McAllen, Texas

McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, across from the Mexican city of Reynosa. As of the 2025 census estimate, McAllen's population was 150,640, making it the most populous city in Hidalgo County, the second most populous city in the Rio Grande Valley, and the 23rd-most populous city in Texas. The city anchors the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metropolitan area, the fifth largest metropolitan area in the state of Texas, with 921,549 residents as of 2025. The binational Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan area counts a population of more than 1.5 million. From its settlement in 1904, the area around McAllen was largely rural and agricultural in character, but the latter half of the 20th century had steady growth, which has continued in the 21st century in the metropolitan area. The introduction of the maquiladora economy and the North American Free Trade Association led to an increase in cross-border trading with Mexico.