Brazoria County, Texas

Brazoria County is a county in Texas, United States, about 43 miles south of Houston along the
upper Gulf Coast. It had a population of 372,031 at the 2020 census, an estimated 419,080 more
recently, and covers 1,358 square miles (3,520 km2) of land centred near 29°10′N 95°26′W.

Angleton is the county seat; its postal code is 77515. The county holds 18 cities, 2 towns, 4
villages and 4 census-designated places, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 48039.

Towns & Villages in Brazoria County

Brazoria County has 28 named places on record: 24 incorporated cities, towns and villages, and
4 census-designated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census
designated place.

Pearland’s population figure above is citywide — the city spans Brazoria, Fort Bend
and Harris counties, and only part of its 125,828 residents live on the Brazoria side. Bonney,
the smallest incorporated place in the county, is also the smallest village in Texas. Richwood
and Hillcrest have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under a neighboring town’s
code.

ZIP Codes

• 77515 — Angleton (also serves Bailey’s Prairie and Bonney)
• 77584 — Pearland, Brazoria County side
• 77581 — Brookside Village, shared with Pearland’s Harris County side
• 77566 — Lake Jackson
• 77511 — Alvin
• 77541 — Freeport (also serves Oyster Creek, Quintana and Surfside Beach)
• 77531 — Clute
• 77578 — Manvel (a small portion of Iowa Colony also uses this code)
• 77583 — Iowa Colony, Rosharon and Sandy Point
• 77486 — West Columbia
• 77480 — Sweeny
• 77422 — Brazoria and Wild Peach Village
• 77534 — Danbury
• 77577 — Liverpool
• 77430 — Damon

Richwood, Holiday Lakes, Hillcrest and East Columbia have no ZIP code of their own; mail there
is delivered under a neighboring town’s code.

Geography

Brazoria County sits on the upper Texas Gulf Coast, a flat coastal plain of prairie, marsh and
barrier-island beach. Of its 1,358 square miles of land, the county adds another 251 square miles
of water — bays, sloughs and the Gulf of Mexico shoreline itself, one of the higher
water shares of any Houston-area county. The Brazos River crosses the county from northwest to
southeast, reaching the Gulf near Freeport, and Oyster Creek runs a parallel course through Lake
Jackson and Clute. The Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge and part of the San Bernard National
Wildlife Refuge protect wetlands along the coast.

Harris County lies to the north, Galveston County to the northeast across the bay, the Gulf of
Mexico to the southeast, Matagorda County to the southwest, Wharton County to the west and Fort
Bend County to the northwest. Harris
County, Galveston County, Matagorda County, Wharton County and Fort Bend County all border Brazoria
directly.

Demographics

Brazoria County had a population of 372,031 at the 2020 census, and the county has continued
growing since, with an estimate near 419,080 residents in more recent years. Pearland and Lake
Jackson are the two largest communities by far, together accounting for a substantial share of
the county’s population. Median household income runs about $97,993, well above Texas’s
statewide figure of $75,780 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 274 people per
square mile of land, reflecting a county that ranges from dense Houston-suburb growth in the
north to sparsely settled farmland and coastline in the south.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about
27,644 workers, followed by manufacturing at 23,535 and educational services at 20,593. Dow
Chemical Company’s Freeport plant, the largest integrated chemical manufacturing facility
in the United States, anchors the manufacturing base and also employs many Lake Jackson
residents, the planned community Dow built for its workers in the 1940s. Port Freeport and the
Freeport LNG export terminal add shipping and energy-sector jobs along the coast. Pearland
Independent School District is the county’s single largest employer, ahead of Kelsey-Seybold
Clinic and the city government. Four Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison units operate
near Rosharon and Sandy Point, a major source of state jobs in the county’s northwest.
Lake Jackson is also the birthplace and headquarters of Buc-ee’s, the Texas travel-center
chain. Clute’s biggest annual event is the Great Texas Mosquito Festival each July, drawing
roughly 18,000 visitors since it began in 1981.

History

Mexico organized Brazoria as a municipal district in 1832, and it became one of the original
counties of the Republic of Texas at independence in 1836. It takes its name from the Brazos
River, which crosses it. The county was also the heart of Stephen F. Austin’s original
colony, the first major Anglo-American settlement in Texas, beginning in 1821.

West Columbia served as the first capital of the Republic of Texas: its First Congress
convened there on 3 October 1836, and Sam Houston was inaugurated president there on 22 October
before the government moved to the city of Houston the following spring. Brazoria, the
county’s original seat, lost that status to Angleton in 1897 after the railroad bypassed
it; oil and sulfur discoveries in 1939 later revived the town. Dow Chemical’s arrival at
Freeport in 1939 reshaped the county’s economy from cotton and cattle toward chemical
manufacturing, a shift that built Lake Jackson as a planned company town in the early 1940s.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Brazoria County. State Highway 288, known locally as the Nolan
Ryan Expressway, is the main north-south route, linking Angleton, Clute, Lake Jackson and Freeport
to Houston. State Highways 6, 35, 36, 99 and 332 also cross the county.

• Houston — about 43 miles north via SH 288
• Rosenberg — about 41 miles northwest via SH 36
• Galveston — across Galveston Bay to the northeast

William P. Hobby Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport, both in Houston’s
Harris County, are the nearest commercial airports. Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport, a
county-owned general-aviation field, sits centrally in the county. Brazoria County has no Amtrak
station; the nearest service is in Houston.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Brazoria County located?
It sits on the upper Texas Gulf Coast, about 43 miles south of Houston, bordered by Harris,
Galveston, Matagorda, Wharton and Fort Bend counties and the Gulf of Mexico.

What is the population of Brazoria County?
372,031 at the 2020 census, with a more recent estimate near 419,080.

How big is Brazoria County?
1,358 square miles of land (3,520 km2), plus 251 square miles of bay and Gulf water.

What is the county seat of Brazoria County?
Angleton, founded in 1890 and named for the wife of a railway manager, has been the county seat
since 1897.

How many towns and cities are in Brazoria County?
24 incorporated cities, towns and villages, led by Pearland, Lake Jackson, Alvin and Angleton,
plus four census-designated places: Damon, East Columbia, Rosharon and Wild Peach Village.

What ZIP codes does Brazoria County use?
Fifteen ZIP codes cover the county’s incorporated places, from 77515 in Angleton to 77422
in Brazoria and Wild Peach Village; see the ZIP Codes section above for the full list.

What is Brazoria County known for?
Dow Chemical’s Freeport plant, the largest integrated chemical manufacturing facility in the
United States, and West Columbia, the first capital of the Republic of Texas.

More counties in this state: Towns and
villages in Texas.