Fort Bend County, Texas

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Fort Bend County, Texas
Map
Location in the state of Texas
Texas's location in the USA
Statistics
Founded	1837
Seat	Richmond
Largest City	Sugar Land
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	886 sq mi (2,295 km²) 875 sq mi (2,265 km²) 11 sq mi (30 km²), 1.29%
Population  - (2000)  - Density	354,452
Time zone	Central : UTC-6/-5
Website: www.co.fort-bend.tx.us
Named for: A blockhouse positioned in a bend of the Brazos River, which was the center of life in the future county in early days.

Fort Bend County is a county located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 354,452 (though a 2005 estimate placed the population at 463,650), which is expected to more than triple by the year 2040^[1].

Fort Bend County is named for a blockhouse positioned in a bend of the Brazos River, which was the center of life in the future county in early days. Its county seat is Richmond⁶ and the largest city is Sugar Land.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Major Highways 1.2 Adjacent counties 2 Demographics 3 Government and politics 3.1 United States Congress 3.2 Texas Legislature 3.2.1 Texas Senate 3.2.2 Texas House of Representatives 4 Communities 4.1 Cities 4.2 Towns 4.3 Unincorporated areas 5 Education 5.1 Public school districts 5.2 Colleges and universities 5.3 Libraries 6 External links

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,295 km² (886 mi²). 2,265 km² (875 mi²) of it is land and 30 km² (11 mi²) of it (1.29%) is water.

[edit] Major Highways

• U.S. Highway 59
• U.S. Highway 90 Alternate
• State Highway 6 (Texas)
• State Highway 36 (Texas)

[edit] Adjacent counties

• Waller County (north)
• Harris County (northeast)
• Brazoria County (southeast)
• Wharton County (southwest)
• Austin County (northwest)

[edit] Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 354,452 people, 110,915 households, and 93,057 families residing in the county. The population density was 156/km² (405/mi²). There were 115,991 housing units at an average density of 51/km² (133/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 56.96% White, 19.85% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 11.20% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 9.10% from other races, and 2.56% from two or more races. 21.12% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 110,915 households out of which 49.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.80% were married couples living together, 11.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.10% were non-families. 13.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.46.

In the county, the population was spread out with 32.00% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 32.30% from 25 to 44, 22.40% from 45 to 64, and 5.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $63,831, and the median income for a family was $69,781. Males had a median income of $47,979 versus $32,661 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,985. About 5.50% of families and 7.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.50% of those under age 18 and 9.40% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Government and politics

County politics in Fort Bend County, as with all counties in Texas, are centered around a Commissioners' Court comprised of four popularly elected County Commissioners, one representing each precinct drawn on the basis of population, and a county judge elected to represent the entire county. Other county officials include a Sheriff, District Attorney, Tax Assessor-Collector, County Clerk, District Clerk, County Treasurer, and County Attorney.

Fort Bend County, like most Texas counties, was once a stronghold for the Democratic Party. In fact, so few Republicans resided in Fort Bend County at one time that in 1960, the county's Republican chair at the time once received a letter with the nickname "Mr. Republican" in lieu of his name [2]. However, as master-planned communities in the eastern and northern portions of the county began to develop, the Houston area's strong Republican base on the west side of town began to expand into Fort Bend County, and beginning in 1978, Republicans began to win several offices within the county, including Ron Paul in the U.S. House of Representatives and Tom DeLay in the Texas House of Representatives, who later succeeded Paul. By 1982, several county level positions were taken over by Republicans, followed by the 1994 takeover of the Commissioners' Court when a Republican County Judge was elected for the first time since Reconstruction.

Despite being a Republican stronghold, Democrats continue to show strength within the county. In 2004, George W. Bush won 57 percent of the vote compared to 42 percent for John Kerry, compared to 60 percent for Bush and 39 percent for Al Gore (as well as 2% for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader) in 2000, and Bill Clinton lost the county by only 12 percent in 1992 (to incumbent George Bush, whom Clinton defeated nationally) and 1996 (when Clinton defeated Bob Dole in the national election). Also, in 2006, Democrat Nick Lampson defeated Republican write-in candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs for the congressional seat in Texas's 22nd congressional district that was vacated by Tom DeLay after he resigned from Congress. While Lampson won all four counties that cover the district (Fort Bend, Harris, Brazoria and Galveston), Fort Bend gave Lampson his smallest winning margin of the four counties, at 6.4% percent, compared to 6.92% for Harris County, 7.23% for Brazoria County, and more than 45 percent in Galveston County.

