Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, and was estimated to be 5,045,026 in 2025, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third-most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, the most populous city in Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. The county was founded on December 22, 1836 and organized on March 10, 1837. It is named for John Richardson Harris, who founded the town of Harrisburg on Buffalo Bayou in 1826. It contains over 16% of the state's population.Based on the 2024 Estimate: 5,009,302 / 31,290,831 (TX pop.) = 16.01% Harris County is included in the nine-county Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan area in the United States.
History
Human remains date habitation to about 4000 BC. Other evidence of humans in the area dates from about 1400 BC, 1 AD, and later in the first millennium. The region became uninhabited from 1 AD to European contact. Little European activity predates 1821. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca may have visited the area in 1529. French traders recorded passing through in the 18th century. Spaniards attempted to establish a fort in the area around the same time, but did not persist for long.
The first recorded European settlers in Harris County arrived in 1822. Their schooner sailed into Galveston Bay and ran aground on the Red Fish Bar. Some of those passengers traveled further up the bay system, but it is not known whether they settled up Buffalo Bayou or the San Jacinto River. One of these passengers, a Mr. Ryder, settled at what is now known as Morgan's Point, Texas. Also in 1822, John Iiams settled his family at Cedar Point after sailing from Berwick's Bay, Louisiana. Dr. Johnson Hunter arrived just after Iiams. He also wrecked his boat near Galveston. He settled at Morgan's Point and was a grantee of land there. Nathaniel Lynch settled in the area and operated a ferry.
In 1824, the land empresario, Stephen F. Austin convened at the house of William Scott for the purpose of conveying titles for Mexican headrights. He was joined by the land commissioner, Baron von Bastrop, and Austin's secretary, Samuel May Williams. About thirty families gained legal titles to land in what would later be known as Harris County. A few immigrants settled on Buffalo Bayou in these early years, including Moses Callahan, Ezekial Thomas, and the Vince brothers.
Nicolas Clopper arrived in the Galveston Bay area from Ohio in the 1820s. He attempted to develop Buffalo Bayou as a trading conduit for the Brazos River valley. He acquired land at Morgan's Point in 1826. John Richardson Harris (1790–1829), for whom the county was later named, arrived in 1824. Harris had moved his family to Sainte Genevieve, Missouri Territory, where they had been residing until the early 1820s.
Harris was granted a league of land (about 4,428 acres) at Buffalo Bayou. He platted the town of Harrisburg in 1826, while he established a trading post and a grist mill there. He ran boats transporting goods between New Orleans and Harrisburg until his death in the fall of 1829.
The First Congress of the Republic of Texas established Harrisburg County on December 22, 1836. The original county boundaries included Galveston Island, but were redrawn to its current configuration in May 1838.
The area has had a number of severe weather events, such as the following hurricanes and tropical storms:
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.94%) is water. It is the 14th largest county in Texas by total area. Both its total area and land area are larger than the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
Adjacent counties
Communities Cities Multiple counties Baytown (partly in Chambers County) Friendswood (mostly in Galveston County) Houston (county seat and largest municipality) (small parts in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties) Katy (partly in Fort Bend, Harris, and Waller counties) League City (mostly in Galveston County) Missouri City (mostly in Fort Bend County) Pearland (mostly in Brazoria County and a small part in Fort Bend County) Seabrook (some water surface in Chambers County) Stafford (mostly in Fort Bend County) Waller (partly in Waller County)
Harris County only
Bellaire Bunker Hill Village Deer Park El Lago Galena Park Hedwig Village Hilshire Village Humble Hunters Creek Village Jacinto City Jersey Village La Porte Morgan's Point Nassau Bay Pasadena Piney Point Village Shoreacres South Houston Southside Place Spring Valley Village Taylor Lake Village Tomball Webster West University Place
Unincorporated areas Census-designated places
Aldine Atascocita Barrett Channelview Cinco Ranch (mostly in Fort Bend County) Cloverleaf Crosby Highlands Mission Bend (mostly in Fort Bend County) Sheldon Spring The Woodlands (mostly in Montgomery County)
Other communities
Alief (Partially annexed by Houston, partially unincorporated) Airline Bammel Barker Beaumont Place Bridgeland Community Cedar Bayou Champion Forest Cimarron Coady Cypress Dyersdale East Aldine Fall Creek Hockley Houmont Park Huffman Hufsmith Kinwood Klein Kleinbrook Kohrville Louetta Lynchburg McNair North Houston Northcliffe Northcliffe Manor Northgate Forest Remington Ranch Rose Hill Satsuma Traces Westfield
Demographics
2024 housing value As of the third quarter of 2024, the median home value in Harris County was $295,790.
