BYOB: The Last 4 Remaining Completely Dry Counties in Texas

From Dallas, TX to Austin, TX, you can now buy alcohol in most Texas counties, but there are a few holdouts. It's the last remaining vestages of prohibition.

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I've lived in a dry county, and it was a pain in the butt, Rusk County. I'll tell you this much, dry counties are great business for the local bootlegers. In a pinch, we were paying $3-$5 a beer so we didn't have to drive 30 mins.

I currently live in Smith County which only just began selling beer about a decade ago. You still can't buy liqour here though.

Why do dry counties still exist in '23?

You guessed it, usually religion. "In some religious denominations, alcohol consumption is looked down upon. As a result, the local municipalities where these denominations have a strong presence have voted to keep these tight restrictions in place."

And although alcohol sales are prohibited in them, most dry counties do not ban the consumption of alcoholic beverages. They just want to make it a little harder for you to get.

The Last 4 Remaining Dry Counties in Texas

You may be surprised to learn that there are still four dry counties in Texas, unless of course you live in one of them. The counties that ban the sale of alchol in Texas are: Roberts, in the Texas Panhandle near Oklahoma; Borden and Kent counties, both southeast of Lubbock; and Throckmorton County, which can be found between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

How Many Dry Counties are in the U.S.?

Dry counties have fallen out of favor drastically over the years, but there are still a few holding on. According to these numbers, "the exact up-to-date number is hard to nail down, but by some accounts there are over 80 dry counties left in 9 different states in the United States... Arkansas is home to the most dry counties with over 30, followed by Kentucky."