Harris County, Texas

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Harris County, Texas
Map
Location in the state of Texas
Texas's location in the USA
Statistics
Founded	December 22, 1836
Seat	Houston
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	4,604 km² (1,778 mi²) 4,478 km² (1,729 mi²) 127 km² (49 mi²), 2.75%
Population  - (2005)  - Density	3,693,050 759/km²
Website: www.co.harris.tx.us

Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of 2000 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 3.4 million (though a 2005 estimate placed the population at almost 3.7 million), making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston⁶.

Harris County is named for John Richardson Harris, an early settler of the area.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 2.1 Major Highways 2.2 Adjacent counties 3 Demographics 4 Elected officials 4.1 United States Congress 4.2 Texas Legislature 4.2.1 Texas Senate 4.2.2 Texas House of Representatives 4.2.3 Harris County Elected Officials 5 Communities 5.1 Cities 5.2 Unincorporated areas 6 Education 7 Political organization 8 Hospital services 9 See also 10 External links

[edit] History

The county was founded on December 22, 1836 as Harrisburg County and Harrisburgh County. The name was changed to Harris County in December 1839.

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 4,604 km² (1,778 mi²). 4,478 km² (1,729 mi²) of it is land and 127 km² (49 mi²) of it (2.75%) is water.

[edit] Major Highways

Interstate 10 Interstate 45 Interstate 610, a loop around Houston, is still considered an interstate system U.S. Highway 59 U.S. Highway 75 U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Highway 290

State Highway 3 (Texas) State Highway 6 (Texas) State Highway 146 (Texas) State Highway 225 (Texas) State Highway 249 (Texas) State Highway 288 (Texas) State Highway Beltway 8 (Texas)

[edit] Adjacent counties

• Montgomery County (north)
• Liberty County (northeast)
• Chambers County (east)
• Galveston County (southeast)
• Brazoria County (south)
• Fort Bend County (southwest)
• Waller County (northwest)

[edit] Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 3,400,578 people, 1,205,516 households, and 834,217 families residing in the county, making it the largest county by population in Texas. The population density was 759/km² (1,967/mi²). There were 1,298,130 housing units at an average density of 290/km² (751/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 58.73% White, 18.49% Black or African American, 0.45% Native American, 5.14% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 14.18% from other races, and 2.96% from two or more races. 32.93% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,205,516 households out of which 37.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.60% were married couples living together, 13.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.80% were non-families. 25.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.38.

In the county, the population was spread out with 29.00% under the age of 18, 10.30% from 18 to 24, 33.40% from 25 to 44, 19.80% from 45 to 64, and 7.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 99.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,598, and the median income for a family was $49,004. Males had a median income of $37,361 versus $28,941 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,435. About 12.10% of families and 14.97% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.60% of those under age 18 and 12.20% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Elected officials

[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 Harris County Represented
	District 2	Ted Poe	Republican	2004	Kingwood portion of Houston, Spring, northeastern communities (including Baytown, Humble and La Porte)
	District 7	John Culberson	Republican	2000	West Houston, Memorial Villages, Bellaire, West University Place, west and northwest areas of county
	District 9	Al Green	Democrat	2004	Alief, Southwest Houston, Houston’s Southside
	District 10	Michael McCaul	Republican	2004	Northwest
	District 18	Sheila Jackson Lee	Democrat	1994	Downtown Houston, Bush IAH, northwest and northeast Houston, inner portions of Houston’s Southside
	District 22	Nick Lampson	Democrat	2006 (also served 1997-2005)	Clear Lake City, NASA Johnson Space Center, Ellington Field, southern and central Pasadena, Deer Park
	District 29	Gene Green	Democrat	1992	East Houston, northern Pasadena, Galena Park, Channelview

List above took effect January 4, 2007.

