About Polk County, Texas
Between the Piney Woods and the Gulf Coast, built around a county seat, a very large lake, and a sovereign tribal nation.
Where it is
Polk County sits about 75 miles north of Houston on US-59, at the point where the East Texas Piney Woods start giving way to the Gulf Coast plain. US-190 crosses it east to west. It is close enough to Houston for a day trip and far enough that it does not feel like a suburb of anything.
The communities
Livingston is the county seat and the service center — groceries, hospital, courthouse, most of the retail. Onalaska sits on Lake Livingston and is the most lake-oriented town. Corrigan anchors the north end along US-59. Goodrich, Leggett, Seven Oaks, Moscow, Ace and Dallardsville are smaller communities spread across the county, and a large number of named lake subdivisions ring the water.
Lake Livingston
The lake is the single largest feature of the county, and it shapes everything from the economy to the housing stock. Roughly a third of the county's housing units are not anyone's primary residence — weekend places, second homes and seasonal rentals, many owned by people from the Houston area. Conservation pool is 131 feet. Lake Livingston State Park drew about 171,000 visitors last year.
The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
The Tribe is a sovereign nation headquartered in Polk County and one of the county's largest employers. Its Naskila gaming operation employs more than a thousand people and accounts for a meaningful share of private-sector wages in the county. A new resort is under construction in Leggett, with the first phase opening in late 2028.
Schools
Six independent school districts serve the county: Livingston, Onalaska, Corrigan-Camden, Big Sandy (based in Dallardsville), Leggett and Goodrich. District boundaries do not follow mailing addresses — a Livingston address can be in Onalaska ISD, which surprises people every year.
Work and business
The county has roughly 859 employer establishments and close to 5,000 non-employer businesses. Healthcare, education, retail, timber, hospitality and the trades carry most of the employment. Construction on the new resort runs through 2028 and is the largest single employment event in the county's history.
Sources
Population, business counts and housing figures are from U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts and County Business Patterns. Lake figures are from the USGS gauge at Livingston Reservoir and Texas Parks & Wildlife. Employment and construction details come from the Tribe's own announcements and public filings.