Harris County, TX (FIPS 48201): Houston Metro Data

Harris County, Texas (FIPS 48201) is the third most populous county in the United States, with approximately 4.7 million residents. It is the core county of the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA, the nation's fifth-largest metropolitan area. Home to the Port of Houston (the largest US port by foreign tonnage), a massive energy sector, and the Texas Medical Center (the world's largest medical complex), Harris County is one of the most economically significant geographies in federal datasets.

The FIPS code 48201 breaks down as: state 48 (Texas) + county 201. Harris County is notable for its scale and diversity — it is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse counties in the US, and its economy spans energy, healthcare, aerospace (NASA Johnson Space Center is in adjacent Clear Lake), logistics, and manufacturing. In BLS QCEW employment data, Harris County's refining and petrochemical sector creates distinctive industry concentration patterns.

Harris County also appears prominently in FEMA flood data — the Houston area has experienced repeated major flooding events including Hurricane Harvey (2017), which caused an estimated $125 billion in damages, the largest rainfall event in US history. The FEMA NFIP database shows very high claim volumes for Harris County, making it a standard case study in flood risk, insurance coverage gaps, and climate adaptation analysis.

For researchers, the combination of Harris County's economic scale, demographic diversity, flood vulnerability, and healthcare infrastructure makes it a frequent comparison point in multi-city analyses. The full data profile is on the Harris County FIPS page, and neighboring component counties of the Houston MSA include Fort Bend (48157), Montgomery (48339), and Brazoria (48039). Browse Texas counties via Texas's state page or use the search tool.