[edit] Texas Legislature

[edit] Texas Senate

District		Name	Party	First Elected	Area(s) of Harris County Represented
	4	Tommy Williams	Republican	2003	Kingwood, far eastern portions of Baytown
	6	Mario Gallegos	Democrat	1995	Houston Ship Channel, eastern portions of Houston, Jacinto City, Galena Park, northern Pasadena, western portion of Baytown
	7	Dan Patrick	Republican	2007	Memorial Villages, Memorial/Spring Branch area, Addicks Reservoir, northwest portions of county
	11	Mike Jackson	Republican	1999	Southeast
	13	Rodney Ellis	Democrat	1990	Downtown Houston, Texas Medical Center, southwest and northeast Houston, Houston’s Southside
	15	John Whitmire	Democrat	1983	Northwest Houston, Bush IAH, southern portion of Humble, eastern Harris County
	17	Kyle Janek	Republican	2002	Meyerland, Bellaire, West University Place, much of Katy area, far west Houston, Barker Reservoir

[edit] Texas House of Representatives

District		Name	Party	First Elected	Area(s) of Harris County Represented
	126	Patricia Harless	Republican	2006	Champions/FM 1960
	127	Joe Crabb	Republican	1992	Kingwood, Lake Houston, Crosby, Wallisville
	128	Wayne Smith	Republican	2002	Baytown, Deer Park, La Porte
	129	John Davis	Republican	1998	Clear Lake City, NASA Johnson Space Center
	130	Corbin Van Arsdale	Republican	2002	Northwest
	131	Alma Allen	Democrat	2004	Outer portions of Houston’s Southside
	132	Bill Callegari	Republican	2000	West
	133	Jim Murphy	Republican	2006	West Houston, western portion of Memorial/Spring Branch, part of the Energy Corridor
	134	Ellen Cohen	Democrat	2006	Inner western portions of Houston (including Meyerland, River Oaks and Memorial Park), Texas Medical Center, West University Place, Bellaire, Southside Place
	135	Gary Elkins	Republican	1994	Jersey Village and southeastern segments of the Champions/FM 1960 area
	136	Beverly Woolley	Republican	1994	Memorial Villages
	137	Scott Hochberg	Democrat	1992	Southwest Houston
	138	Dwayne Bohac	Republican	2002	Northwest Houston and parts of the Memorial/Spring Branch area north of I-10, Addicks Reservoir
	139	Sylvester Turner	Democrat	1988	North Houston and Aldine west of I-45
	140	Kevin Bailey	Democrat	1990	North Houston and Aldine east of I-45
	141	Senfronia Thompson	Democrat	1972	Northeast Houston, Bush IAH, Greenspoint, southern portion of Humble
	142	Harold Dutton, Jr.	Democrat	1984	East Houston, Northshore
	143	Ana Hernandez	Democrat	2006	East Houston within Loop 610, Houston Ship Channel, Galena Park, Jacinto City, northern Pasadena
	144	Robert Talton	Republican	1992	Southern Pasadena, far southeast Houston
	145	Rick Noriega	Democrat	1998	Inner southeastern portions of Houston (mainly east of I-45), South Houston (not part of the city of Houston)
	146	Borris Miles	Democrat	2006	Inner portions of Houston’s Southside
	147	Garnet Coleman	Democrat	1990	Downtown Houston, inner southeastern portions of Houston (mainly west of I-45)
	148	Jessica Farrar	Democrat	1994	Northwest Houston mainly within Loop 610 (including Houston Heights)
	149	Hubert Vo	Democrat	2004	Far west Houston, Alief, unincorporated portions of Katy area east of Fry Rd, Barker Reservoir
	150	Debbie Riddle	Republican	2002	North

