Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio Counties. The city’s political boundaries encompass Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. Its zoned boundaries include small land parcels or water inlets of three neighboring counties. The metropolitan area US Census estimated population in 2013 was 442,600. The population was 316,381 at the 2013 US Census estimate, making it the eighth-most populous city in Texas. It is the principal city of the three-county Corpus Christi metropolitan area, as well as the larger six-county Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice Combined Statistical Area, with a 2013 Census estimate at 516,793. The translation from Latin of the city’s name (Corpus Christi) means Body of Christ. The name was given to the settlement and surrounding bay by Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519, when he discovered the lush semitropical bay on the feast day celebrating the “Body of Christ”. The city has the nicknames “Texas Riviera” and “Sparkling City by the Sea”, particularly in literature promoting tourism. The city is home to the Port of Corpus Christi, the fifth-largest in the United States, and is served by the Corpus Christi International Airport.