Bexar County, Texas

Bexar County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 1,392,931. Its is. In, "Béxar" is pronounced in referring to Bexar County, however, in  it is commonly pronounced  (or simply "bear").

History
Bexar County was created on, , and encompassed almost the entire western portion of the , including the disputed areas of western New Mexico northward to Wyoming. After statehood, 128 counties were carved out of its area.

The county gets its name from San Antonio de Béxar, one of the twenty-three (administrative divisions) of Texas at the time of its independence. San Antonio de Béxar&mdash;originally Villa of San Fernando de Béxar&mdash;was the first civil government established in the. Specifically, the municipality was created in when fifty-five  settled near the system of s that had been established around the source of the. The new settlement was named after the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, the Spanish military outpost that protected the missions. The presidio, located at the, was founded in and named for , second son of the Duke of  (a city in ).

Geography
Bexar County is located in south-central Texas, about 190 miles (305 km) west of and 140 miles (225 km) inland from the.

The bisects the county from west to northeast; to the north of the escarpment are the rocky hills, springs and canyons of the. South of the escarpment are and the South Texas plains. The rises from springs north of downtown San Antonio, and flows southward and southeastward through the county.

According to the, the county has a total area of 3,255 (1,257 ). 3,229 km² (1,247 sq mi) of it is land and 25 km² (10 sq mi) of it (0.78%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-10.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:I-35.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:I-37.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:I-410.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 87.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 90.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 181.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:US 281.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:Texas 16.svg|20px]]

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (west)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 1,392,931 people, 488,942 households, and 345,681 families residing in the county. The was 431/km² (1,117/sq mi). There were 521,359 housing units at an average density of 161/km² (418/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 68.86%, 7.18% or , 0.80% , 1.61% , 0.10% , 17.80% from , and 3.64% from two or more races. 54.35% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 488,942 households out of which 36.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.50% were living together, 15.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.30% were non-families. 24.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.33.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.50% under the age of 18, 10.70% from 18 to 24, 30.60% from 25 to 44, 19.90% from 45 to 64, and 10.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 94.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $38,328, and the median income for a family was $43,724. Males had a median income of $30,756 versus $24,920 for females. The for the county was $18,363. About 12.70% of families and 15.90% of the population were below the, including 22.40% of those under age 18 and 12.20% of those age 65 or over.

Famous People from Bexar County

 * , actor,  ', ',  and Joan Crawford
 * of ABC's Lost
 * , Member of Congress, previously 28th District, Texas, now 23rd District, Texas
 * , Director of ', ', and .



Cities and towns
* Only a very small portion of Cibolo is located in Bexar County. ** Fair Oaks Ranch has territory in Bexar County, Kendall County, and Comal County. *** Selma and Schertz each have territory in both Bexar County and Guadalupe County. Schertz also has territory in Comal County. **** Lytle has territory in Bexar County, Atascosa County and Medina County.