Somerset is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States. It is located less than 20 miles south of downtown San Antonio and is part of the metropolitan area. Its population was 1,756 at the 2020 census.
History
English-speaking European settlers had already arrived in the area by the early 1800s. Somerset was named for an organized settlement that had been begun in 1848, in what is now Atascosa County, by a group of Baptist families from Somerset, Kentucky. The present site was named Somerset when the First Townsite Company was formed on the Artesian Belt Railroad right-of-way on May 25, 1909, by A. M. Pyron, Carl Kurz, and Jonas A. Kerr.
In 1913, while drilling for artesian water, Kurz discovered oil and an economic boom followed. The Somerset oilfield extended from Somerset to below Pleasanton and was the largest known shallow field in the world at that time. Two oil refineries in the field and a pipeline into San Antonio handled the high-gravity crude.
The town grew rapidly from 50 residents in 1925 to 700 in 1928; it was served by a state bank, a 10-room hotel, and several machine and blacksmith shops. A post office opened there in 1920. A nearby lignite coal mine also added to the booming economy of the area.
During the 1920s, farmers turned from cotton to dryland fruit and vegetable farming. In 1931, the Somerset Fruit Growers Exchange building was dedicated, and between truck farming, oil, and coal, the town prospered until the mid-1930s, when diminishing oil returns and the Great Depression caused a decline. In 1931, the town reported 20 businesses; by 1958, only eight remained.
In 1920, the Somerset Independent School District was formed from at least five other school districts: Wildman, Senior, Bexar, Old Rock (Old Somerset area), and Oak Island. The Somerset Police Department was created in 1972 followed by the city being incorporated in 1973. Somerset has a mayor-council form of city government.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, Somerset has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Somerset had a population of 1,756, a median age of 35.1 years, 26.2% of residents under the age of 18, and 13.8% of residents 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.4 males age 18 and over.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 591 households in Somerset, of which 43.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 48.1% were married-couple households, 15.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 21.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 870 || 49.5%
|-
| Black or African American || 1 || 0.1%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 9 || 0.5%
|-
| Asian || 3 || 0.2%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Some other race || 408 || 23.2%
|-
| Two or more races || 465 || 26.5%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,402 || 79.8%
|}
2000 census
As of the 2000 census,