Starr County comprises the Rio Grande City micropolitan statistical area, which also includes other small cities, which itself is part of the larger Rio Grande Valley region. It is directly northeast of the Mexican border.
The county population is almost entirely Hispanic or Latino, with 97.7% of its population identifying as such. It is the county with the highest proportion of Hispanics[4] in the contiguous United States.
History
From 2000 to 2010, the population of Starr County increased from 53,597 to 60,968.[5]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,229 square miles (3,180 km2), of which 5.9 square miles (15 km2) (0.5%) are covered by water.[6]
U.S. Decennial Census[7] 1850–2010[8] 2010–2014[9]
2020 census
Starr County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the census[15] of 2000, 53,597 people, 14,410 households, and 12,666 families were living in the county. The population density was 44 people per square mile (17 people/km2). The 17,589 housing units had an average density of 14 units per square mile (5.4 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 87.92% White, 0.15% African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 9.95% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races.
Of the 14,410 households, 54.7% had children under 18 living with them, 66.5% were married couples living together, 17.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.1% were not families. About 11.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65or older. The average household size was 3.69, and the average family size was 4.01.
In the county, the age distribution was 37.4% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 16.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.20 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 88.10 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $16,504, and for a family was $17,556. Males had a median income of $17,398 versus $13,533 for females. The per capita income for the county was $7,069, which is the third-lowest in the United States. About 47.40% of families and 50.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 59.40% of those under age 18 and 43.30% of those age 65 or over.
As of 2009 the median household income was $22,418.[5]
A key group of Hispanics and Latinos in the county, Tejanos, are, compared to other groups of Hispanics and Latinos, are more likely to describe their race as white. If Hispanic/Latino is not counted as a race, the county is majority white, as 99% of the residents, circa 2021, counted themselves as white. Jack Herrera of Texas Monthly stated that "That means the county isn’t just one of the most Hispanic in the country. It’s also one of the whitest."[16]
Economy
Starr County is especially known for oilseeds and dry beans, one of the highest-producing counties in the state.[17]: 431
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville operates area Catholic schools. Immaculate Conception School, located in Rio Grande City and founded in 1884, is the only Catholic school in Starr County and provides a faith-based pre-K through eighth-grade education to approximately 250 students each year.
In the 1970s and into the 1980s, federal law-enforcement officials concentrated their efforts against drug smuggling on Starr County.[20]
On May 1, 2009, the former sheriff of Starr County, Reymundo Guerra, a Democrat, pleaded guilty in federal court to a narcotics conspiracy charge.[21]
In April 2016, Starr County Justice of the Peace Salvador Zarate Jr., faced up to 20 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on two counts of bribery for accepting a $500 bribe in exchange for reducing bond on two persons arrested on narcotics charges in an incident on Christmas Eve 2014. He was found not guilty of possession of a controlled substance. Zarate was expected to appeal any sentence rendered.[22]
Presidential elections
Starr County had long been a strongly Democratic county, but has suffered from low voter turnout with only about 20% of its 53,000 residents voting.[when?][citation needed] In 2024, Donald Trump became the first Republican since 1892 to carry the county, ending over 130 years of Democratic dominance.[23] Starr had the longest streak of voting for Democrats in the entire country.[24][25] Its streak was triple the length of Minnesota's Democratic streak, which began in 1976.[26] In 1988, the county gave Michael Dukakis his highest vote share in the nation, as well as Bill Clinton in his 1996 re-election bid.[27] In 2008, Barack Obama won Starr County with 8,274 votes (84 percent). In 2020, Donald Trump came within five points of winning the county, receiving 8,247 votes (47 percent) to Joe Biden's 9,123 (52 percent).[28][29] This was a major shift from Hillary Clinton's 60-point margin of victory four years earlier, and represented the strongest pro-Trump swing of any county in the nation.[16] In the 2024 United States presidential election, Trump received a majority of the votes in Starr County.[30]
United States presidential election results for Starr County, Texas[31]
As of 2011, Starr County had approximately 55 colonias. By that year, many families were moving to the colonias.[5]
Between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, Starr County went through many changes. Four CDPs were deleted, one gained area, 12 lost area, and 92 new CDPs were created. Only 11 remained unchanged.[32]
^Census Bureau data, cited in "Minorities now in the majority in nearly 10% of U.S. counties", Associated Press August 8, 2007, Lexington Herald-Leader p A8
