Methodist Churches in Texas: 1,542 Congregations Mapped by County and City

Texas holds 1,542 Methodist congregations in the Churches List directory, the largest Methodist state block on the platform: 6 percent of the nation's 24,830 Methodist listings, spread across 656 Texas cities and towns. Houston leads with 96, Dallas holds 55, and San Antonio 50.

Eleven Texas Methodist buildings carry National Register listings. The tradition's footprint is the circuit rider's map made permanent: Methodism reached Texas with itinerant preachers ahead of the railroads, and the congregations they planted still sit in nearly every county seat.

Which Texas cities have the most Methodist churches?

Methodist Texas concentrates less than Baptist Texas: the top eight cities hold under a quarter of the 1,542 congregations. The mid-size towns tell the story — Waco (21), El Paso (18), Lubbock (17) — and below them hundreds of single-church towns where First Methodist faces First Baptist across the courthouse square, the classic Texas town plan. The denomination's recent national split has reshuffled affiliations, but the buildings and congregations remain in place.

A selection of Methodist congregations across Texas

The table holds 60 of the 1,542 Methodist congregations listed in Texas, selected for record completeness. The Methodist tradition page and the Texas state page hold the complete lists.

Where Methodist congregations stand in Texas: the map

How Methodist's Texas footprint compares nationally

Against the national picture, Texas's 1,542 edges the old Methodist heartlands of the Midwest; the directory's Methodist geography runs strongest through Ohio, Georgia (1,185), and Texas, tracing the two great routes of circuit-rider expansion — west through the Ohio Valley and southwest through the cotton states. In Texas the tradition holds 7 percent of the state's 23,267 churches, a steady second tier behind the Baptist 31 percent.

How this map was assembled

Counts come from the Churches List directory snapshot of June 11, 2026: 1,542 congregations in Texas carry the Methodist tradition label, out of 24,830 nationwide and 23,267 Texas churches of all traditions. Tradition labels derive from each congregation's source records and self-description; 422 of the Texas listings carry a website. The directory does not rank congregations. Corrections are applied through the corrections page.

Related reading in The Letter: the 7,185-church Baptist map of Texas shows the tradition Methodism shares every town square with, the Ohio Methodist circuit follows the northern route west, and the Houston guide covers the lead city. The Methodist tradition page lists all 24,830 congregations nationwide.