Data sources & methodology

• County boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files (1:500,000 scale), the generalized version of the Bureau's TIGER/Line database designed for mapping. These files are public-domain federal data.
• County seat locations: Census Bureau place boundaries, used to position each seat on our downloadable maps.
• Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 county population estimates (July 1, 2025). Growth figures compare these with the Bureau's April 1, 2020 estimates base.
• County history: founding dates, parent counties and name origins are checked against the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas.
• Road maps: the county road map PDFs are the Texas Department of Transportation's own county General Highway Map books, stored on our site for download.
• Background maps: the Roads, Terrain and Satellite options on our interactive maps are loaded live from Esri's public basemap services and credited on the map.

Boundary files are converted into a lightweight vector drawing for the website, with points simplified so all 254 counties load quickly. Shapes are not redrawn or traced by hand. Downloadable county and statewide PDFs are generated directly from the Census files, with every line plotted from the original coordinates and sources printed on each map.

Population numbers are loaded exactly as published by the Census Bureau, with no rounding, interpolation or adjustment. Totals, rankings, densities and growth rates are calculated automatically from those published figures, so every page uses the same numbers.

• Population: updated after each annual Census Bureau county estimates release.
• Boundaries: checked against each new Census Bureau boundary release. Texas county lines rarely change, but small corrections do occur.
• Guides and editorial pages: reviewed at least once a year and whenever source data changes.

• Simplified boundaries are accurate for reference but not a legal survey. For property questions, contact the county appraisal district.
• Population estimates are modeled between censuses and are revised every year. Small counties can show large percentage swings from small changes.
• The regions used on this site are browsing groupings, not official designations. Texas has no single official regional map.
• The TxDOT county road maps are the 2016 single-county edition, the latest edition TxDOT publishes county by county.

If you find an error, email editorial@texascountymap.net or use our contact form. Please include the page address and a source. Verified corrections are made in the underlying data, so they appear on every page that uses that figure. Our full standards are in the editorial policy.