Sour Lake is a city in Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,773 at the 2020 census. It was originally named "Sour Lake Springs", after the sulphurous spring water that flowed into the nearby lake. The city is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sour Lake is the oldest surviving town in Hardin County.
The Ecuadorian jungle town commonly referred to as Lago Agrio was named after Sour Lake by Texaco when the company established the oil-producing settlement. Lago Agrio is Spanish for "Sour Lake". The official name of the Ecuadorian town is Nueva Loja.
Geography
Sour Lake is in southern Hardin County at the intersection of state highways 105 and 326. Highway 105 leads west to Cleveland, and east to the US 69 freeway in the northern part of Beaumont. Highway 326 leads north to Kountze, the Hardin county seat, and south to U.S. Route 90 at Nome.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Sour Lake has a total area of , of which , or 1.21%, are water.
|2020=1773
| align-fn = center
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Sour Lake had a population of 1,773, with 720 households and 620 families residing in the city. The median age was 38.9 years; 23.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 86.4 males age 18 and over.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 720 households in Sour Lake, of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.1% were married-couple households, 18.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 30.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 810 housing units, of which 11.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 10.7%.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 1,519 || 85.7%
|-
| Black or African American || 45 || 2.5%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 7 || 0.4%
|-
| Asian || 27 || 1.5%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 4 || 0.2%
|-
| Some other race || 29 || 1.6%
|-
| Two or more races || 142 || 8.0%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 125 || 7.1%
|}
2000 census
As of the census