The county was established in 1840 and is named in honor of William Barret Travis, the commander of the Republic of Texas forces at the Battle of the Alamo.

It is located along the Balcones Fault, the boundary between the Edwards Plateau to the west and the Blackland Prairie to the east.

Evidence of habitation of the Balcones Escarpment region of Texas can be traced to at least 11,000 years ago.

[2] Several hundred years before European settlers arrived, a variety of nomadic Native American tribes inhabited the area.

These indigenous peoples fished and hunted along the creeks, including present-day Barton Springs,[3] which proved to be a reliable campsite.

[5] The region (along with all of modern Texas) was claimed by the Spanish Empire in the 1600s, but at the time no attempt was made to settle the area (or even to explore it fully).

[6] In 1691 Domingo Terán de los Ríos made an inspection tour through East Texas that likely took him through Travis Country.

The first European settlers in the area were a group of Spanish friars who arrived from East Texas in July 1730.

The friars found conditions undesirable and relocated to the San Antonio River within a year of their arrival.

[7] In 1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain, and the new government enacted laws encouraging colonists to settle the Texas frontier by granting them land and reduced taxation.

Since the majority of the state did favor secession, Travis County then became a part of the Confederacy for the duration of the Civil War.

[10] Travis County is located in the southern part of central Texas, between San Antonio and Dallas–Fort Worth.

The county's geographical center lies two miles northwest of downtown Austin at 30°18' north latitude and 97°45' west longitude.

[11] Travis County straddles the Balcones Fault, the boundary between the Edwards Plateau to the west and the Texas Coastal Plain to the east.

The limestone karst geology of the western and southwestern parts of Travis County gives rise to numerous caverns and springs, some of which have provided shelter and water for humans in the region for thousands of years.

Texas Highway 130 (constructed as an alternative to IH-35 for long-distance traffic wishing to avoid Austin and San Antonio) also runs from north to south through the sparsely populated eastern part of the county.

The Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse is located in downtown Austin.

In addition to Travis, the 3rd Court of Appeals hears cases from 23 other counties across Central Texas: Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Coke, Comal, Concho, Fayette, Hays, Irion, Lampasas, Lee, Llano, McColluch, Milam, Mills, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Sterling, Tom Green, and Williamson.

As of January 2025, all elected Travis County State District Court judges are members of the Democratic Party.

Other major employers are concentrated in industries relating to semiconductors, software engineering and healthcare.

However, areas in Marble Falls ISD are zoned to Central Texas College District.