In Texas, colonia refers to a residential area along the Texas-Mexico border that lacks basic infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, electricity, paved roads, and safe and sanitary housing. There are more than 1,400 recognized colonias in Texas.
typically, a residential area lacking some basic infrastructure like a drinking water supply, sewage treatment, paved roads, adequate drainage, etc. "Colonia" is a Spanish word for neighborhood.
an unincorporated settlement, lacking a safe water supply and waste water treatment
an unincorporated village along the border with Mexico that emerged as a result of the shortage of low-income housing and unregulated development)
a pocket of homes in the desert that are inhabited by illegal aliens, who have purchased land and put mainly mobile homes on them
An identifiable unincorporated area located within one hundred and fifty (150) miles of the Texas-Mexico border that lacks infrastructure and decent housing.
Unincorporated communities along the border between the United States and Mexico.
Unincorporated communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In general, colonias are neighborhoods in Mexican cities, which have no jurisdictional autonomy or representation. It is plausible that the name, which literally means colony, arose in the late 19th, early 20th centuries, when one of the first urban developments outside Mexico City's core was inhabited by a French colony in the city. Usually colonias are assigned a specific postal code; nonetheless, in recent urban developments, gated communities are also defined as colonias and share the postal code with adjacent neighborhoods.
Colonias, as used along the U.S.-Mexican border, refer to rural, unincorporated settlements which often lack basic infrastructure and which are marked by poverty.