FIPS code 48505 is Zapata County, Texas. With a population of 13,896 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #143 in Texas and #2221 nationally. Zapata County is part of the Zapata, TX. The state FIPS code for Texas is 48. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
48505
Population
13,896
2022 ACS · #2221 nationally
Density
13.9/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
998
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, adjacent to metro
RUCC 6
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 48505 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 48 (Texas) with the 3-digit county identifier 505. Together they uniquely identify Zapata County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 48505
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 48505.
Median Household Income
$35,061
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
37.2%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
30.9
ACS B01002_001E
Metropolitan Area
Adjacent Counties (3)
Counties that share a border with Zapata County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 48505.
Federal Datasets Using Code 48505
FIPS code 48505 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 48505 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:505",
"in": "state:48",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Zapata County, Texas, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '48505';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '48'
AND county_fips = '505';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 48505 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "48",
county = "505",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Zapata County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Zapata County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 78067 | 100.0% |
| 78076 | 100.0% |
| 78564 | 100.0% |
| 78545 | 31.4% |
| 78361 | 9.4% |