Bandera County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located in the Hill Country and its county seat is Bandera. Bandera county was settled by German and Polish emigrants in the mid 1800s. Many residents are descendants of those same emigrants. As of the 2020 census, the population is 20,851. Bandera County is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan statistical area. The county is officially recognized as the "Cowboy Capital of the World" by the Texas Legislature.