Texas is known for being an exceptionally hot place each and every summer. It doesn’t matter what part of Texas either. All 268,000 square miles of the Lone Star State are capable of hitting 100 degrees, and most spots can accomplish that feat on a routine basis.

But which Texas city holds the crown for being the hottest place in the state? Is it Houston, which is known for its oppressive humidity? Or maybe Central and South Texas locations like Austin or San Antonio? Or could it be a spot in the Rio Grande Valley? It’s a topic that Texans have debated for decades, and it’s finally time to decide on the true answer.

TEXAS HEAT TRACKER: Check out current conditions as well as updated numbers on the current Lone Star heat wave

Hottest major Texas city

First, let’s just look at the hottest major cities, with populations of 500,000 or more. And for the purpose of this exercise, we’re only looking at average high temperatures in meteorological summer, or the calendar months of June, July and August. This one is easy because only six cities have at least half a million people: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso.

When you take the average daily high temperature for the past 10 summers, the city with the hottest average may surprise you. With an average of 97.6 degrees, the hottest major Texas city is El Paso. Austin comes in as the second-hottest, followed by San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas and Houston.

This doesn’t necessarily tell the entire story, though.

While El Paso is technically the hottest, it’s also a much drier heat than what much of the state gets because it’s in far West Texas and more than 600 miles away from the humid Gulf of Mexico. Dew points, which are temperatures that can indicate the level of moisture in the air, typically range between 35 and 60 degrees in El Paso during the summer.

While Houston is technically the “coolest” on the list, dew points can stay above 70 degrees for weeks at a time, sending “feels like” temperatures above 110 degrees on a consistent basis. 

Hottest midsize Texas city

Now, let’s cut the 500,000 population threshold down to 100,000 so that we can get more Texas cities in play. With the new criteria, Laredo, on the state’s southern border with Mexico, takes the top spot with an average summertime high temperature of 101.3 degrees in the past 10 years. Not far behind is another southern border town, McAllen, which has averaged a high of 99 degrees, and then San Angelo in West Texas, coming in with an average of 97.7 degrees. 

What’s the hottest place in the entire state?

If we take all population restraints off the table, the hottest city in Texas turns out to not be a city at all. Texasalmanac.com classifies Rio Grande Village as an unincorporated town with a population of 12, but temperature records have been taken daily since 2007. You can assume not many people live there because the average summertime high temperature is 105.4 degrees in the past 10 years, the highest in the state.

Rio Grande Village, on the northern banks of the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, not only is the hottest spot in Texas over the past 10 years, but 2023 has been its hottest year on record as average highs have reached an astonishing 110.7 degrees in the past few months. This includes 65 days in a row with highs of at least 100 degrees as of Friday, a streak that shows no signs of stopping. The highest temperature recorded at Rio Grande Village in 2023 was 119 degrees, which fell just 1 degree shy of the all-time Texas mark.

The hottest temperature reading in the state, 120 degrees, happened for the first time on Aug. 12, 1936, in the north Texas town of Seymour, and again on June 28, 1994, in the far west Texas town of Monahans.