Taft, Texas
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1925 and the latest in 1989. It stands in the Taft census division. It lies in ZIP code area 78390. The Survey maps it on the Taft quadrangle. 2,801 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 49 feet above sea level.
On record in Taft
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 2 records
Taft Public Housing Development (North)listed 2018
Taft Public Housing Development (South)listed 2018
Population over time
3 figuresTaft fell from 3,396 to 2,801 between 2000 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,396 | |
| 2010 | 3,048 | -348 (-10%) |
| 2020 | 2,801 | -247 (-8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1925 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:62500
- 1950 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:250000
- 1951 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Taft quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Corpus Christi quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
2 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Taft between 2018 and 2019, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 May 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 10 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Taft: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Phosphorus-Phosphates. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fosboro Phosphate Plant | Phosphorus-Phosphates | Producer |
Storms near this place
14 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Taft in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 3 tornado, 2 hail. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | $25,000 | Images were submitted of a radio tower damaged and partially blown down east of Taft. |
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | $20,000 | Trees were blown down across the south side of Taft. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | $20,000 | Numerous trees were damaged in Taft. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | $7,000 | Two power poles were snapped at Bravo Street. A large tree and power pole were snapped at Victoria Street. |
| May 2023 | Flash Flood | Taft | - | Texas Department of Transportation reported State Highway 188 was down to one lane due to high water over the roadway between U. S. Highway 181 and Farm to Market Road 631. |
| May 2021 | Flash Flood | Taft | - | U. S. Highway 181 was closed due to flood waters near Taft. |
| September 2018 | Flash Flood | Taft | - | Farm to Market Roads 631, 1944, and 2046 were closed due to flooding between Taft and Odem. |
| May 2015 | Flash Flood | Taft | - | Flooding occurred along Reynolds Street in Taft. Water was high enough to reach half way up fire hydrants. |
| April 2013 | Tornado (EF0) | Taft | - | Several eyewitnesses observed a tornado near the intersection of State Highway 188 and Farm to Market Road 631. The tornado remained over open field and produced no significant damage or injuries. |
| April 2013 | Tornado (EF0) | Taft | - | Local law enforcement reported a brief touchdown 8 miles north of Taft. No damage was reported. |
| July 2007 | Tornado (EF0) | Taft | - | An EF-0 tornado touched down over open country, near Hwy 188 northeast of Taft. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Taft | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Taft | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roosevelt Colonia | 0.5 miles | 11 | |
| Second Roosevelt Colonia | 0.5 miles | 11 | |
| Third Hidalgo Colonia | 0.6 miles | 11 | |
| Tierra Buena Colonia | 0.6 miles | 11 | |
| Fourth Hidalgo Colonia | 0.7 miles | 11 | |
| Fifth Hidalgo Colonia | 0.8 miles | 11 | |
| Algodon Colonia | 0.9 miles | 11 | |
| Midway | 3.1 miles | 13 |
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 Taft | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q981967 | The 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 1348200. 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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.








