The U.S. Census Bureau has released additional details from its 2020 population count to allow states to begin the redistricting process. As part of the first set of data released in April, the Census Bureau said Texas' population growth would mean the state would receive two additional Congressional seats, bringing the total to 38.
In information released Thursday, the Census reported five cities in Texas had grown by at least 100,000 people: Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. Houston, adding 200,000 people, had the second largest population increase in the country behind New York City, which added 600,000.
"Population growth this decade was almost entirely in metro areas," says U.S. Census Bureau Senior Demographer Marc Perry. "Metro areas grew by 8.7 percent."
Perry says Texas followed that national trend with counties in metropolitan areas growing the most and some rural counties losing population. Texas also had four of the ten fastest-growing cities in the country: Frisco and McKinney in North Texas; Conroe, north of Houston; and New Braunfels, northeast of San Antonio.
"On average, smaller counties tended to lose population, and more populous counties tended to grow," Perry says.
Broken down by demographic group, the U.S. Census says whites are the largest segment of the Texas population, but the percentage has dropped from 45% in 2010 to 39.7% in 2020. Hispanics make up the second-largest demographic at 39.3% of the population.
"The first and second most prevalent group rankings did not change between 2010 and 2020, but the difference in size between the white-alone non-Hispanic population and the Hispanic or Latino population shrank to about a half percent," says Nicholas Jones, senior adviser of race and ethnic research and outreach at the U.S. Census.
The state, cities, and counties will use the information to redraw Congressional, state legislative, and local office boundaries.
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