Texas Porch

Roads & Services

Loving County Is Extremely Remote — Plan Accordingly

Loving County has almost no services — the only town is tiny Mentone — so anyone traveling through or moving here needs to plan for fuel, supplies, and emergencies well in advance.

Loving County Cars & Driving

Loving County covers about 671 square miles of desert. The only town is Mentone, the county seat. The county is roughly 75 miles west of Odessa. State Highway 302 runs through Mentone. Services here are extremely limited. There were periods when no businesses operated in the county at all.

If you are driving through, do not assume you can find gas, food, or repairs in Loving County. Fill up before you arrive. Cell service can be spotty in remote Permian Basin desert. The county also has almost no emergency medical infrastructure. For anyone buying or building property here, understand that the nearest hospitals, hardware stores, and grocery stores are a significant drive away.

Source to confirm: Texas State Historical Association — Mentone, TX

More Loving County notes

Property Tax

Who Handles Property Taxes in Loving County

Loving County has both an appraisal district and a tax assessor-collector, but the county tax office does not collect property taxes locally.

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Mineral Rights

Mineral Rights and Surface Rights Can Be Separate

In Loving County, buying land does not always mean you own the oil and gas beneath it — the mineral estate may already belong to someone else.

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Water Supply

Water Is Scarce and Saline in Loving County

Loving County gets about 10 inches of rain a year, and past irrigation projects failed because groundwater here is often too salty to use.

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Hunting & Wildlife

Hunting in Loving County: Mostly Private Land

Loving County sits in the Trans-Pecos region where mule deer and pronghorn live, but nearly all land is private — access requires landowner permission.

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