Talk to many a Texan and you’ll learn pretty quickly that can matter quite a lot where you are.
Say you hear there’s rain in North Texas. Well, where does North Texas end and the Panhandle begin? What about Northeast Texas? Plenty of folks call that region East Texas. Are they one and the same? Two distinct regions?
Speaking of East Texas, what about Houston? Is that East Texas or Southeast? Gulf Coast? Its own thing entirely?
Debating and discussing the finer points of various regions of Texas is just about as Texan as bluebonnets and barbecue, and it’s at such intersections that David Courtney, Texas Monthly’s “The Texanist,” often finds himself. He joined the Standard to break down a new map the magazine released that sought to define the state’s regions.
Starting from the top
Courtney leaves the northernmost stretch of the state, some 26 counties by his estimation, as the name many a Texan knows it by – the Panhandle.
Just south of the Panhandle is a region dubbed the Greater Panhandle Plains. Courtney then delineates North Texas as the region immediately east of it.
“Over to think of where the easternmost portion of the Panhandle intersects with the rest of the state,” Courtney said.
Going further east, we’ve got *drumroll* Northeast Texas.
“Some of my reasoning for that one…” Courtney said. “Well, a lot of times it’s included in North Texas, which I don’t fully agree with. But yeah, when it’s immortalized in a Willis Alan Ramsey song, his great ‘Northeast Texas Women,’ I think it deserves its own its own region.”
East headed to the coast
When it comes to the eastern region of the state, Courtney does a bit of splitting.
Just south of Northeast Texas is “classic East Texas,” he says. This includes Lufkin, Tyler and the Piney Woods.
But Beaumont?
“Beaumont is in Southeast Texas,” Courtney said.
This region split includes Texas’ largest city, Houston, which Courtney acknowledges garners some debate.
“Some maps will include that in just a larger East Texas. But I think ‘Southeast Texas’ is distinct from ‘East Texas,'” Courtney said.
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South Texas split
The region Courtney labels as “South Texas” is one of the largest on his map, starting from the city he identifies as the likely capital of the region, San Antonio, and going south.
However, as you get to the border, Courtney identifies a different region entirely – the Rio Grande Valley.
“I think Rio Grande Valley is distinct from South Texas and deserved its own region,” Courtney said.
All the rest
As you continue up from the Rio Grande Valley along the border through South Texas, we reach the region Courtney identifies as the Hill Country – stretching from the border to the middle of the state and including the capital, Austin.
But what about Waco?
“That’s going to be Central Texas,” Courtney said. “I grew up in Temple. That’s classic Central.”
And stretching out past the Panhandle Plains we finally reach Far West Texas, which encompasses the Trans-Pecos region and El Paso.
Regional reactions
Since Texas Monthly published its map, Courtney says they’ve received a lot of feedback and interest – but some pushback for thing like splitting up what was known as the “Gulf Coast” region and not including a classic “West Texas” region.
Courtney says his aim was not necessarily to reinvent the wheel, but to “improve the wheel.”
“Can you make a wheel more round?” Courtney said.
