Fort Bend County strives to be the most family friendly community in Texas by providing a high quality, enriching and safe environment. Each department and elective office provides fast, friendly service to its customers and continually strives to be number one in efficiency and effectiveness. The Commissioners Court fulfills its leadership role by providing necessary resources to the offices and departments to accomplish their duties and goals by establishing budgets, policies and procedures to make the most efficient use of the resources and by actively pursuing quality businesses to locate in Fort Bend County.

Physical Description

  1. Location
    Fort Bend County is located in the Houston metropolitan area of southeast Texas. It encompasses a total of 875.0 square miles (562,560 acres). The terrain varies from level to gently rolling with elevations from 46 to 127 feet above sea level, with an average elevation of 85 feet. US 59 traverses the center of the County from northeast to southwest, while US 90A crosses from east to west. State Highways (SH) 6, 36 and 99 provide important north-south routes. Neighboring counties are Austin, Brazoria, Harris, Waller and Wharton.

  2. Climate
    The growing season is 296 days, with an average annual rainfall of 45.3 inches. The average first freeze date in the fall is December 7, and the average last freeze date is February 14. Temperatures range from a mean minimum in January of 41º to a mean maximum in July of 93º. The Gulf of Mexico is located only 50 miles from Fort Bend County and its close proximity helps to hold the summer and winter temperatures to moderate levels. Extremes in climatic changes are usually short in duration. View current weather conditions.

  3. Natural Resources
    Fort Bend County has approximately 11 square miles of surface water in rivers, creeks and small lakes. The County is drained by the Brazos and San Bernard Rivers as well as Oyster Creek. The Brazos River formed a broad alluvial valley, up to ten miles wide in places. The resulting fertile soils have been a major contributing factor to the agricultural industry in the County.

    The three permanently floatable waterways in Fort Bend County are the Brazos River, the San Bernard River south of Farm to Market Road 442, and Oyster Creek south of State Highway 6. The San Bernard River south of Interstate Highway 10 is a seasonally floatable waterway, shared on the west with adjacent counties. Soils vary from the rich alluvial soils in the Brazos River Valley to sandy loam and clay on the prairies. Native trees include pecan, oak, ash and cottonwood, with some old bottomland forests remaining along waterways.

    Mineral resources include oil, gas, and sulfur. Sand, clay, and gravel are commercially produced.