Sinkhole risk in Bandera County, TX: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 96%
At or near the surface: 96%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 760 of Bandera County's 791 square miles on soluble rock, 760 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 22,830 residents (29 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 257 map points about 1.8 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Bandera County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 151 miles north. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Kerr County, TX 22 mi north · 99% at surface
Medina County, TX 29 mi south · 37% at surface
Real County, TX 34 mi west · 96% at surface
Kendall County, TX 35 mi east · 98% at surface
Uvalde County, TX 42 mi southwest · 54% at surface
Gillespie County, TX 43 mi northeast · 89% at surface

What Bandera County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Glen Rose Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 66% of the county. Next is the Edwards Limestone at 28%.

Against the rest of Texas

Bandera County ranks 7 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 98% of US counties on that measure.