COLLIN County, TX

Collin County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and a small portion of the city of Dallas is in the county. At the 2020 United States census, the county's population is 1,064,465, making it the sixth-most populous county in Texas and the 43rd-largest county by population in the United States. Its county seat is McKinney.

History

Both the county and the county seat were named after Collin McKinney (1766-1861), one of the five men who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence and the oldest of the 59 men who signed it.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (5.1%) is covered by water.

Lakes

Major highways

Neighboring counties

Communities

Cities (multiple counties)

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

Historical communities

Ghost towns

Demographics

2020 census

Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

2000 Census

In 2000, 491,675 people resided in Collin County. With the economic and population growth of the DFW metroplex, its population increased to 1,064,465 at the 2020 U.S. census. The population density as of 2019 was 1,229.8 people per square mile.

Among the population, its median age was 37.3, up from the statewide median age of 35.1. Linguistically, 11.6% of the county spoke Spanish as their household language, followed by Asian and Pacific Islander languages. Altogether 29.7% of Collin County spoke a language other than English at home, contributed in part by its large foreign-born population which made up 22% of the population.

The median income for a household in the county was $96,134, up from $70,835 in 2000. Families had a median household income of $113,471, married-couple families $127,575, and non-family households $53,986. An estimated 6.3% of Collin County's residents lived at or below the poverty line from 2014 to 2019. In 2000, about 3.30% of families and 4.90% of the population lived at or below the poverty line, including 5.10% of those under age 18 and 7.10% of those aged 65 and older.

Of its residential properties, the median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $354,100 in 2019, with a total of 8% of owner-occupied housing units ranging from less than $100,000 up to $200,000. In 2007, Collin County was ranked No. 21 for high property taxes in the U.S. as percentage of the homes' value on owner-occupied housing. It also tanked in the top 100 for amount of property taxes paid and for percentage of taxes of income. Part is this is due to the Robin Hood plan school financing system in Texas.

Race and ethnicity

At the 2000 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of the county was 81.39% White, 4.79% Black or African American, 0.47% Native American, 6.92% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.26% from other races, and 2.11% from two or more races; 10.27% of the population were Hispanic or Latino American of any race. In 2019, the American Community Survey estimated its non-Hispanic white population declined to 55%, reflecting a national demographic trend of diversification. The Black or African American population grew to 10%, Asian Americans made up 16% of the population, and Hispanic or Latino Americans increased to 16% of the total population in 2019; multiracial Americans made up an estimated 2% of the county population. The largest European ancestry groups from 2014 to 2019 were Germans, English Americans, and Irish and Italian Americans.

Religion

Christianity has historically been the predominant religious affiliation among the county's residents. According to the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute study, non-Christian religions are present and have been growing due to conversions and immigration; among the non-Christian population, 3% were Hindu, 2% Muslim and 2% Jewish.

Government, courts, and politics

Government

Collin County, like all counties in Texas, is governed by a Commissioners Court. The court is chaired by a county judge (equivalent to a county executive in other states) who is elected county-wide, and four commissioners who are elected by the voters in each of four precincts.

County Commissioners

County officials

Politics

From the 1960s through the early 2000s, Collin County was a Republican stronghold in presidential and congressional elections. The last Democrat to win the county was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Two factors caused Collin to swing hard to the Republican Party in the 1960s and 1970s: the party realignment brought about by the civil rights movement, and the expansion of the Dallas suburbs into Collin County. No Democrat has represented any part of Collin County in the Texas Legislature since 1994.

However, since the early 2000s, Collin County has been slowly moving towards the Democratic Party, particularly in Plano and Frisco. After giving George W. Bush over 70 percent in his two runs for president, it gave John McCain only 62 percent in 2008. Mitt Romney took 64 percent in 2012, but Donald Trump got only 55.2 percent in 2016. In 2020, Trump's support dwindled further, to 51.2 percent, the worst showing for a Republican in the county since 1968. This was the first time Collin County voted more Democratic than the state since 1964. At the same time, Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win 40 percent of the county's vote since Johnson, and the first non-Texan to do so since John F. Kennedy.

The county is considered a bellwether polity. Factors causing this shift include an influx of Democratic-voting younger professionals and families from states such as California, as well as a more diverse population (with increasing numbers of African-Americans along with recent immigrants and their children). Many other suburban Texas counties, including its immediate neighbors in Denton County and Tarrant County as well as those around Houston and Austin, showed similar swings since 2016.

In spite of this shift, Republicans still control every countywide office and all of the county's seats in the State Legislature as of 2022. Congressman Colin Allred, who represents its southern edge as part of the 32nd congressional district, is the only elected Democrat representing any part of the county above the municipal level.

State Board of Education member

Texas State Representatives

Texas State Senators

United States House of Representatives

Education

K-12 education

The following school districts lie entirely within Collin County:

The following districts lie partly within the county:

In the 1990s Plano ISD received many non-Hispanic white families leaving urban areas. From circa 1997 and 2015 the number of non-Hispanic white children in K-12 schools in the county increased by 40,000 as part of a trend of white flight and suburbanization by non-Hispanic white families; however the same number of Plano ISD in particular decreased by 10,000 in that period.

Colleges and universities

Collin College opened its first campus on Highway 380 in McKinney in 1985. The college has grown to seven campuses/locations—two in McKinney and two in Plano and as well as Frisco, Allen and Rockwall. Dallas Baptist University also has an extension site in Frisco, DBU Frisco. The majority of the University of Texas at Dallas campus in Richardson, Texas lies within Collin County.

Parks

Collin County Parks and Open Spaces

Media

Collin County is part of the Dallas/Fort Worth DMA. Local media outlets are: KDFW-TV, KXAS-TV, WFAA-TV, KTVT-TV, KERA-TV, KTXA-TV, KDFI-TV, KDAF-TV, and KFWD-TV. Other nearby stations that provide coverage for Collin County come from the Sherman/Denison market and they include: KTEN-TV and KXII-TV.

Newspapers in the Collin County area include the Allen American, Celina Record, Frisco Enterprise, McKinney Courier-Gazette, and the Plano Star-Courier. Nearby publications The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram also provide news coverage of cities in the county.

Notable people