Weslaco (/ˈwɛsləkoʊ/ WESS-lə-koh) is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States.

[6] It was the hometown of Harlon Block, one of the Marines photographed raising the flag at Iwo Jima, and of film and television actor David Spielberg.

Weslaco is 5 miles (8 km) north of Progreso and 7 miles (11 km) north of the bridge over the Rio Grande to Nuevo Progreso in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

As September is the peak of the north Atlantic hurricane season and tropical storms and hurricanes occasionally drop copious amounts of rainfall on the region, this month tends to be by far the wettest, averaging 5.64 inches (143 mm) of rain.

[12][13] Weslaco received 10-12 inches of rain in October of 2015 that impacted several areas, particularly with drainage systems being overflooded.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 40,160 people, 12,671 households, and 9,998 families residing in the city.

Following the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, cross-border cargo and vehicular traffic in the county increased 345% and 36.4% respectively since the beginning of the 1990s, from 228,133 to 1,015,554 cargo trucks in 2008 and from 10.92 million to 14.9 million automobiles.

The facility is outfitted with a Heli-Pad, Level 3 Trauma Unit and 233 hospital beds.

There is a double board certified, fellow trained Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in Total Joint Replacement and fracture care.

Continuing education facilities located within Weslaco include South Texas College (Mid-Valley Campus), South Texas Vocational Technical Institute,[29] and Valley Grande Institute for Academic Studies.

[32] The Weslaco Museum[35] has exhibits and hosts events for local residents.

Weslaco is home to one of the nine sites of the World Birding Center[36] in the Rio Grande Valley.

[39] Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 30926590 and employs a staff of approximately 630.

Presently it is well preserved and only the facade of a 15-acre nature preserve in the heart of the City of Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas providing a haven for birds, butterflies and other wildlife that thrive among the native habitats of its Tamaulipan Thornscrub forest, orchard butterfly garden, wetlands, and ponds, according to fronteraaudubon.org.