How many people work for the county? (DRAFT – not published)

In short

• Budgeted county jobs in 2025: 2,023.¹
• Since 2018: up about 19%, from 1,694. The county’s population grew faster, about 28% from 2018 to 2024.¹²
• More than half the jobs are public safety: jail, sheriff, EMS, 911 and juvenile services.¹

Numbers marked “our math” are our estimates, not official figures. The notes show the inputs and the steps.

How it works

• These are budgeted positions, not a head count of people on payroll on a given day. A budgeted job can be empty.¹
• The county sorts jobs into five groups: general government, courts (“judicial”), public safety, roads (“transportation”) and community services.¹
• The numbers come from the county’s human resources and payroll office and are printed in its yearly audit report. The auditors do not check them.¹

What the numbers show

Group	2018	2025	Change (our math)
Public safety	1,002	1,080	+8%
General government	262	326	+24%
Courts	242	316	+31%
Roads	129	182	+41%
Community services	59	119	+102%
Total	1,694	2,023	+19%

Source: the county’s 2025 audit, employees by function.¹

• Biggest single offices in 2025: jail 324, sheriff 244, EMS 174, road and bridge 165, juvenile services 163, 911 communications 106.¹
• Jobs per 1,000 residents: about 3.0 in 2018 and about 2.7 in 2025 (our math). For 2025 we use the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of 752,827 residents.³⁴
• Fast growers: EMS went from 140 to 174 jobs, the animal shelter from 20 to 55.¹

The other side

• Fewer jobs per resident can mean efficiency, or it can mean thinner service. These numbers alone do not tell which.
• The jail barely grew (314 to 324) while the county added over 160,000 people.¹² The budget does not say why.
• The table is not perfectly consistent. For 2024, the summary page shows 1,933 jobs, but the detailed pages add to 1,950. We use 2018 and 2025, where both agree.¹
• The audit’s 2025 population is the 2024 figure repeated. So we use the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate instead. Census and county numbers are made in different ways, so the 2018-to-2025 comparison is rough.²⁴

Questions to ask

• How many budgeted jobs are empty, and in which offices?
• What explains the staff growth at the animal shelter and community services, by the county’s account?¹

Changes to this page

• Nov. 2, 2026: Removed guesses about why jail staffing barely grew.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Rewrote the questions to ask so each is open, neutral and addressed to the public body.

What we still don’t know

• What these jobs cost in pay and benefits, office by office.
• How many workers are contractors rather than county employees.

Footnotes

1. Williamson County, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2025, statistical table 15, “County Government Employees by Function, Last Ten Fiscal Years (Unaudited),” budgeted positions; source given as the county’s Human Resource or Payroll Department. Totals 2018: 1,694 (general government 262, judicial 242, public safety 1,002, transportation 129, community services 59); 2025: 2,023 (326, 316, 1,080, 182, 119). Detail 2025: jail 324, sheriff 244, EMS 174 (140 in 2018), road and bridge 165, juvenile services 163, 911 communications/EOC 106, animal shelter 55 (20 in 2018); jail 314 in 2018. 2024 total 1,933 on the summary page, 1,950 on the detail pages. Public copy. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. Same report, statistical table 13, “Demographic and Economic Statistics”: population 2018 566,719; 2024 727,480; 2025 shown as 727,480. Public copy. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Our math. 2,023 ÷ 1,694 = +19.4%; 727,480 ÷ 566,719 = +28.4%; 1,694 ÷ 566.719 = 2.99 per 1,000; 2,023 ÷ 752.827 = 2.69 per 1,000 (Census 2025 estimate). Group changes: 1,080 ÷ 1,002, 326 ÷ 262, 316 ÷ 242, 182 ÷ 129, 119 ÷ 59. 727,480 − 566,719 = 160,761. ↩

4. U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 county population estimates (CO-EST2025-ALLDATA), Williamson County, Texas, July 1, 2025: 752,827. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/counties/totals/co-est2025-alldata.csv ↩ ↩²