The Tonkawa were the first group of Native Americans that settlers arriving in Collin County became aware of and were, along with the Caddo, present in Collin County before the 1820s.[3]
Due to white settlement of land to the east of Collin County, the Cherokee, Delaware, and Kickapoo were pushed out of their hunting grounds in the east and moved their hunting grounds to include Collin County. The Comanche also had a presence in Collin County engaging in skirmishes against white settlers.[3] In the mid 1840s, a Kiowa chief named Spotted Tail moved his band to the area between Frisco and Prosper.[4]
Several Native American sites have been found, including around Lavon Lake and Sisyer Grove Creek.[5]
American settlement
Collin County was founded on April 3rd, 1846, with the land making up the county originally being a part of Fannin County.[6][3] The original county seat for Collin County was Buckner, but was moved to McKinney in 1848 since Buckner wasn't within three miles of the county center.[7][8] Both the county and the county seat were named after Collin McKinney (1766-1861),[9] one of the five men who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence[10] and one of the 59 men who signed it.[11]
Initial settlement of Collin County saw occasional skirmishes between white settlers and Native Americans but they were never large scale and by the mid 1850s, the Caddo has withdrew from Collin County.[8]
The first settlers of Collin County were farmers who lived near streams and ran small family farms. Unlike the rest of the American South, slavery never took a strong hold in Collin County due to the lack of navigable rivers and railroads to transport cash crops to market where it could be sold.[8]
Civil War
Like many counties in North Texas, Collin County voted against secession from the United States with 70% of voter voting against secession. This is mainly due to the relatively weak hold of slavery in Collin County and the influence of James W. Throckmorton, who had represented Collin County in both the Texas Senate and the Texas House of Representatives.[8][12] Nonetheless, Collin County contributed troops to fight for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Muster rolls recorded more than 1,500 men enlisted to fight for the Confederacy[13] with Throckmorton himself leading his own company of mounted rifleman.[14]
Reconstruction and the late 19th century
Coming out of the Civil War, Collin County had a completely stagnant economy. This was made possible by pre-existing transportation issue such as the lack or railroads denying ease of transport to markets where crops could be sold. Due to the lack or railroads, farmers in Collin County had to rely on wagons to transport their crops over long distances to market, a practice which proved costly for farmers in the county.[13][15] Violence occurred in Collin County between Unionists and Confederate sympathizers with the most notable conflict being the Lee-Peacock feud which began in 1867 between Confederate veteran Bob Lee and Lewis Peacock, who was associated with the Union League. While Bob Lee was ambushed and killed by soldiers from the 6th Cavalry Regiment in 1869, retaliatory violence did not stop until the assassination of Lewis Peacock in his home in 1871.[13] Farmersville was among the locations where killings occurred as a result of the feud.[8]
1880 Map of the Houston and Texas Central Railway.
The stagnating state of the economy of Collin County would change with the arrival of the railroads. In 1872, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad arrived in Collin County connecting McKinney and Plano to markets as far south as Houston, ushering in a 50 year period of economic growth inside the county. More railroad lines such as the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway were also built in the following decades.[8] The city of Allen, Anna, and Melissa owe their names and existence to those associated with the Houston and Texas Central Railroad.[16][17][18]
Collin County, originally reliant on corn and wheat,[8] began to shift its agricultural production to produce more cotton with the arrival of the railroads.[13] By 1870, 4,371 bales of cotton were produced in the county[15] and by 1876, 10,000 acres of cotton were being planted in Collin County. Nonetheless, corn still reign as the dominant crop being grown in Collin County.[13]
Geography
1930 Collin County Soil Map
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 886 square miles (2,290km2), of which 841 square miles (2,180km2) is land and 45 square miles (120km2) (5.1%) is covered by water.[19]
U.S. Decennial Census[21] 1850–2010[22] 2010–2019[23]
In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau determined 491,675 people resided in Collin County.[24] With the economic and population growth of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, its population increased to 1,064,465 at the 2020 U.S. census.[1] The population density as of 2019 was 1,229.8 peopleper square mile (474.8 people/km2).[25] Among the population, its median age was 37.3, up from the statewide median age of 35.1. Linguistically, 11.6% of the county spoke Spanish as their household language, followed by Asian and Pacific Islander languages.[26] Altogether 29.7% of Collin County spoke a language other than English at home, contributed in part by its large foreign-born population which made up 22% of the population according to 2019 estimates from the American Community Survey.[27]
The median income for a household in the county as of 2019 was $96,134, up from $70,835 in 2000.[28] Families had a median household income of $113,471, married-couple families $127,575, and non-family households $53,986. An estimated 6.3% of Collin County's residents lived at or below the poverty line from 2014 to 2019.[29] In 2000, about 3.30% of families and 4.90% of the population lived at or below the poverty line, including 5.10% of those under age 18 and 7.10% of those aged 65 and older.
