8/14/2019 Here We Grow Again - Texas a&M Demography Report

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OCTOBER 2007 PUBLICATION 1836

A Reprint rom Tierra Grande

Demography

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THE TAKEAWAYTexas’ population had a larger numerical in creaserom 2000 to 2006 than any other state, and agrowth rate (12.7 percent) twice that o the nation.Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth had thelargest increases. Only ten Texas towns lost 1,000

people or more.

Texas has shown continued rapid growthsince 2000, with the population increas-ing rom 20.9 million as o April 1, 2000,to 23.5 million as o July 1, 2006. Thisincrease o nearly 2.7 million or 12.7percent rom 2000 to 2006 is a largernumerical increase than or any otherstate and a growth rate roughly twice thenation’s 6.4 percent growth rate.

I this trend continues, Texas is likelyto add another 3.6 to 4.0 million peopleby 2010, boosting its total population tomore than 25 million. The state’sremarkable growth has ueled rapidgrowth in Texas real estate marketssince 2000, particularly in urban andsuburban areas.

Recently released Census data showthat this population growth has also

made Texas cities among the mostrapidly growing markets in the entire na-tion. Texas has three o the country’s tenlargest cities. Houston ranks ourth witha population o more than 2.1 million aso July 1, 2006, San Antonio is seventhwith nearly 1.3 million and Dallas ninthat roughly 1.2 million.

More impressively, Texas had ve othe ten cities with the largest numericalincreases rom 2005 to 2006. No otherstate had more than one. Phoenix wasrst with an increase o more than

43,000; San Antonio was second withmore than 33,000; Fort Worth was thirdwith more than 30,000; Houston wasourth with roughly 26,500; Austin wassixth with roughly 18,600; and Dallaswas eighth with nearly 17,000.

In percentage terms, the 2005–2006data show just how rapid growth hasbeen in some Texas cities. Among citieso more than 100,000 persons, McKinneywas the second astest-growing city inthe nation, increasing by 11.1 percent,behind North Las Vegas with an 11.9 per-cent increase. McKinney was the astest-growing city in its size category in the

nation or the entire 2000–2006 period,with a 97.6 percent increase ( rom 54,409in 2000 to 107,530 in 2006).

Other Texas cities in the 100,000+category that made the 20 astest-growingin the nation (in percentage terms) rom2005 to 2006 included Grand Prairie, withan increase o 6.6 percent (to 153,812),Denton, up 5.1 percent (to 109,561) andFort Worth, up 4.8 percent (to 653,320).Fort Worth’s increase was particularlynotable because no other city o its sizeshowed such a large increase.

When population changes or all Texastowns and cities are examined, thepervasive nature o population growthin Texas places becomes evident. O the1,204 Texas places with 2005 and 2006population values, 78.2 percent (942)

showed population increases, 4.6 percent(about 55) showed no population changeand 17.2 percent (207) showed declines.O the 1,189 places with both 2000 and2006 population values, 71.3 percent(848) showed population increases rom2000 to 2006, 0.6 percent (7) showedneither increases nor decreases in popu-lation and 28.1 percent (334) showedpopulation declines.

The largest numerical increases rom2005 to 2006 were in the largest places.San Antonio led with an increase o

more than 33,000, ollowed by FortWorth with more than 30,000, andHouston with nearly 27,000. The larg-est declines were in Beaumont, with anestimated loss o 1,600, Port Arthur with838, Copperas Cove with837, and Gatesville with404.

For the 2000 to 2006period, numerical increaseswere largest in Houston(nearly 191,000), San An-tonio (more than 152,000)and Fort Worth (nearly119,000).

The largest declines were in WichitaFalls, with a decrease o 4,800, Beaumontwith 4,000, and Port Arthur, 2,000. Over-all, however, the data show that growthhas ar outpaced decline. Over 200 Texastowns and cities increased by at least1,000 persons rom 2000 to 2006. Onlyten lost 1,000 people or more.

In percentage terms, the astest grow-ing places rom 2000 to 2006 were Hutto,which grew by 666 percent, Fate (645percent), Little Elm (484 percent), Mur-phy (313 percent) and Kyle (289 percent).Those places with the largest percentagedeclines are largely in the Panhandleand West Texas regions and includedAspermont, with a decrease o nearly 17percent, and Morton, Pecos and White-ace, each o which decreased by roughly

15 percent.Population growth in certain areas

o Texas has been extensive, refectingthe total growth in the state. Althoughparts o the Panhandle and West Texascontinue to struggle to maintain theirpopulations, the data or other placesshow that Texas is increasingly domi-nating national patterns o populationgrowth. The state’s real estate marketsare likewise expanding to keep pace.

Dr. Murdock (steve.murdock@utsa.edu) is aresearch fellow with the Real Estate Center;Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair, Departmentof Demography and Organization Studies, Collegof Public Policy at the University of Texas at San

Antonio; and state demographer of Texas.

By Steve H. Murdock

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