Hidalgo County, Texas

Hidalgo County
County
The Hidalgo County Courthouse at Edinburg in 2024
Flag Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 26°23′48″N 98°10′52″W / 26.39672°N 98.18107°W / 26.39672; -98.18107
Country	United States
State	Texas
Founded	January 24, 1852
Named for	Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Seat	Edinburg
Largest city	McAllen
Area
• Total	1,583 sq mi (4,100 km2)
• Land	1,571 sq mi (4,070 km2)
• Water	12 sq mi (30 km2)  0.81%
Population  (2020)
• Total	870,781
• Estimate  (2022)	888,367
• Density	550/sq mi (210/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional districts	15th, 34th
Website	www.hidalgocounty.us
[1]

Hidalgo County (/hɪˈdælɡoʊ/; Spanish pronunciation: [iˈðalɣo]) is located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat is Edinburg^[2] and the largest city is McAllen. The county is named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the priest who raised the call for Mexico's independence from Spain.^[3] It is located in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 870,781,^[4] making it the ninth-most populous county in Texas, and the most populous county outside of the counties in the Texas Triangle. Hidalgo County is designated by the U.S. Census Bureau as the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission metropolitan statistical area, which itself is part of the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission-Rio Grande City, Texas combined statistical area with neighboring Starr County.

With a population that is 91.9% Hispanic as of 2020, it is Texas' second-most populous majority-Hispanic county and the fifth-largest nationwide. It is also the largest county which is over 90% Hispanic.^[5] It is also the southernmost landlocked county in the United States, and in 2021, it was the largest county in the nation with a total fertility rate above the replacement level (at 2.13).^[6]