Merkel, Texas
Merkel is a town in Taylor County on the rolling plains of West Texas, about 17 miles west of Abilene along the Interstate 20 corridor. The country around it is open ranch and farm land where cotton and cattle have long been mainstays, and wind turbines now stand across the ridges nearby. It grew up as a stop on the railroad line running west from Abilene.
Place essentials
Official Census snapshot- Census place type
- Town
- July 2025 population
- 2,496
- Change from 2020 base
- +0.1%
- Land area
- 2.8 sq. mi.
- County footprint
- Taylor 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 Taylor 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 Merkel
County lines carry much of the property, land, water, and outdoors context around Merkel.
County Origins
Taylor County waited 20 years for a government of its own
Texas created Taylor County in 1858, but the thinly settled county did not organize its own government at Buffalo Gap until 1878.
Property Tax Basics
Two offices handle property taxes here
Taylor County has both an appraisal district and a tax assessor-collector, but the county tax office does not collect property taxes — the appraisal district handles collection for most taxing units.
City History
Abilene Began With a Boxcar Office and 178 Lots
The railroad opened a station from a boxcar in 1881, sold 178 town lots in one day, and gave Taylor County a new center of gravity.
Nearby
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