero but less than half unit of measure shown
F: Fewer than 100 firms

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Agricultural Statistics Service, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau,
State comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas State Data Center, Texas Workforce Commission.

Demographic and Socio-economic Profile: 2000 publications

Click on a file below to download Four page Demographic and Socio-economic Profiles for the cities or CDP(Census Designated Place) within the county.

Alto Bonito	El Refugio	Escobares	Falcon Heights	Falcon Village
Fronton	Garceno	La Casita-Garciasville	La Grulla	La Puerta
La Rosita	Las Lomas	La Victoria	Los Alvarez	Los Villareales
North Escobares	Rio Grande City	Roma	Roma Creek	Salineno
San Isidro	Santa Cruz	Starr County