Waco, Texas map
31.55° N · 97.15° W · McLennan County seat · elev. ~470 ft · Central Time
Waco is the 24th-largest city in Texas and sits at the halfway point of I-35 between Austin and Dallas — about 100 miles from each. The Brazos River runs through the middle of it, and the Bosque River joins from the northwest at the bluffs that hold Cameron Park.
The Brazos cuts diagonally through the frame with I-35 crossing it downtown. Lake Waco is the water to the west on the Bosque.
Where Waco is in Texas
Waco is in Central Texas on the Blackland Prairie, at the point where I-35 crosses the Brazos River. Dallas is about 100 miles north, Austin about 100 miles south and Fort Worth about 90 miles northwest by way of I-35W. That position — a day's ride from nowhere else in the nineteenth century, an hour and a half from three million people now — is the single most important fact about the city.
It is the seat of McLennan County, which had 260,579 people in 2020 and anchors the Waco metropolitan area. Bell County and Temple are to the south, Hill County and Hillsboro to the north, and Coryell County and Gatesville to the southwest.
Two rivers meet here. The Brazos, the longest river entirely within Texas, flows southeast through the city; the Bosque River comes in from the northwest and is dammed just above the confluence to form Lake Waco. The limestone bluffs at the junction are the highest ground in the city and hold Cameron Park.
Highways
- I-35 – north to Hillsboro, where I-35W and I-35E divide for Fort Worth and Dallas; south to Temple, Georgetown and Austin.
- US-84 (Waco Drive) – northwest through Woodway and McGregor toward Gatesville and, past that, the Panhandle route; southeast to Mart and Groesbeck.
- SH-6 – southeast to Marlin, Bryan and College Station, the direct route toward Houston; northwest to Clifton.
- US-77 – the old highway running parallel to I-35, through downtown as it crosses the Brazos.
- Loop 340 – the outer ring around the east and south of the city, from Bellmead round to Hewitt.
- SH-31 – east toward Corsicana and the I-45 corridor.
- SH-317 – south along the western edge toward the Bosque valley and Belton.
Areas and neighborhoods
| Area | What's there |
|---|---|
| Downtown / Austin Avenue | The Suspension Bridge, the ALICO building, Magnolia Market at the Silos, the courthouse |
| Baylor / South Waco | Baylor University campus on the east side of Austin Ave, McLane Stadium across the Brazos |
| Cameron Park | More than 400 acres of bluffs and trails where the Bosque meets the Brazos, plus the zoo |
| Lake Waco / Woodway | The reservoir on the Bosque, Speegleville and Airport parks, and the Woodway suburbs |
| Bellmead / Lacy Lakeview | Separate cities north along I-35 and Loop 340, near the Texas State Technical College campus |
| Hewitt, Robinson, Woodway | The southern and western suburbs, most of McLennan County's recent growth |
| Waco Regional Airport | Commercial field on the northwest side beyond Lake Waco |
| North Waco / Elm Mott | Older neighborhoods and the road to the Waco Mammoth National Monument on the Bosque |
The suspension bridge, Baylor and Dr Pepper
The Waco Suspension Bridge opened in January 1870 as a single-span toll crossing of the Brazos — for years the only bridge over the river for a long distance, and a crossing point for cattle driven north on the Chisholm Trail. It is now a pedestrian bridge at the center of the downtown riverwalk, with the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum on the bank beside it at I-35 and University Parks Drive.
Baylor University was chartered in 1845 at Independence and moved to Waco in 1886, making it the oldest continuously operating university in Texas. Its campus runs south from the river along Austin Avenue; McLane Stadium, opened in 2014, sits on the opposite bank so that boats tie up at the games.
Dr Pepper was formulated in a Waco drugstore in 1885 and is the reason the old bottling plant on Fifth Street is now a museum. The most visible modern addition is Magnolia Market at the Silos, built into a pair of disused grain silos a few blocks from the courthouse, which turned downtown Waco into a destination in its own right. Northwest of the city, the Waco Mammoth National Monument protects a Columbian mammoth bone bed found on the Bosque in 1978.
Distances from Waco
| City | Road miles | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Temple | 35 | I-35 S |
| Killeen | 55 | I-35 S / I-14 W |
| Bryan | 85 | SH-6 SE |
| Fort Worth | 90 | I-35 N / I-35W N |
| Austin | 100 | I-35 S |
| Dallas | 100 | I-35 N / I-35E N |
| Houston | 185 | SH-6 SE / US-290 E |