El Rancho Vela Texas Map
Explore El Rancho Vela, Texas, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
Interactive Map of El Rancho Vela, Texas
How to Use This El Rancho Vela, Texas Map
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for El Rancho Vela, Texas. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of Texas or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to El Rancho Vela.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | El Rancho Vela |
| State | Texas (TX) |
| County | Starr County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| Latitude | 26.4038 |
| Longitude | -98.7691 |
| Population | 254 |
| Density | 760.2 /km² |
| Incorporated | N/A |
| ZIP Code | 78582 |
| Area Code | 830 |
| County Seat | Rio Grande City |
| School District | Rio Grande City Grulla Independent School District |
About El Rancho Vela, Texas
El Rancho Vela is a locality in Starr County, Texas, United States. It is a small community with a population of 254. The population density is 760.2 people per km². El Rancho Vela is located at 26.4038°N, 98.7691°W. It observes the Central Time (America/Chicago) timezone. ZIP code: 78582.El Rancho Vela emerges from the sun-bleached expanse of the brush country, where the horizon stretches flat and wide under a sky that feels unnervingly vast. It lies 3.6 miles east-northeast of Rio Grande City, TX (from Rio Grande City, TX: bearing 62°T), and is situated 2.7 miles north of Las Lomas. The terrain here is defined by low, thorny thickets and the stubborn persistence of mesquite, which breaks the monotony of the dusty plains like dark, jagged ink blots. Only two miles away, Los Olmos Creek meanders through the scrub, its presence marked by a thin ribbon of willow and hackberry that offers the only real shade for miles. The air carries the dry, mineral scent of baked earth, and as the sun dips toward the distant silhouette of Gongora Hill, the light turns a bruised, electric violet that makes the very dust glow with a fleeting, metallic heat.
El Rancho Vela remains a place where the rhythms of the land dictate the pace of human life, deeply tied to the heritage of the ranching industry that first defined this border-country territory. The economy remains tethered to the soil and the seasonal shifts of the cattle trade, a legacy that persists even as the modern world pushes against its edges. Preservation efforts find a quiet anchor at the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which sits just a mile away, protecting the fragile habitats that might otherwise vanish into the sprawl of development. Life here unfolds with a deliberate, quiet intensity, far removed from the bustle of the urban centers, centered instead on the subtle shifts in the wind and the long, slow work of maintaining a way of life that values resilience above all else.
Nearby Outdoor Places
- Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 1.3 mi, 328° NW · 277k acres
- Rio Grande City Park (Local Park) — 2.2 mi, 188° S
- Basilio Villarreal Municipal Parc (Local Park) — 2.6 mi, 228° SW
- Old Ringgold Barracks Hospital (Monument) — 3.1 mi, 233° SW
- Fort Ringgold, C.S.A. (Monument) — 3.1 mi, 234° SW
- Fort Ringgold (Monument) — 3.1 mi, 234° SW
- Las Estrellas Preserve (Park) — 7.7 mi, 307° NW
- Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area (State Conservation Area) — 10.4 mi, 260° W
- Los Ebanos Park (Local Recreation) — 16.8 mi, 130° SE
- Roma Historical Museum (Museum) — 18.2 mi, 312° NW
- Javelina Ranch (Park) — 20.7 mi, 101° E
- Falcon State Park (State Park) — 24.9 mi, 298° NW
- Bentsen - Rio Grande Valley State Park (State Park) — 27.6 mi, 123° SE
- Hawk observation deck (Attraction) — 29.0 mi, 124° SE
- Shary Municipal Golf Course (Local Recreation) — 30.2 mi, 114° SE
- Border Theater (Theatre) — 30.3 mi, 115° SE
- Sharyland Rattlers Stadium (Stadium) — 33.0 mi, 114° SE
- R&N Thrift (Attraction) — 34.9 mi, 113° SE
- Topgolf (Attraction) — 38.0 mi, 112° E
- Hidalgo County Historical Museum (Museum) — 38.2 mi, 100° E
- Plaza Sports Center (Stadium) — 39.1 mi, 107° E
- Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 43.7 mi, 120° SE · 4,218 acres
- La Paz Museum (Museum) — 63.3 mi, 327° NW
- The History of Mexico & Mankind (Public Artwork) — 67.9 mi, 102° E
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About This El Rancho Vela Map Page
This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of El Rancho Vela, Texas. Coordinates: 26.4038, -98.7691. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for El Rancho Vela includes the ZIP code (78582), telephone area code (830), county seat of Starr County (Rio Grande City), and school district assignment (Rio Grande City Grulla Independent School District).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |
