Crystal City, Texas
Crystal City lies in Zavala County in the Rio Grande Valley / Border region of South Texas, about 83 miles northwest of Laredo and roughly 94 miles southwest of San Antonio. The town sits amid the flat, irrigated farmland of the Winter Garden district, and it became widely known as the "Spinach Capital of the World" for the vegetable crops grown in the area; a statue of the cartoon character Popeye stands in town as a nod to that reputation. Crystal City also figures in Texas history as an early center of Mexican-American political organizing.
Place essentials
Official Census snapshot- Census place type
- City
- July 2025 population
- 5,871
- Change from 2020 base
- -7.7%
- Land area
- 3.7 sq. mi.
- County footprint
- Zavala County
Place type, county footprint, and land area use the Census Bureau's January 1, 2025 geography. Population uses Vintage 2025 estimates through July 1, 2025; change compares that estimate with the April 1, 2020 estimates base. Geography file | Population file
Property here runs through the appraisal district and tax office for Zavala County. The homestead exemption, appraisal cap, protests, and any MUD, PID, or special districts all sit at the parcel level.
Official routes
Use the office for the parcel address; a mailing city is not always the governing city.
County context
What to know around Crystal City
County lines carry much of the property, land, water, and outdoors context around Crystal City.
Local History
Crystal City built its identity on spinach farming and the Popeye statue
Crystal City earned the name Spinach Capital of the World in the 1930s. The county still has a Popeye statue from that era.
Property Tax
Two offices handle your property taxes in Zavala County
Zavala County has a separate appraisal district and a tax assessor-collector. They do different jobs, and you need to know which one to contact.
History
A WWII internment camp once held thousands in Crystal City
The U.S. government ran one of its largest WWII civilian internment camps in Crystal City from 1942 to 1948, holding Japanese, German, and other civilians.
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