TX · GEOID 48427

Starr County area

Starr County, Texas covers 1,229.1 square miles: 1,223.2 square miles of land and 5.9 square miles of water.

Official Census measurements2026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area1,223.2 mi²
Water area5.9 mi²
Total area1,229.1 mi²
National land rank#501

County outline

Generalized outline of Starr County, Texas
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Starr County is located

Starr County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.5% of Starr County’s measured area and water for 0.5%. Its combined area converts to 3,183.4 square kilometers or approximately 786,637 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land1,223.1793,168.019782,834.6
Water5.94115.3873,802.2
Total1,229.123,183.406786,636.8

How Starr County compares

By original Census land area, Starr County ranks #39 of 254 in Texas and #501 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.346 times the Texas county-equivalent median of 908.7 square miles. It accounts for 0.5% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Texas ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

What stands out about Starr County?

Starr County has more land than 2,721 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Starr County1,223.2 mi²
Texas median908.7 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Starr County at #576 nationally by total area, 75 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 0.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.7 percentage points lower. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Starr County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#500Costilla County, Colorado1,227.6Compare
#501Starr County, Texas1,223.2This county
#502Brown County, Nebraska1,221.4Compare

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 26.530938, -98.740233. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 3,168,019,259 m²; AWATER: 15,386,854 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How many acres of land are in Starr County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 782,835 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 786,637 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

Download the complete CSV or JSON dataset