Kleberg County is a county in Texas, United States, on the Gulf Coast south of Corpus Christi. It had a population of 31,040 at the 2020 census and covers 1,090 square miles (2,800 km2), of which 881 square miles (2,280 km2) is land and 209 square miles (540 km2) is water, centred near 27\u00b026\u2032N 97\u00b040\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Kingsville is the county seat and its postal code is 78363. The county has one incorporated city, two census-designated places, and one unincorporated community, and sits in the Central time zone.<\/p>\n
Kleberg County has four named places on the map: one incorporated city and two census-designated places, plus one unincorporated community. Much of the county’s land is not settlement at all — it lies inside the King Ranch, which extends into neighboring counties.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsville<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 25,402<\/td>\n | 78363<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Riviera<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 78379<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ricardo<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 1,075<\/td>\n | 78363<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Loyola Beach<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 78358<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n The old county page also listed “El Martillo,” “Ojo de Angua,” “Rivera Colonia,” “Riviera Beach,” “Vattman,” and “Vattmannville” as separate places, along with Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi’s city limits touch Kleberg County’s northern edge but its townsite and population sit in Nueces County, so it is not repeated here. The other six names could not be confirmed as distinct, currently inhabited places and are omitted rather than guessed at.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nLoyola Beach, on Baffin Bay, uses the 78358 Riviera-area ZIP for mail.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nKleberg County lies on the Coastal Bend of the Gulf of Mexico, which forms its eastern boundary. The terrain is flat coastal prairie and brushland, much of it in ranchland rather than cropland. Baffin Bay, a long saltwater inlet, cuts into the county’s southeastern edge and forms a large share of the boundary with Kenedy County to the south.<\/p>\n Kleberg County borders Nueces County to the north, Jim Wells County to the west, Brooks County to the southwest, and Kenedy County to the south, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east.<\/p>\n Demographics<\/h2>\nKleberg County’s population was 31,040 at the 2020 census. Kingsville is by far the largest community, followed by the CDP of Ricardo. Median household income in the county runs well below the Texas median of $75,780, reflecting the county’s ranching and agricultural base. Population density is roughly 35 people per square mile of land.<\/p>\n Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\nRanching dominates the local economy: most of the county’s land area lies within the King Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the world, which straddles Kleberg and several neighboring counties. Kingsville is also home to Texas A&M University-Kingsville, the county’s largest employer alongside the Naval Air Station Kingsville, a jet-training base for the U.S. Navy. Oil and gas production and Gulf fishing round out the local economy.<\/p>\n History<\/h2>\nKleberg County was organized in 1913, carved out of Nueces County, and named for Robert J. Kleberg, an early settler and King Ranch manager whose family controlled much of the land the new county covered. Kingsville, founded in 1904 as a railroad town on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, became the county seat from the start.<\/p>\n Getting There<\/h2>\nU.S. Route 77 (part of Interstate 69E) runs the length of the county, with State Highways 141 and 285 and Farm Road 771 serving the smaller communities.<\/p>\n
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