Founded in 1980 the City of El Cenizo is located in the South Texas Region located 16 miles south of Laredo, Texas, adjacent to the Rio Grande River and 25 miles from the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. El Cenizo is the third largest city of Webb County. El Cenizo has 0.52 square miles of land area and 0.01 square miles of water area. As of 2010, the total El Cenizo population is 3,273. 

The small community is composed of approximately 800 households, the majority of which have extremely low incomes.  Prior to incorporation in 1989, El Cenizo was one of approximately 2,000+ colonias in South Texas.  During its unincorporated period as a subdivision of Webb County, Texas, the community severely lacked basic services, such as paved streets, sewer systems, ambulance services and other basic public services. 

El Cenizo currently operates as a Type C General Law City composed of a Mayor and two City Commissioners elected at large under the Texas Local Government Code.  The lack of adequate infrastructure, poor water supplies and inadequate housing remains prevalent despite recent progress.