[edit] Harris County Elected Officials

Position	Official	Party
County Judge	Ed Emmett	Republican
County Commissioner Precinct 1	El Franco Lee	Democrat
County Commissioner Precinct 2	Sylvia Garcia	Democrat
County Commissioner Precinct 3	Steve Radack	Republican
County Commissioner Precinct 4	Jerry Eversole	Republican
County Attorney	Mike Stafford	Republican
County Clerk	Beverly Kaufman	Republican
District Attorney	Chuck Rosenthal	Republican
District Clerk	Charles Bacarisse	Republican
Sheriff	Tommy Thomas	Republican
Assessor-Collector	Paul Bettencourt	Republican
County Treasurer	Orlando Sanchez	Republican
Constable Precinct 1	Jack F. Abercia	Democrat
Constable Precinct 2	Gary L. Freeman	Democrat
Constable Precinct 3	Ken Jones	Democrat
Constable Precinct 4	Ron Hickman	Republican
Constable Precinct 5	Glen Cheek	Republican
Constable Precinct 6	Victor Trevino	Democrat
Constable Precinct 7	May Walker	Democrat
Constable Precinct 8	Bill Bailey	Republican

[edit] Communities

[edit] Cities

Baytown Bellaire Bunker Hill Village Deer Park El Lago Friendswood (Portions are in adjacent counties) Galena Park Hedwig Village Hilshire Village

Houston (Portions are in adjacent counties) Humble Hunters Creek Village Jacinto City Jersey Village Katy La Porte League City (Portions are in adjacent counties) Missouri City (Portions are in adjacent counties)

Morgan's Point Nassau Bay Pasadena Pearland (Portions are in adjacent counties) Piney Point Village Seabrook Shoreacres South Houston Southside Place

Spring Valley Stafford Taylor Lake Village Tomball Waller Webster West University Place

[edit] Unincorporated areas

Atascocita Bammel Barrett Bridgeland Champions Channelview Cloverleaf Crosby

Cypress Fairbanks Fairfield Greenwood Forest Highlands Hockley Hot Wells Hufsmith

Klein Kohrville New Kentucky Ponderosa Forest Rayford Remington Ranch Rosehill Satsuma

Sheldon Spring Sydney Harbour Westador Westfield The Woodlands (partially in Montgomery County)

[edit] Education

Several school districts serve Harris County communities.

Aldine ISD Alief ISD Channelview ISD Clear Creek ISD Crosby ISD Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Dayton ISD Deer Park ISD Galena Park ISD

Goose Creek CISD Houston ISD Humble ISD Katy ISD Klein ISD La Porte ISD North Forest ISD Pasadena ISD Sheldon ISD

Spring ISD Spring Branch ISD Stafford MSD Tomball ISD Waller ISD

Harris County operates its own public library system, the Harris County Public Library.

In addition, Houston has the Houston Public Library, a city-controlled public library system.

The cities of Baytown, Bellaire, and Pasadena have their own city-controlled libraries.

[edit] Political organization

The head of a Texas County, as set up in the Texas Constitution, is the County Judge, who sits as the chair of the county's Commissioner's Court. As of 2007, this position in Harris County is held by Judge Ed Emmett. The county is split into 4 geographical divisions called Precincts. Each precinct elects a Commissioner to sit as a representative of their precinct on the commissioner's court and also for the oversight of county functions in their area.

Other elected positions in Harris County include a County Attorney, a County Clerk, a District Attorney, a District Clerk, a Sheriff, 8 Constables, a Tax Assessor-Collector, a County Treasurer, and every judge in the county except municipal judges, who are appointed by the officials of their repsective cities.

[edit] Hospital services

Within Harris County, hospital services for the indigent and needy are provided by the Harris County Hospital District, a separate governmental entity. Harris County Hospital District operates three hospitals: LBJ General Hospital, Quentin Mease Community Hospital, and Ben Taub General Hospital, as well as many clinics.

Additionally, numerous private and public hospitals operate in Harris County, including institutions in Texas Medical Center and throughout the county.

[edit] See also

• Harris County, Georgia
• USNS Harris County (T-LST-822)

[edit] External links

• Harris County government’s website
• The Handbook of Texas Online: Harris County
• Account of the early days of Harris County, 1824 - 1838 from Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas by John Henry Brown, hosted by The Portal to Texas History

Harris County local event listings

	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