Jury Pool Profile
Howard County, Texas
- County seat
- Big Spring
- Judicial district
- 118th District Court
- Population (July 2025 estimate)
- 30,504
- Census PEP. The five-year ACS survey average is 32,290.
At a glance
Howard County is a 30,504-person venue. The county population is 64% White and 5% Black (Census race-alone categories). 48% identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race. Those figures overlap rather than adding up; counted separately, non-Hispanic White residents are 43.1%, which is the basis the chart below uses. Median household income is $65,932, $13,791 below the TX state median of $79,723; 15.7% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher. 30.3% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, most commonly Spanish. The largest employment sector is Education & health services, at 26.7% of covered employment, average pay $61,032/year. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 4.14%, below the 4.32% state average. The county carried the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024, taking 76% to 81% of the vote across the three. At least 10% of residents here live in group quarters rather than households, barracks, dormitories, correctional facilities or nursing homes; the ACS survey and the 2020 census disagree on how many, and this is the lower of the two, so the figures above describe a population substantially larger than the one a summons reaches.
- Population
- 32,290
- Median household income
- $69,649
- Unemployment
- 4.1%
Who sits on a jury?
50–70% White and ≥15% Black. This county: 64% / 5%.
Howard County has a population of 32,290, with a median age of 36.7. By Census race-alone categories, White residents make up 64.1%; Black residents 5.1%. Independently, 47.7% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race.
The median household earns $65,932; 15.7% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 15.4% live below the federal poverty line.
Economic context
Largest sector in BLS QCEW, even counting every withheld job toward the other sectors: Education & health services, about 27% of covered jobs. Oil and gas (private NAICS 211, 213111, 213112) is about 6.7% of all jobs, at or above the 5% bar.
Education & health services is the largest employment sector at 26.7% of covered employment, followed by Trade, transportation & utilities at 20.6%. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 4.14%, below the Texas state average.
Political composition
Republican candidate carried this county in 2016, 2020, and 2024 (avg winning share: 79%). 'Strongly' threshold: ≥60% avg.
Howard County was carried by the Republican candidate in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 cycles, with 81.1% in 2024, 78.7% in 2020, 76.3% in 2016.
Languages, households, faith & health
Family households are 64% of all households (thresholds: ≥70% = 'family-dominant'; 50–70% = 'family-majority'; <50% = 'singles/nonfamily-majority'). 30.3% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (threshold for 'linguistically diverse' is ≥10%).
30.3% of residents 5 years and older speak a language other than English at home. The most common are Spanish, German or other West Germanic, Tagalog. Veterans account for 5.9% of the adult civilian population (1,462 individuals).