In the second largest state in the United States, there has got to be some great places to build a shipping container home near the Hill Country, Prairies, and the Sea Shores. Let’s look at the opportunities in this Lone Star state for shipping container living.
Texas has many wonderful locations where shipping container homes are allowed. This is because the zoning laws and environmental restrictions are more lenient in many parts of Texas. Choosing one of the four regions of Texas will allow one to enjoy a variety of lifestyles.
Let’s look at all the regions in Texas where people have found building shipping container homes are most desirable. We will also discuss what to expect when living and building in those targeted locations.
According to the Texas Almanac, there are four natural regions of Texas. They are divided up based upon physical geography features that include landforms, climate, and vegetation.
The Four Physical Regions of Texas
- Gulf Coastal Plains
- North Central Plains
- Great Plains
- Basin & Range Province
Here is a breakdown of each region in Texas, examples of shipping container homes in each of them, and what it would be like to live in those regions.
Be sure to check out the list of Construction Departments for key Texas cities and towns at the bottom of this article.
The Gulf Coastal Plains is the Most Popular Texas Region to Build Shipping Container Homes
If you want to live next to the water, then this is the region you should choose. This region includes all of the Gulf of Mexico coastline that starts at the southern tip of Texas and continues north all the way up past lakes and rivers near Dallas.
There is a lot of beautiful vegetation in this region because it gets 20 to 58 inches of annual rainfall. Most of this region is flat. But, the rain water drains to various streams and rivers that lead to estuaries and marshes.
So, finding a gorgeous piece of property near some sort of water is plentiful.
The Gulf Coastal Plains region is the largest region in Texas. Within this region are popular cities to live in that includes San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Austin and Dallas.
Here are some areas around each of these three cities that you can build a shipping container home.
An Example of Shipping Container Homes in San Antonio, Texas
At 910 Wyoming Street, there is a cool shipping container house. It is on a piece of property 5 miles from the famous Alamo. The Alamo is very near the beautiful Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio.
San Antonio, Texas has the famous Alamo Near the Beautiful Riverwalk
Finding a property for your shipping container near the downtown, would give you access to a lot of great amenities the city has to offer. According to Culture Trip, San Antonio is the 17th most visited city in the nation.
The Alamo is one of the most famous places to visit in the city. It is the place where early settlers including James Bowie (the inventor of the Bowie knife), William B. Travis, and David Crockett (“King of the Wild Frontier”) fought and died for Texas’ independence from Mexico.
What a wonderful place to enjoy delicious Tex-Mex food along the Riverwalk in Downtown San Antonio, TX. It is a magical place filled with restaurants, art galleries, hotels, and pleasant vistas.
San Antonio has a population of 1,581,730 as of the year 2020. It is the 2nd largest city in Texas (after Houston) and is the 7th largest city in the United States.
Shipping Containers are Easily Delivered to Sites Along the Gulf of Mexico
Here is a coffee shop being built with shipping containers. It is located on Corpus Christi’s Padre Island. As of 2019, there are 325,780 residences in Corpus Christi. The city is on the Gulf of Mexico and sheltered by Padre and Mustang islands.
Austin, Texas is a Great Place to Live in a Shipping Container House
Austin is the Texas state capital.
It is a progressive city with a lot of high tech businesses including Dell Computers. University of Texas (their mascot is the Longhorns) has its main campus in Austin, TX.
Be sure to visit South by Southwest and the Austin City Limits festivals every year. You can see some of current events and rising stars in our modern pop culture display their talents.
The population of the metro area around Austin in 2020 was 2,053,000. The population has been steadily increasing because of all the opportunities it offers.
Below, is the first shipping container house built in Austin, TX. This three bedroom / three bathroom was on the market for around $500,000.
Check Out the Texas Hill Country for Your Shipping Container Home Site
Surrounding Austin is the Hill Country. This area is gorgeous with rolling hills filled with Blue Bonnet and Indian Paint Brush wild flowers. Old German settlements like Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Boerne, Schulenburg, Gruene, Muenster, Walburg, Frelsburg, Pflugerville, Westphalia and the now famous Luckenbach, Texas that country singers Waylon Jennings and Willy Nelson sang about.
Some consider the towns of the Hill Country to be part of the North Central Plains region.
