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Santa Maria, Texas

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1929 and the latest in 2002. It stands in the Harlingen-San Benito census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78592. The Survey maps it on the Santa Maria quadrangle. 651 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 66 feet above sea level.

Santa Maria within Cameron County

Population over time

2 figures

Santa Maria fell from 733 to 651 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010733
2020651-82 (-11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 13 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Photographs

3 photographs, 1939

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Side of barn of Mexican day laborer with pigeon cote. Near Santa Maria, Texas
Side of barn of Mexican day laborer with pigeon cote. Near Santa Maria, Texas
Lee, Russell, 1939. Library of Congress
Mexican day laborer's hut near Santa Maria, Texas
Mexican day laborer's hut near Santa Maria, Texas
Lee, Russell, 1939. Library of Congress
Bench of potted plants at side of home of Mexican day laborer. Near Santa Maria, Texas
Bench of potted plants at side of home of Mexican day laborer. Near Santa Maria, Texas
Lee, Russell, 1939. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

143 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 143 fires within 5 miles of Santa Maria between 1993 and 2019, burning about 1,287 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 50 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism50
Debris and open burning48
Missing data/not specified/undetermined39
Equipment and vehicle use2
Smoking2
Recreation and ceremony1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
27 September 2005Debris and open burning2.0 acresLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeOTHL CANAL
29 August 2006Smoking2.0 acresLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeSMOKEY JOE'S
28 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Texas Refuge ComplexGENESE1
25 August 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeADAMS CANAL N/O
25 August 2002Smokingunder an acreSouth Texas Refuge ComplexROADSIDE
23 August 2004Debris and open burningunder an acreLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge2556
23 August 2004Arson/incendiarism30 acresLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeLA FERIA
19 August 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreLower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife RefugeSANTA MARIA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cameron County

Storms near this place

2 since 2025

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Maria in 2 storm reports in 2025: 1 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2025Flash FloodSanta Maria-Torrential rains progressed from Hidalgo into Cameron County during the evening of March 27th, with multiple repeating rounds creating rapid onset flash flooding. The multiple rounds of rainfall in western Cameron County added up to more than 10 inches for the period, with some areas likely receiving 9 or more inches in just three hours. Widespread flooding was reported between Santa Rosa, Combes, Palm Valley, and La Feria, with nighttime swift water rescues reported in La Feria and Santa Rosa. The final band of torrential rain (along with strong wind) whipped through just after midnight CST (1 AM CDT) March 28th. ||The IH-2 frontage road was littered with stalled vehicles, and dozens more were removed and placed along the shoulders in each direction. High water continued well after the rains ended, into March 29th. ||It is likely that dozens, if not over 100, structures were impacted to various degrees ranging from affected to major damage, with several likely considered destroyed. Full damage data will be available in later 2025.
March 2025FloodSanta Maria-The Texas Department of Transportation, along with Cameron County and local city emergency management between La Feria and Rio Hondo, and other law enforcement, and neighborhood groups reported a continuation of 2 to 3 feet of water depth (higher in a few locations) well into March 28th, with only a slow recession on the 29th and 30th before the water drained out for all but a few locations. Flood related impacts continued as follows:||*Much of the IH-2 frontage between La Feria and Harlingen, and the IH-69E frontage from the Willacy County line through San Benito, was under 2 to 3 feet of water.|*The Arroyo Colorado gauge in Harlingen recorded a record high level of 30.44 feet at 7 AM on March 28th. While some of the record water levels were due to slow flows due to a need for dredging of sediment and other debris, locations inside the levee saw water levels greater than those seen from all but Hurricane Beulah, and low water crossings in western Cameron County were under at least 2-3 feet of water depth.|*State and Farm-to-Market roads between Harlingen and Rio Hondo remained closed from at least 2 feet of water depth well into the 28th. |*Numerous homes, vehicles, and more remained under water in Palmview, Combes, Rio Hondo, Harlingen, and Primera. The community of Green Valley was especially hard hit. |*The duration of high water was partly driven by drainage backups and fill-ups in the Flood Control project of canals, ditches, and conveyance through-ways between Hidalgo, Cameron, and Willacy - with northern Cameron County communities bearing the brunt due to their location having the heaviest rainfall totals, which extended into southeast Hidalgo County. ||Water finally drained out except for a few locations by March 30th. Final damage statistics will be included in the Flash Flood entry that includes the Harlingen/Rio Hondo/San Benito area.

Every storm recorded in Cameron County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Longoria Townsite Colonia0.2 miles13
Colonia Iglesia Antigua0.6 miles13
Bluetown1.4 miles13
Bluetown Colonia1.5 miles13
Arroyo Alto Colonia4.2 miles13
Arroyo Alto4.2 miles13
El Venadito Colonia4.4 miles13
Venadito4.6 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Santa MariaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q978540The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1376017. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.