According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 868 sq mi (2,250 km2), of which 3.4 sq mi (8.8 km2) (0.4%) are covered by water.[2]
U.S. Decennial Census[3] 1850–2010[4] 2010[5] 2020[6]
Jim Wells County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition 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 may be of any race.
At the 2000 census,[9] 39,326 people, 12,961 households and 10,096 families were residing in the county. The population density was 46 people/sq mi (18 people/km2). The 14,819 housing units had an average density of 17 per square mile (6.6/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 77.90% White, 0.60% African American, 0.62% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 118.83% from other races, and 2.43% from two or more races. About 75.71% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.
Of the 12,961 households, 40.2% had children under 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.1% were not families. About 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.50% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.99, and the average family size was 3.45.
Age distribution was 31.4% under 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.20 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 91.40 males.
The median household income was $28,843, and the median family income was $32,616. Males had a median income of $30,266 versus $17,190 for females. The per capita income for the county was $12,252. About 20.1% of families and 24.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.8% of those under age 18 and 21.3% of those aged 65 or over.
Government and politics
Jim Wells, longtime Democratic political boss and namesake of Jim Wells County.
Located in South Texas, Jim Wells County is part of the oldest Democratic stronghold in the entire United States, a region that has consistently voted for Democrats since the days of Woodrow Wilson. The Jim Wells County Democratic Party has maintained its influence in the county despite massive demographic changes due to civil rights, the collapse of Jim Crow and poll taxes, and mass immigration from Mexico.[10] The only Republicans to win the county in presidential elections since its creation are Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, Richard Nixon in his 1972 landslide and Donald Trump in 2020. Since 2004, Jim Wells County has become slightly less Democratic than it was during the late twentieth century. Despite this shift, the Democratic nominee won at least 53.77 percent of the county's vote in every presidential election from 1976 through 2016. In 2020, the county ended its streak of Democratic victories when it was won by Donald Trump by a 10% margin.[11]
In the 2018 gubernatorial election, Republican Greg Abbott won 52.04% of the vote in Jim Wells County, becoming the first member of his party to win the county in a race for a state office.[12] In the same election, Democrat Beto O'Rourke won the county in the Senate contest with 53.85% of the vote.[13]
United States presidential election results for Jim Wells County, Texas[14]
Jim Wells County is known as the home of the "Box 13 scandal", the infamous ballot box that gave Lyndon Baines Johnson an 87-vote edge out of 988,295 cast over popular former governor Coke Stevenson in the Democratic primary election. It was later demonstrated that 200 votes, for Johnson, were "stuffed" into the ballot box after the polls closed.[15] Johnson went on to win the election.
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