I designed a home for an airline pilot and his flight attendant wife in the Texas Hill Country. The home was designed and built to soar over a cliff overlooking their 10 acres of land. All of the plots in their gated community were laid out to be 10 acres. This way, all the landowners would be able to safely hunt on their properties.
Hunting is another sport that is available in certain areas of all regions in the Texas.
Up Along the North Texas Areas, Dallas Boasts to be a Great Destination to Live
Dallas Stars hockey, and Dallas Mavericks basketball are only a few professional sports teams you can check out around Dallas.
Dallas hosts several colleges and universities including Southern Methodist University.
As of 2020, there are 1,346,529 people living in the Dallas area. This does not include the population of Fort Worth or its surrounding towns.
The metroplex around Dallas, Texas is a sprawling city that includes a lot of smaller cities and towns. These towns include:
| Cockrell Hill | Farmers Branch | Grand Prairie | Irving | Mesquite |
| Duncanville | Garland | Carrollton | Addison | Desoto |
| Hutchins | Balch Springs | Richardson | Lancaster | Sunnyvale |
| Wilmer | Coppell | Cedar Hill | Rowlett | — |
There are a lot of lakes and some rivers to build your shipping container near if a waterfront property is your desire. Depending upon how their zoning laws, deed restrictions, and home owner association’s rules are written, you might find a lot to build upon near one of the many lakes within a few hours drive from Dallas, Texas per Lakes Near Dallas.
Matt Mooney, a principal at the architectural firm Corgan built a large house in Dallas using 14 shipping containers. It is 3700 square feet and overlooks a picturesque White Rock Lake and downtown Dallas.
Waco is Filled with Shipping Container Houses
Waco and Austin are close to the middle of the dividing line between the Gulf Coastal Plains and the North Central Plains regions. That is why some consider them to be part of one or the other.
If you want to “test” out how you like sleeping in a shipping container house, Waco, Texas is a perfect place to find short term rentals.
There are a lot of shipping container homes to choose from on Airbnb. Just to highlight one, The Helm is a 2 Bedroom / 2 Bathroom rental that can be found close to the Magnolia Market. Magnolia Market is a great to get design inspiration for your own shipping container house and is the creation of the famous designers and builders, Chip and Joanna Gaines. You may have seen them on their own TV shows or books they have written.
The website link to this shipping container rental is at The Helm.
Here are some more shipping container homes you can rent for a short stay. They are all managed by the same person:
- The Stable. This one bedroom / one bathroom is near The Helm.
- The Crow’s Nest. Here is another one bedroom / one bathroom near The Helm.
- The Blue Ridge. This shipping container house has one bedroom with two beds. It has one bathroom. This unit can accommodate 4 guests.
- The Live Oak. Like the Blue Ridge, this unit will house 4 guests with a one bedroom and one bathroom.
Waco, Texas has a population of 141,936 as of 2020. It is the home of Baylor University.
The North Central Plains has a Lot to Offer to Container Home Owners
I was born and raised in the Fort Worth / Dallas Metroplex. Although I live in the northeast area of United State, returning to Fort Worth, Texas always feels like I am returning home.
Like Dallas, this area has a lot tranquil lakes nearby. At these lakes, one can water ski, motor boat, sail, jet ski, and fish. There are too many golf courses and country clubs to count. The arts and entertainment are in abundance in many museums, cowboy bars, symphony halls, ballet, and opera.
Fort Worth has several colleges and universities that include Texas Christian University.
You will not be bored in this region of Texas. And, you won’t be alone. There are 942,323 people in Fort Worth as of 2020. This makes it the 5th largest city in Texas (after Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin).
The land around this area is rolling with a lot of level prairies. It was in this area that the early Cowboys would ride their herds of livestock to Fort Worth. Later to be shipped up to Chicago via train to be butchered in the meat packing plants.
The northern area of Fort Worth has the Stock Yards, the place where the first indoor rodeo continues to show off fancy horse riding skills. Just next to this rodeo arena is the famous Billy Bob’s that claims to be the largest honky tonk in the world.
In between Fort Worth and Dallas is Arlington, Texas. That is the home of the Dallas Cowboys football, Texas Rangers baseball, a water park and Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. All are well worth your time to visit.
Here is a 34-unit multi-family project in Fort Worth using 76 forty foot long shipping containers. They nicknamed this community “CoHo” which is short for “Container Homes.” Using shipping containers to build this saved the contractor in construction costs along with accelerated the building timelines. This helped make these residential rentals remain in an affordable level to renters.
