Kaufman County, Texas

Kaufman County is a county in Texas, United States, about 26 miles east of downtown Dallas
along US 80 and Interstate 20. It had a population of 145,310 at the 2020 census, an estimated
209,235 by 2025, and covers 807.51 square miles (2,091 km2) centred near 32°36′N 96°17′W.

Kaufman is the county seat; its postal code is 75142. Forney is the county’s largest
city. The county holds 7 cities, 5 towns, 2 villages and 3 census-designated places wholly or
mostly within its borders, plus a handful of larger cities that reach only a small, mostly
unpopulated edge into the county. Texas has no civil townships, so places are not grouped by
township here. The county runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 48257.

Towns & Villages in Kaufman County

Kaufman County has 17 named incorporated places and census-designated places on record: 7
cities, 5 towns, 2 villages and 3 CDPs. CDP stands for census designated place, an unincorporated
community the Census Bureau tracks as if it were a city; the ghost towns and rural crossroads
below have no government and, in most cases, no population count of their own.

Two big Dallas-area cities are often listed as Kaufman County places, but that is misleading:
Dallas and Mesquite are both overwhelmingly in Dallas County, with only thin, largely unpopulated
annexed strips crossing the Kaufman line, so neither is a genuine Kaufman County community and
neither appears in the table above. Three more cities do have real corporate limits reaching into
the county without being centred here: Seagoville (2020 population 18,446, ZIP 75159) is mostly
in Dallas County with a small Kaufman-County edge served by the Crandall school district; Heath
(2020 population 9,769, ZIP 75032) is mostly in Rockwall County, with 0.31 square miles reaching
south into Kaufman; and Combine (2020 population 2,245, ZIP 75159) is genuinely split between
Dallas and Kaufman counties. Cottonwood, Scurry, Rosser and Grays Prairie form a cluster of small
communities served by the Scurry-Rosser Independent School District, in the county’s
southwest corner.

ZIP Codes

• 75142 — Kaufman
• 75126 — Forney (also covers Talty and Travis Ranch)
• 75160/75161 — Terrell (75161 is a Terrell PO box ZIP)
• 75114 — Crandall
• 75143 — Kemp
• 75147 — Mabank
• 75158 — Scurry
• 75157 — Rosser (PO box only)
• 75118 — Elmo (PO box only)
• 75159 — Combine and the Kaufman County edge of Seagoville

Cottonwood, Oak Grove, Oak Ridge, Post Oak Bend City, Grays Prairie and Heartland have no ZIP
code of their own; mail there is delivered under a neighboring town’s code.

Geography

Kaufman County sits in the northeastern corner of the Texas Blackland Prairie, a belt of dark,
fertile clay soil that made the county a cotton-growing centre well into the 20th century. Of its
807.51 square miles, 780.71 are land and 26.8 are water, most of it Cedar Creek Reservoir along
the southern county line and the East Fork of the Trinity River, which drains the county’s
western half and forms part of the boundary with Dallas County. Lake Ray Hubbard touches the
county’s extreme northwest corner near Heath and Talty.

Hunt County lies to the north, Van Zandt County to the east, Henderson County to the south,
Ellis County to the southwest, Dallas County to the west, and Rockwall County to the northwest.
Hunt County, Van Zandt County, Henderson County, Ellis County, Dallas County and Rockwall County all border Kaufman
directly.

Demographics

Kaufman County had a population of 145,310 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 209,235 residents, among the fastest-growing counts in the Dallas-Fort Worth
region. Forney and Terrell are the two largest communities, together holding close to a third of
the county’s population. The Texas statewide median household income is $75,780 (2023 ACS);
county-level income varies widely between the fast-growing Forney/Talty corridor near Dallas and
the older, more rural southern and eastern townsites. Population density works out to roughly 186
people per square mile of land,
reflecting the county’s mix of dense new subdivisions near Dallas and open farmland further
east.

Economy & Local Life

Kaufman County’s economy has shifted from cotton farming toward Dallas-Fort Worth
commuter growth over the past two decades, concentrated in Forney, Talty and Heartland along the
Interstate 20 corridor. Terrell remains the county’s older industrial and institutional
center, home to Southwestern Christian College and Terrell State Hospital, a state psychiatric
facility with capacity for several hundred patients. Kaufman, the county seat, anchors county
government and the courthouse square. Forney markets itself as the “Antique Capital of
Texas,” a designation from the state legislature tied to its cluster of antique shops along
Main Street, and the city’s annual Antique Alley festival each spring draws shoppers from
across North Texas.

History

The Texas Legislature created Kaufman County on 26 February 1848 and organised it on 7 August
1848, carving it from Henderson County. Both the county and its seat were named for David
Spangler Kaufman, a Texas congressman and diplomat who had served as Speaker of the Texas House.
The county seat itself began in 1840 as Kings Fort, a stockade built by settler William P. King,
and was renamed Kingsboro before taking the Kaufman name in 1852.

The Texas and Pacific Railway reached the county in the 1870s, founding or growing Terrell,
Forney, Crandall and Scurry as rail towns and shifting the county’s economy toward
cotton shipped by freight car. During World War II, Terrell hosted the No. 1 British Flying
Training School, which trained Royal Air Force pilots on American soil under a Lend-Lease
arrangement, and Kaufman held Camp Kaufman, a German prisoner-of-war facility. In 1892, residents
of Elmo adopted resolutions barring Black residents from the community, a sundown-town policy
documented in the town’s history.

Getting There

Interstate 20 crosses the county’s northwestern corner through Forney and Talty. US 80
and US 175 run east-west through Terrell and Kaufman respectively, along with State Highways 34,
205, 243 and 274.

• Dallas — about 26 miles west
• Mesquite — about 15 miles west
• Athens — about 28 miles southeast of Kemp
• Tyler — about 45 miles east

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, roughly 40 miles northwest of Kaufman, and Dallas
Love Field, about 30 miles west, are the nearest major commercial airports. Amtrak does not serve
Kaufman County directly; the nearest station is Dallas Union Station on the Texas Eagle line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Kaufman County located?
It sits on the eastern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, about 26 miles east of downtown
Dallas, bordered by Hunt, Van Zandt, Henderson, Ellis, Dallas and Rockwall counties.

What is the population of Kaufman County?
145,310 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 209,235.

How big is Kaufman County?
780.71 square miles (2,022 km2) of land, plus 26.8 square miles of water, mostly Cedar Creek
Reservoir.

What is the county seat of Kaufman County?
Kaufman, founded as Kings Fort in 1840 and renamed for David S. Kaufman in 1852, is the county
seat; Forney is the county’s largest city.

How many towns and cities are in Kaufman County?
Fourteen incorporated places — 7 cities, 5 towns and 2 villages — plus three
census-designated places: Heartland, Travis Ranch and Elmo.

Are Dallas and Mesquite part of Kaufman County?
Only technically. Both cities are centred in Dallas County; their Kaufman County territory is a
thin, largely unpopulated annexed edge, not a real Kaufman community.

What ZIP codes does Kaufman County use?
75142 for Kaufman, 75126 for Forney/Talty/Travis Ranch, 75160/75161 for Terrell, 75114 for
Crandall, 75143 for Kemp, 75147 for Mabank, and 75158 for Scurry.

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