Texas Adds Nearly 1.6 Million to Population

Texas added nearly 1.6 million people between 2020 and Jan. 1. The Austin region - the state’s fastest-growing metro area with 7.2% growth - drew in the most new residents, but Fort Worth added more residents — 48,542 — than any other city. The so-called “Texas Triangle”— composed of the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin metro areas — now holds a whopping 68% of the state’s 30.3 million residents. Overall, the population of Texas grew by 4% from January 2020 to January 2023, including new births as well as new residents moving to the area, the data show.

A large majority of the population changes comes from migration both from in and out of the state. Also, over half of Texas’ counties are in “rural decline,” meaning their deaths outnumber their births. However, the statewide population is still rising due to the sheer number of new Texans.

The Texas Demographic Center report lists white Texans as the largest demographic group in the state, contrary to the U.S. Census’ own population estimates updated earlier this year. Still, the two entities’ estimates are within 1 percentage point of each other. The Census found that Hispanic people make up 40.2% of the population compared to white Texans who make up 39.8% of all residents. The Texas center estimates that white people are 41% of the population compared to Hispanic people who make up 39.6% of all residents. Black people make up 11.9% of the population and Asian people constitute 5.2% of the state’s residents, according to the TDC’s estimates.

Meanwhile, a boom in the North Texas suburbs kept the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area at the top of state’s population centers, with an estimated 8 million residents as of January, according to the numbers which were first reported by The Dallas Morning News. They moved away from the Gulf Region, however. The largest exodus came from Corpus Christi, with 3,659 people moving out of the Sparkling City by the Sea since 2020. The Beaumont-Port Arthur and Victoria areas also saw population declines. El Paso was a close second for that dubious honor, losing some 3,227 residents from 2020 to 2023. The largest percentage dip was in the tiny town of Toyah, which has lost 7 of its 61 residents since 2020.

The states sending the most households to Texas from 2020 to 2021 are California, Florida, Louisiana, New York, and Colorado, according to Texas 2036. In that time, California alone accounted for nearly 53,000 households moving to Texas. Californians also brought the most money as their adjusted gross income, totaling more than $7.2 billion, the agency said.