2023 American Community Survey As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there were an estimated 1,728,103 households in Harris County with an average of 2.73 persons per household; the median household income was $73,104, 16.0% of the population lived at or below the poverty line, the employment rate was 67.3%, 33.7% of residents held a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 82.5% held at least a high school diploma. As of 2023, Harris County had the second largest population of Black Americans in the United States, behind only Cook County, Illinois, and the second largest Hispanic population in the nation, behind only Los Angeles County, California.
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Harris County had a population of 4,731,145, 1,692,730 households, and 1,156,059 families; the population density was 2,771.7 inhabitants per square mile (1,071.7 per square kilometer).
As of the 2020 census, the median age was 34.3 years, with 25.6% of residents under the age of 18 and 11.5% aged 65 or older; there were 97.1 males for every 100 females and 94.9 males for every 100 females age 18 and over.
As of the 2020 census, the racial makeup of the county was 36.4% White, 19.2% Black or African American, 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 7.4% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 18.9% from some other race, and 16.9% from two or more races, with Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprising 43.0% of the population.
As of the 2020 census, 98.9% of residents lived in urban areas and 1.1% lived in rural areas.
As of the 2020 census, 36.9% of the county’s households had children under 18, 44.9% were married-couple households, 20.1% had a male householder without a spouse or partner, 28.6% had a female householder without a spouse or partner, 25.6% were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older.
As of the 2020 census, there were 1,842,683 housing units, of which 8.1% were vacant; among occupied units, 53.3% were owner-occupied, 46.7% were renter-occupied, the homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6%, and the rental vacancy rate was 10.2%.
As of the 2020 census, 55.6% of residents aged five and older spoke only English at home while 44.4% spoke another language at home, alone or together with English; Spanish remained the second most spoken language at 35%.
As of 2020, the poverty rate was 15.6%.
Racial and ethnic composition
+Harris County, Texas – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1970 Pop 1980 Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1970% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)1,377,118 1,509,4301,528,1131,432,2641,349,6461,309,59379.06%62.64%54.22%42.12%32.98%27.68%Black or African American alone (NH)350,668469,290527,964619,694754,258885,51720.13%19.48%18.73%18.22%18.43%18.72%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)2,9885,3466,1437,1038,1508,4320.17%0.22%0.22%0.21%0.20%0.18%Asian alone (NH)5,539 Only includes those who listed Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino identity. All other Asian groups included in other race category46,355106,327173,026249,853344,7620.32%1.92%3.77%5.09%6.11%7.29%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)xincluded in the Other Race category in the 1970 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census1,3922,2603,199xxx0.04%0.06%0.07%Other race alone (NH)5,59910,0494,7174,4997,91423,2620.32%0.42%0.17%0.13%0.19%0.49%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1970 Censusx not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census42,84948,838121,671xxx1.26%1.19%2.57%Hispanic or Latino (any race)x Not an option in the 1970 Census. Persons who did not identify a race and instead listed Mexican, Puerto Rican, or any other grouped deemed to be of Indo European origin were classified as white.369,077644,9351,119,7511,671,5402,034,709x15.32%22.88%32.93%40.84%43.01%Total1,741,9122,409,5472,818,1993,400,5784,092,4594,731,145 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
Child welfare estimates Children At Risk—a local nonprofit research organization—estimated that 21% of Harris County children lived in poverty, 6.5 per 1,000 infants died before age one, and 38% dropped out of high school as of 2007.
Language 2000 census In 2000, 1,961,993 residents of Harris County spoke English only. The five most spoken foreign languages in the county were Spanish or Spanish Creole (1,106,883 speakers), Vietnamese (53,311), Chinese (33,003), French including Louisiana French and Patois (33,003), and Urdu (14,595). Among these groups, 46% of Spanish speakers, 37% of Vietnamese speakers, 50% of Chinese speakers, 85% of French speakers, and 72% of Urdu speakers said that they spoke English at least "very well".
Religion
In 2010 statistics, the largest religious group in Harris County was the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston, with 1,947,223 Catholics worshiping at 109 parishes, followed by 579,759 Southern Baptists with 811 congregations, 348,461 non-denominational Christian adherents with 577 congregations, 182,624 United Methodists with 124 congregations, an estimated 117,148 Muslims with 47 congregations, 44,472 LDS Mormons with 77 congregations, 39,041 Episcopalians with 43 congregations, 34,957 PC-USA Presbyterians with 49 congregations, 33,525 Churches of Christ Christians with 124 congregations, and 30,521 LCMS Lutherans with 46 congregations. Altogether, 58.4% of the population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, the county had 1,607 religious organizations, the third most out of all U.S. counties.
Government and politics County governments serve as agents of the state, with responsibilities defined in the Texas Constitution. Counties are governed by the commissioners' court. Each Texas county has four precinct commissioners and a county judge. Although this body is called a court, it conducts the general business of the county and oversees financial matters. The commissioners court may hire personnel to run major departments, such as health and human services.