Zapata County, TX
Demographic and economic profile of Zapata County, TX, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Zapata County is a small South Texas border community of 13,855 with an economy shaped by its location, reflected in a foreign-born population of 23.4% and a poverty rate of 37.4% against a median household income of $39,239. The workforce is limited in size—labor force participation stands at just 51.8%—and relatively low in formal credentials, with only 13.3% holding a bachelor's degree or higher, though median worker earnings of $24,034 align with a low cost structure that includes a median home value of $88,800 and median gross rent of $569 per month. The county has shed population at a rate of 3.6% over five years, and an 8.0% unemployment rate signals ongoing labor market slack.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
-3.6% since 2018
Zapata County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- Two Races Including Some Other Race9,658 (69.8%)
- White Alone2,924 (21.1%)
- Some Other Race Alone1,064 (7.7%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races91 (0.7%)
- Asian Alone84 (0.6%)
- Black or African American Alone20 (0.1%)
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance1,652
- 2.Construction (Group)558
- 3.Retail Trade (Group)491
- 4.Manufacturing (Group)374
- 5.Public Administration (Group)302
Top Occupations
- 1.Service Occupations1,384
- 2.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations1,168
- 3.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations933
- 4.Sales & Office Occupations822
- 5.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations597
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 5.69×)429
- 2.Construction (LQ 1.46×)478
- 3.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.28×)1,418
- 4.Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (LQ 1.26×)398
- 5.Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (LQ 1.25×)346
Housing
Education
Workforce
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.