Wharton County, Texas

• White (non-Hispanic) 18,096 43.3%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 17,560 42.0%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 4,563 10.9%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 209 0.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 1,221 2.9%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 90 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 55 0.1%

• Under 18 10,622 25.4%
• 18–24 3,838 9.2%
• 25–44 9,945 23.8%
• 45–64 9,800 23.4%
• 65 and over 7,589 18.2%

Median household income

$61,887

90% interval $55,464–$68,310

−$17,836 vs TX · 158th of 254

Below poverty line

14.6%

90% interval 11.2%–18.0%

+1.2 pp vs TX · 132nd of 254

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.7%

+0.35 pp vs. state

County GDP

$2.7B

0.1% of state

Avg. annual pay

$53,945

Establishments

1,148

• Education & health services 4,380 27.0%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 4,064 25.1%
• Natural resources & mining 2,078 12.8%
• Manufacturing 1,460 9.0%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,332 8.2%
• Construction 807 5.0%
• Professional & business services 592 3.7%
• Financial activities 478 3.0%
• Public administration 447 2.8%

The sectors listed cover 96.6% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

72.3%

+9.7 pp vs TX · 147th of 254

Median gross rent

$1,046

−$357 vs TX · 84th of 254

Owner-occupied

11,482

Renter-occupied

4,408

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 65% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $73,320/yr) pays 3.8× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $19,068/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 14 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 12,439 75.6%
• Democratic 3,910 23.8%
• Other / third-party 103 0.6%

• Spanish 10,276 26.4%
• Chinese 50 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 45 0.1%
• German or other West Germanic 36 0.1%
• Korean 2 0.0%

Households

15,890

Family households

11,466

72.2% of households

Married couples w/ children

3,054

26.6% of families

Single-mother families

866

7.6% of families

Veterans

1,767

5.7% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 14,906 35.9%
• Evangelical Protestant 10,906 26.2%
• Mainline Protestant 2,348 5.6%
• Black Protestant 1,440 3.5%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 881 2.1%

Health insured

85.8%

±2.5 pp

Uninsured

14.2%

±2.5 pp

185th of 254

With a disability

14.4%

±1.4 pp

165th of 254

Bachelor's or higher

20.7%

±2.2 pp

−13.1 pp vs TX · 126th of 254

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

20.8%

90% interval 19.0%–22.6% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

23rd District Court

Judges

1 (Total District Court judges with venue over this county; vintage 2026 txcourts.gov directory + Tex. Gov't Code § 24. Texas's court structure is unusual: each urban county has dozens of numbered District Courts (Harris ~60, Dallas ~45, Travis ~25, Bexar ~25, Tarrant ~20) with trial assignments random across the full bench. Rural counties typically have 1-2 District Court judges sitting on a multi-county district. County Court at Law judges (limited jurisdiction) and Constitutional County Court judges (presided over by the elected County Judge) are separately allocated and not counted here. TX has ~474 District Court judges statewide.)

Court seats

Angleton, Bay City, Wharton

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

14

44.91 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

12