{"id":8224,"date":"2023-09-20T23:25:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T23:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=8224"},"modified":"2026-08-22T17:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T17:16:16","slug":"sterling-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/sterling-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Sterling County, Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sterling County is a county in Texas, United States, on the Edwards Plateau in the west-central part of the state. It had a population of 1,372 at the 2020 census and covers 924 square miles (2,390 km2) centred near 31\u00b049\u2032N 101\u00b003\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Sterling City is the county seat, and its postal code is 76951. The county has one incorporated city and one unincorporated community, no organized townships, and sits in the Central time zone.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Sterling County<\/h2>\n<p>Sterling County has just two named places on record: one incorporated seat and one unincorporated crossroads community. The table below marks each with its type.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Sterling City<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>76951<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Broome<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>76951<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>76951 &mdash; Sterling City (also serves Broome and the rest of the county)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sterling County is served by a single ZIP code, reflecting its small population spread across a wide, largely ranching landscape.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Sterling County lies on the Edwards Plateau, a semi-arid tableland of thin caliche soils and low mesquite-and-grass rangeland typical of West Texas sheep and cattle country. The county covers 924 square miles, of which 923 square miles are land and about 0.1 square miles are water &mdash; one of the driest water shares of any Texas county. The North Concho River and its tributaries drain much of the county, feeding into a network of stock tanks and playa lakes that ranchers rely on through dry seasons. Elevations across the county run roughly 2,100 to 2,600 feet, with gently rolling terrain broken by low limestone escarpments near the river breaks. Sterling County borders <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mitchell-county-texas\/\">Mitchell County<\/a> to the north, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/coke-county\/\">Coke County<\/a> to the northeast, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/tom-green-county\/\">Tom Green County<\/a> to the southeast and south, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/reagan-county\/\">Reagan County<\/a> to the southwest, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/glasscock-county\/\">Glasscock County<\/a> to the west, and <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/howard-county-texas\/\">Howard County<\/a> to the northwest.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Sterling County had 1,372 residents at the 2020 census, making it the ninth-least populous county in Texas. Sterling City, the seat, is by far the largest community; Broome is a small rural crossroads with no separately counted population. Sterling County&#8217;s median household income runs below the Texas median of $75,780, typical of a sparsely populated ranching county. Population density is roughly 1.5 people per square mile.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Ranching &mdash; cattle and sheep, with some goat operations &mdash; has been the backbone of Sterling County&#8217;s economy since settlement, and large family ranches still dominate the landscape. Oil production, which began in 1947, has supplemented ranch income for decades and remains an active part of the local economy alongside ranching, with pumpjacks a common sight on county roads. Cotton was tried in the early 20th century but proved unsuited to the county&#8217;s thin soils and low rainfall and was largely abandoned within a generation. There is little manufacturing or retail base; most residents commute to San Angelo or Big Spring for larger shopping and services. Sterling City Independent School District serves the entire county from a single campus, and Howard County Junior College District provides local access to higher education and workforce training. Community life centers on the county fair, local rodeo events, and Friday-night high school sports, which draw families from across the sparsely populated county.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Sterling County was organized in 1891 from part of Tom Green County. It is named for W. S. Sterling, an early settler in the area. Like many rural Texas counties of the era, Sterling County voted itself &#8220;dry&#8221; under prohibition in 1898; it has since relaxed to a &#8220;moist&#8221; status, allowing limited alcohol sales. The county&#8217;s economy shifted decisively toward oil and gas after the 1947 discovery, which brought new investment to a county otherwise built on generations of ranching.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>U.S. Highway 87 runs north-south through the county and is the main route to Sterling City; State Highways 158 and 163 provide secondary connections to neighboring counties.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>San Angelo &mdash; 40 miles southeast<\/li>\n<li>Big Spring &mdash; 40 miles northwest<\/li>\n<li>Colorado City &mdash; 35 miles north<\/li>\n<li>Robert Lee &mdash; 25 miles east<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The nearest commercial airport is San Angelo Regional Airport, about 40 miles southeast of Sterling City.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>It is on the Edwards Plateau in west-central Texas, about 40 miles northwest of San Angelo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>1,372 people at the 2020 census, the ninth-least populous county in Texas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>924 square miles (2,390 km2), of which 923 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>Sterling City is the county seat and the only incorporated place in the county.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns are in Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>Two named places: the city of Sterling City and the unincorporated community of Broome.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes are in Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>The whole county is served by ZIP code 76951, centered on Sterling City.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is it called Sterling County?<\/strong><br \/>It is named for W. S. Sterling, an early settler in the area, when the county was organized in 1891.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/texas\/\">Towns and villages in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sterling County is a county in Texas, United States, on the Edwards Plateau in the west-central part of the state. It had a population of 1,372 at the 2020 census and covers 924 square miles (2,390 km2) centred near 31\u00b049\u2032N 101\u00b003\u2032W. Sterling City is the county seat, and its postal code is 76951. The county [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Sterling County, Texas","_seopress_titles_desc":"Sterling County, Texas: population, towns, ZIP codes, geography, history and neighboring counties on the Edwards Plateau.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-8224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-texas","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8224"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11772,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224\/revisions\/11772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}