Only three of Texas’s 254 counties are completely dry today. Sixty are fully wet, and the other 191 are partially wet, meaning the rules shift from one city or precinct to the next inside the same county. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s free interactive map of dry counties in Texas is the most reliable way to check a specific location, because it breaks the state down past the county line to the city and justice of the peace precinct level.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC Publishes Interactive Wet/Dry Map
Where to Find the Map
The TABC launched its interactive wet/dry map in early 2025. It’s hosted on ArcGIS and reached through the TABC’s website at no charge.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC Publishes Interactive Wet/Dry Map Pick a county to see whether it is dry, partially wet, or wet, then drill down to the jurisdictions inside it to see which categories of alcohol sales voters have approved.
A general-purpose map that colors each county one shade will mislead you in most of the state. A county showing as partially wet can contain incorporated cities that allow full liquor sales while the surrounding unincorporated land prohibits everything. The TABC map keeps those layers separate.
How Many Dry, Wet, and Partial Counties Texas Has
As of March 2025, the counts are three completely dry counties, 60 completely wet counties, and 191 partially wet counties.1Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. TABC Publishes Interactive Wet/Dry Map The dry number has been shrinking for decades as more communities vote to allow sales.2Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Local Option Elections Rural areas in the Panhandle and West Texas held onto dry status longer than urban corridors and the Gulf Coast, but the partial category now covers most of the state, and most Texans live somewhere at least some form of alcohol can be legally purchased.
Why Your Address Matters More Than Your County
Texas alcohol law operates at three overlapping levels: county, city, and justice of the peace precinct. Each of those jurisdictions can hold its own election to allow or prohibit alcohol sales, and the result applies only inside that jurisdiction’s boundaries.2Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Local Option Elections A city sitting inside a dry county can vote itself wet. A single precinct can do the same. Two addresses a mile apart can have completely different rules.
Justice of the peace precincts are the smallest unit where this happens, and they get redistricted from time to time, which has historically caused confusion about which areas carry which status.3Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Local Option Liquor Elections For a business picking a site or a resident checking what’s legal at home, the county color is a starting point. The precinct view on the TABC map is the answer.
What “Partially Wet” Actually Allows
Communities don’t just vote wet or dry. They vote on specific sales categories, and a permit for one does not authorize another. The common ballot options you’ll see reflected on the map include:
- Beer and wine for off-premise consumption, which covers grocery and convenience store sales for customers to take home.
- Beer and wine for on-premise consumption, which lets restaurants and bars serve beer and wine on-site.
- All alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption, which authorizes package stores to sell distilled spirits, beer, and wine for takeaway.
- Mixed beverages for on-premise consumption, which allows restaurants and bars to prepare and serve cocktails and other drinks containing distilled spirits.
Some communities approve mixed-drink sales only for establishments holding a food and beverage certificate. That certificate requires the business to operate as a restaurant or to draw no more than 60 percent of its receipts from alcohol, and to maintain permanent food-service facilities. It lets a community allow cocktails at dinner without opening the door to standalone bars.
So when the map labels a city “wet,” read the fine print on which categories were approved before assuming you can buy liquor there as easily as beer.
Private Clubs in Dry Areas
If you spot what looks like a bar in an area the map shows as dry, you’re probably looking at a private club. A Private Club Registration Permit lets a club legally serve drinks to its members even where retail sales are prohibited.
The requirements are real. The club has to maintain at least 50 members who live in the county where it operates, or at least 100 members across the home county and adjacent counties. A membership committee of three or more members must review every application. The club has to provide regular food service, occupy a permanent space, and generate enough non-alcohol revenue to cover its rent, taxes, or mortgage. No employee or officer can earn compensation from alcohol sales beyond service charges. Members can bring guests, but the club can’t operate as a walk-in bar for the public. Nonprofits can obtain a Private Club Exemption Certificate that waives the state’s permit fee, and clubs can apply for a Late Hours Certificate to serve beyond the standard legal hours.
Distance Rules the Map Doesn’t Show
Even in a wet area, local distance rules can keep an alcohol-selling business out of a specific address. A county commissioners court or city council can prohibit alcohol sales within 300 feet of a church, a public or private school, or a public hospital. For schools, the distance can be increased to 1,000 feet if the school district’s board of trustees, or the governing body of a private school with more than 100 students, asks for it.4State of Texas. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code ALCO BEV 109.33
These rules are permissive, not automatic. If a city or county has not adopted an ordinance imposing the restriction, there is no state-level minimum distance between an alcohol-selling location and a church, school, or hospital.5Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. FAQs Local governments can also grant variances from their own ordinances. The TABC map tells you whether the surrounding jurisdiction allows sales at all; the local clerk’s office tells you whether a specific storefront clears any distance ordinance in effect.