Laredo, Texas

Laredo, Texas
City
Downtown Laredo
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname(s):  "The Gateway City" and "The City Under Seven Flags"
Laredo Location within Texas Show map of Texas Laredo Location within the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 27°31′25″N 99°29′25″W / 27.52361°N 99.49028°W / 27.52361; -99.49028
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Webb
Metropolitan area	Laredo–Nuevo Laredo Metropolitan Area
Founded	August 25, 1755
Settled as	Villa de San Agustín de Laredo
Founded by	Tomás Sánchez
Named for	Laredo, Spain
Government
• Type	Council–manager
• Mayor	Dr. Victor D. Treviño[1]
• City Council	Members Rudy Gonzalez Jr. Vidal Rodriguez Mercurio Martinez, III Alberto Torres Jr. (D)[2] Ruben Gutierrez, Jr. Dr. Marte A. Martinez Vanessa Perez Alyssa Cigarroa[3]
• City manager	Robert A. Eads
• Police chief	Claudio Trevino
Area [4]
• City	107.96 sq mi (279.61 km2)
• Land	106.49 sq mi (275.81 km2)
• Water	1.47 sq mi (3.80 km2)
• Metro	161.76 sq mi (418.96 km2)
Elevation	438 ft (137.2 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	255,205
• Estimate  (2021)	256,153
• Density	2,396.5/sq mi (925.3/km2)
• Urban	251,462 (US: 163rd)[5]
• Urban density	3,916.6/sq mi (1,512.2/km2)
• Metro	267,114 (US: 186th)
Demonyms	Laredoan Laredense
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CST)
ZIP Codes	78040–78046, 78049
Area code	956
FIPS code	48-41464[6]
GNIS feature ID	1339633[7]
Website	laredotexas.gov

Laredo (/ləˈreɪdoʊ/ lə-RAY-doh; Spanish: [laˈɾeðo]) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and seat of Webb County, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Founded in 1755, Laredo grew from a village to the capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande to the largest inland port on the Mexican border. Laredo's economy is primarily based on international trade with Mexico, and as a major hub for three areas of transportation: land, rail, and air cargo. The city is on the southern end of I-35, which connects manufacturers in northern Mexico through Interstate 35 as a major route for trade throughout the U.S. It has four international bridges and one railway bridge.

According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 255,205, making it the 11th-most populous city in Texas and third-most populated U.S. city on the Mexican border, after San Diego, California and El Paso, Texas.^[8] Its metropolitan area is the 178th-largest in the U.S. and includes all of Webb County, with a population of 267,114. Laredo is also part of the cross-border Laredo-Nuevo Laredo metropolitan area with an estimated population of 636,516.^[9]

Laredo's Hispanic proportion of 95.15% is one of the highest proportion of Hispanic Americans of any city in the United States outside of Puerto Rico.^[10] It is one of the least ethnically diverse cities in the United States. When economic, household, and social diversity is considered, Laredo is the 19th-least diverse of the 313 largest cities in the nation.^{[citation needed]}

Texas A&M International University and Laredo College are in Laredo. Laredo International Airport is within the Laredo city limits, while the Quetzalcoatl International Airport is nearby in Nuevo Laredo on the Mexican side.

The biggest festival, Washington's Birthday Celebration, is held during the later part of January and the majority of February, attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists.^{[citation needed]}