Among the four Commissioners' Court precincts, Democrats are strongest in Precinct 2, which covers much of northern and central Missouri City and eastern areas of Stafford and is home to most of the county's black residents. This is considered the prime Democratic stronghold in the district, as all of its elected officials are Democrats. The other three precincts are heavily Republican, with Precinct 1 covering the western portion of the county and the cities of Richmond and Rosenberg, Precinct 3 covering the county's share of the Katy area and north Sugar Land, and Precinct 4 situated in the heavily Republican southern areas of Sugar Land and Missouri City.

[edit] United States Congress

Senators		Name	Party	First Elected	Level
	Senate Class 1	Kay Bailey Hutchison	Republican	1993	Senior Senator
	Senate Class 2	John Cornyn	Republican	2002	Junior Senator
Representatives		Name	Party	First Elected	Area(s) of Fort Bend County Represented
	District 9	Al Green	Democrat	2004	Mission Bend, eastern portion of Stafford, northern and eastern portions of Missouri City, county’s entire share of Houston
	District 14	Ron Paul	Republican	1996 (also served 1976-1977 and 1979-1985)	Far northern and western areas
	District 22	Nick Lampson	Democrat	2006 (also served 1997-2005)	Sugar Land, Rosenberg, western and southern portions of Missouri City

[edit] Texas Legislature

[edit] Texas Senate

District		Name	Party	First Elected	Area(s) of Fort Bend County Represented
	13	Rodney Ellis	Democrat	1990	Northern portions of Missouri City, Stafford, county’s share of Houston
	17	Kyle Janek	Republican	2002	Sugar Land and southern Missouri City
	18	Glenn Hegar	Republican	2006	Richmond, Rosenberg, Katy

[edit] Texas House of Representatives

District		Name	Party	First Elected	Area(s) of Fort Bend County Represented
	26	Charlie Howard	Republican	1994	Sugar Land
	27	Dora Olivo	Democrat	1996	Rosenberg, most of Missouri City, county’s share of Houston
	28	John Zerwas	Republican	2006	Far northern and western areas

[edit] Communities

[edit] Cities

Arcola Fulshear Houston (partially in Fort Bend) Katy (partially in Fort Bend) Meadows Place Missouri City (partially in Fort Bend)

Needville Pearland (partially in Fort Bend) Richmond Rosenberg Stafford (partially in Fort Bend) Sugar Land

[edit] Towns

• Beasley
• Clodine
• Fairchilds
• Kendleton
• Orchard
• Pleak
• Simonton
• Thompsons

[edit] Unincorporated areas

• Cinco Ranch
• DeWalt
• Fifth Street
• Fresno
• Greatwood
• Mission Bend
• Rosharon
• Sienna Plantation

[edit] Education

[edit] Public school districts

• Brazos Independent School District
• Fort Bend Independent School District
• Katy Independent School District
• Kendleton Independent School District
• Lamar Consolidated Independent School District
• Needville Independent School District
• Stafford Municipal School District

[edit] Colleges and universities

• Houston Community College System
• University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch
• University of Houston System at Sugar Land
• Wharton County Junior College

[edit] Libraries

Fort Bend County Libraries operates many libraries in the county.

Houston Public Library operates one branch in the county.

[edit] External links

• Fort Bend County official website
• Historic Images from the Fort Bend Museum hosted by the Portal to Texas History
• Fort Bend County, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Fort Bend County profile from The County Information Project

	Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown METROPOLITAN AREA
Counties	Austin | Brazoria | Chambers | Fort Bend | Galveston | Harris | Liberty | Montgomery | San Jacinto | Waller
"Principal" cities	Houston | Sugar Land | Baytown | Galveston
Cities and towns	Alvin | Angleton | Bellaire | Cleveland | Clute | Conroe | Dayton | Deer Park | Dickinson | Fairchilds | Freeport | Friendswood | Galena Park | Hitchcock | Humble | Jacinto City | Jersey Village | Katy | Lake Jackson | La Marque | La Porte | League City | Liberty | Missouri City | Pasadena | Pearland | Richmond | Rosenberg | Santa Fe | Seabrook | Sealy | South Houston | Stafford | Texas City | Tomball | Webster | West University Place
Unincorporated areas	Atascocita | Channelview | Cloverleaf | Cypress | Klein | Spring | The Woodlands