Of its residential properties, the median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $354,100 in 2019, with a total of 8% of owner-occupied housing units ranging from less than $100,000 up to $200,000.[25] In 2007, Collin County was ranked No. 21 for high property taxes in the U.S. as percentage of the homes' value on owner-occupied housing.[30] It also ranked in the top 100 for amount of property taxes paid and for percentage of taxes of income. Part is this is due to the Robin Hood plan school financing system in Texas.[31]
Race and ethnicity
Collin County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
At the 2000 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of the county was 81.39% White, 4.79% Black or African American, 0.47% Native American, 6.92% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.26% from other races, and 2.11% from two or more races; 10.27% of the population were Hispanic or Latino American of any race. In 2019, the American Community Survey estimated its non-Hispanic white population now represented 55%, reflecting a national demographic trend of diversification.[25][36] The Black or African American population grew to 10%, Asian Americans made up 16% of the population, and Hispanic or Latino Americans increased to 16% of the total population in 2019; multiracial Americans made up an estimated 2% of the county population.[25] The largest European ancestry groups from 2014 to 2019 were Germans, English Americans, and Irish and Italian Americans.[27] By the publication of the 2020 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of Collin County was 50.96% non-Hispanic white, 10.16% Black or African American, 0.36% American Indian or Alaska Native, 17.70% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.46% some other race, 4.41% multiracial, and 15.89% Hispanic or Latino American of any race.[35]
The United States Census Bureau estimated that in 2023, Collin County’s population was 1,195,359. It was also estimated that the county was 16.1% Hispanic or Latino, 49.9% NH White, 11.5% NH Black, 19.5% NH Asian, 0.4% NH Native American, 0.1% NH Pacific Islander, 2.6% NH Multiracial.[39]
Total
Population
Percentage
Hispanic or Latino
192,389
16.1%
NH White
596,604
49.9%
NH Black
137,085
11.5%
NH Asian
233,228
19.5%
NH Native American
4,298
0.4%
NH Pacific Islander
930
0.1%
NH Multiracial
30,825
2.6%
Government, courts, and politics
Government
The Collin County Administration Building located in McKinney. The building house the commissioners court
Collin County, like all counties in Texas, is governed by a Commissioners Court. The court is chaired by a county judge (equivalent to a county executive in other states) who is elected county-wide, and four commissioners who are elected by the voters in each of four precincts.[40]
Like most suburban Texas counties, Collin County has consistently supported Republican candidates in presidential and congressional elections since the 1960s. The last Democrat to win the county was native Texan Lyndon Johnson in 1964. By the 2020s, Collin County had become considered competitive in national elections due to demographic and voting trends, though it remains Republican-leaning.[42] In down-ballot races, Republicans hold all of the county-level offices and all but one of the county's seats in the state legislature.[43]
Despite its Republican lean, Collin County has trended leftward, as Joe Biden managed to win 46.9% of the vote share (compared to Donald Trump's 51.3%) in the 2020 presidential election, the best result for a Democrat since 1964. Many other suburban Texas counties, including neighboring Denton and Tarrant Counties, as well as those around Houston and Austin, showed similar swings between 2016 and 2020. However, in 2024 many of these swung back toward Trump, though Trump carried Collin County by a somewhat smaller margin than in 2016. Democrat Kamala Harris still won over 40% of the vote in 2024, becoming only the second Democrat since Biden four years prior to do since 1964.
United States presidential election results for Collin County, Texas[44]
In the 1990s Plano ISD received many non-Hispanic white families leaving urban areas. From circa 1997 and 2015 the number of non-Hispanic white children in K-12 schools in the county increased by 40,000 as part of a trend of white flight and suburbanization by non-Hispanic white families; however the same number of Plano ISD in particular decreased by 10,000 in that period.[49]
Colleges and universities
The Science Learning Center of UT Dallas, primarily located in Collin County.
Collin College opened its first campus on Highway 380 in McKinney in 1985.[50] The college has grown to seven campuses/locations—two in McKinney and two in Plano and as well as Frisco, Allen, Rockwall, Wylie, Farmersville, and Celina.[citation needed] Collin College's official service area includes all of Collin County.[51]
The majority of the University of Texas at Dallas campus in Richardson, Texas lies within Collin County.[53] While the main campus' address is officially within the jurisdiction of Richardson and Collin county, approximately one-third of the college is physically located within the border of Dallas county.[54]
Transportation
With the Red Line operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) ending with its northern terminus at Parker Road Station in Plano, most of Collin County is not served by any public transit agencies as of 2023.[55] The Texoma Area Paratransit System (TAPS) transit service provided bus routes for a short period from 2013 until Collin County bus service was suspended in 2015.[56][57] The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) in a 2022 meeting discussed the possibility of expansion of the Red Line corridor from Plano through Allen to McKinney. Either the Red Line or Silver Line could be extended north.[58] While the Red Line could be expanded further north into Allen, Allen is currently unable to levy the 1% sales tax required to become a DART member city.[59]
McKinney National Airport is a public general aviation (GA) airport located in southeast McKinney that handles between 300 and 700 flights a day.[60] The city purchased the airport in 1979, and in 2023, it completed a major expansion of the GA terminal.[60][61] In January 2025, city officials approved a $72 million project to build a commercial airline terminal on the east side of the airport.[62]
Aero Country Airport, located on the west edge of McKinney, is a privately owned public-use GA airport used primarily by single-engine aircraft, with about 30 flights per day.[63]
↑ "Civil War". Collin County History. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
1 2 Farmer, Randolph W. (2011). From Blackland Prairie to blacktop: a history of Collin County. North Texas History Center (1sted.). San Antonio, TX: Historical Pub. Network. ISBN978-1-935377-44-3.
↑ Association, Texas State Historical. "Allen, TX". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
↑ Association, Texas State Historical. "Melissa, TX". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
↑ Association, Texas State Historical. "Anna, TX". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
↑ "Americans make use of their religious freedom". Dallas News. August 11, 2021. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021. Collin County scored slightly lower on the PRRI religious diversity scale than Dallas, but Collin County is 3% Hindu, 2% Muslim, and 2% Jewish, compared to 1% for those religions in Dallas County.
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