The Great Plains has the Most Beautiful Sunsets
I studied architecture in this region while at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The population of Lubbock is 263,648 as of 2020.
There are some great memories living there, and some things that just don’t fit my personal likes.
The sunsets can’t be beat along the Cap Rock of West Texas. Rows of cotton fields that fan across your peripheral vision while driving along the interstate 21 can be mesmerizing. West Texas folks are probably the kindest set of people you will ever meet.
The weather can be tricky in this area as it can change quickly. There were days that the temperature dropped from 80 degrees (F) in the morning to 35 degrees (F) with sleet in the evenings. The yearly precipitation in Lubbock is around 14 inches. It is a dry, semi-arid place with a lot of red sanding soil all around.
If you like flat land as far as you can see, not a lot of waterfronts (compared to the other regions mentioned above), if you like sand storms that bring people wearing protective masks and goggles from the dry arid Middle Eastern deserts to study, and if you like the stifling pungent smell of the natural and very odorous methane from the stock yards that thickly blanket the air during a windy rain storm, then this is a great place for you.
Here is a shipping container that you can rent in Lubbock, Texas if you are in the area and have the urge to try a shipping container house out.
Odessa and Midland, that is where the West Texas Crude Oil, is pumped out from, is south of Lubbock. The population of both cities is around 280,000.
The biggest thing that happened in Odessa when I lived there just after graduating from Texas Tech was following the town’s high school football team’s wins and losses. The Odessa Panther football (MOJO was their nickname) is such a big deal there, that Hollywood produced a movie, “Friday Night Lights” about it.
Amarillo is north of Lubbock. Its population is around 199,000. This city has a restaurant, called Big Texan, that will pay for all of your meal if you can clean your plate filled with a 72 oz steak. Palo Duro Canyon is a must-see when you are passing through Amarillo, Texas.
Basin and Range Province Has Some of the Most Awesome Hidden Gems
In this region, you will find more flat lands that are similar to the region mentioned above. But, in this area, there are some so-called mountainous area that act as the extension or foothills of the Great Rockies further Northwest from there.
Big Bend has some wonderful hiking. It was along the Rio Grande River in that area that my dad and I would spend a week canoeing down the Boquillas Canyon along with a series of other canyons along the Texas and Mexico border.
Next door to Big Bend is a small town named, Terlingua, Texas. It is an almost abandoned ghost town except once a year, high rollers in their private planes land in a make shift strip and compete in the prestigious Chili Cookoff.
Here is a shipping container that was built in Marfa, Texas. As of 2020, the population there was 1,531.
This home has one bedroom and a deck to watch the awesome Texas sunsets. It is available for rent. Click on the link under the photo for more information.
Building Departments at Major Texas Municipalities
The following lists have links to the respective Building Departments. Most of them will be able to help you determine what will be required to obtain a building permit for your shipping container home.
Gulf Coastal Plains Region
- Corpus Christi Building Department
- Galveston Building Department
- Houston Building Department
- San Antonio Building Department
- Baytown Building Department
- Alvin Building Department
- Port Arthur Building Department
- Beaumont Building Department
- Port Isabel Building Department
- Victoria Building Department
- Wharton Building Department
- Raymondville Building Department
- Sugarland Building Department
- Dallas Building Department
- Waco Building Department
- Laredo Building Department
- Austin Building Department
North Central Plains Region
- Fort Worth Building Department
- Fredericksburg Building Department
- Llano Building Department
Great Plains Region
- Amarillo Building Department
- Abilene Building Department
- San Angelo Building Department
- Wichita Falls Building Department
- Lubbock Building Department
- Odessa Building Department
- Midland Building Department
Basin & Range Province Region
- Alpine Building Department
- El Paso Building Department
- Fort Stockton Building Department
- Pecos Building Department
- Monahans Building Department
- Marfa Building Department
Texas Allows Shipping Container Homes with a Large Selection of Places to Live
Depending upon the lifestyle you wish to live, Texas has it all. Not only is there a big range of land and water to live on and near, the weather can change from cold to hot and from dry to wet very quickly.
There is a saying in Texas, “If you don’t like the weather here, just wait 5 minutes.”
If you don’t like one area of Texas for your shipping container living, then take a drive a few miles one way or another. You will find your paradise sooner or later in Texas.
