Texas has changed a lot during the past decade. State Demographer Lloyd Potter says its population isn’t just booming; it leads the country.
“We are growing more than any other state. We’ve added more population than any other state, and we’re growing faster than any other state,” Potter says.
Potter says Texas’ population grows by about 1,000 people every day, half of these new Texans are babies born here. The other half are people moving to Texas: that’s a mix of people coming from within the U.S. and those coming from another country.
“Texas certainly is becoming much more cosmopolitan or diverse in terms of having a fair number of foreign-born individuals living in the state,” Potter says.
Texas is also increasingly urban. About 90% of people live within metropolitan areas, and only 13% live west of Interstate 35.
Looking ahead, Potter says Texas will very soon be a Latino majority state – by about 2021.
The biggest challenges in the next decade will be increasing Texans’ access to health care, reducing income inequality and educating Texas’ young Latinos. But the good news is that unemployment is low, and Potter’s impression is that people from various backgrounds seem to be proud Texans.
“Regardless of their political persuasion, regardless of religion … people are warm and welcoming in the state and really love living here,” he says.
Written by Caroline Covington.
