Texas Geography

Extending from sea level at the Gulf of Mexico to over 8,000 feet in the Guadalupe Mountains of far West Texas and from the semitropical Lower Rio Grande Valley to the High Plains of the Panhandle, Texas has a natural environment best described as "varied." This section of the print version of the Texas Almanac discusses the physical features, geology, soils, water, vegetation and wildlife that are found in the Lone Star State. Below is a summary of the size, the boundaries, the highs and the lows of the state.

Area of Texas

Texas occupies about 7 percent of the total water and land area of the United States. Second in size among the states, Texas has a land and water area of 268,581 square miles as compared with Alaska's 663,267 square miles. California, third largest state, has 163,696 square miles. Texas is as large as all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina combined. The state's area consists of 261,797 square miles of land and 6,784 square miles of water.

Length and Breadth of Texas

The longest straight-line distance in a general north-south direction is 801 miles from the northwest corner of the Panhandle to the extreme southern tip of Texas on the Rio Grande below Brownsville. The greatest east-west distance is 773 miles from the extreme eastward bend in the Sabine River in Newton County to the extreme western bulge of the Rio Grande just above El Paso.

Center of Texas

The geographic center of Texas is about 15 miles northeast of Brady in northern McCulloch County.

Texas' Boundary Lines

The boundary of Texas by segments, including only larger river bends and only the great arc of the coastline, is as follows:

Rio Grande 889.0 miles
Coastline 367.0 miles
Sabine River, Lake and Pass 180.0 miles
Sabine River to Red River 106.5 miles
Red River 480.0 miles
East Panhandle line 133.6 miles
North Panhandle line 167.0 miles
West Panhandle line 310.2 miles
Along 32nd parallel 209.0 miles
Total 2,842.3 miles

Latitude and Longitude of Texas

The extremes of latitude and longitude are as follows: From Latitude 25° 50' N. at the extreme southern turn of the Rio Grande on the south line of Cameron County to Latitude 36° 30' N. along the north line of the Panhandle, and from Longitude 93° 31' W. at the extreme eastern point on the Sabine River on the east line of Newton County to Longitude 106° 38' W. on the extreme westward point on the Rio Grande above El Paso.

Altitudes of Texas Places

The highest point in the state is Guadalupe Peak at 8,749 feet above sea level. Its twin, El Capitan, stands at 8,085 feet and also is located in Culberson County near the New Mexico state line. Both are in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which includes scenic McKittrick Canyon. These elevations and the others in this article have been determined by the U.S. Geological Survey, unless otherwise noted.

The named peaks above 8,000 feet and the counties in which they are located are listed below. These elevations may differ from those in earlier editions of the Almanac because of the more accurate measuring methods currently being used by the USGS.

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