About Nueces County And The Appraisal District

Nueces County is situated on the Gulf of Mexico southeast of San Antonio. It is bounded on the north by the Nueces River and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Nueces County comprises 847 square miles of the Coastal Prairies region. The county seat and largest city, Corpus Christi, is 210 miles southwest of Houston and 145 miles southeast of San Antonio. Two major highways serve the county: Interstate 37 and U.S. Highway 77. Two railroads, the Missouri Pacific and the Texas-Mexican, also cross the county.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Nueces County as of the 2000 census is 313,645 residents. Leading industries included tourism, agribusiness, general and heavy construction, oil and gas field services, meat packing, soft-drink bottling and canning, commercial printing, petroleum refining, ship building and repairing, and zinc refining. Also important were manufacturers of dairy products, bakery products, men’s and women’s clothing, plastics and resins, cement and ready-mix concrete, prefabricated metal buildings, oilfield machinery, and electronic components. Leading attractions in Nueces County include Padre Island National Seashore, Mustang Island State Park, the Texas State Aquarium, the Art Museum of South Texas, and the USS Lexington, a World War II aircraft carrier-museum in Corpus Christi Bay. The county has thirteen independent school districts.

The Nueces County Appraisal District was created by the 1979 Texas Legislature to consolidate property value appraisals into single (county) districts. The appraisal district became active in 1982 and is responsible for appraising property in the county for ad valorem tax purposes. The chief appraiser is the chief administrator of the appraisal office and is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the appraisal district board of directors.