Visualizing the Counties of Texas

Created using Census data and IBM's ManyEyes site. .:.

Texas-Big Population Growth in Texas

New Census numbers show Lone Star state rapid rise

The U.S. Census Bureau just reported that the Austin-Round Rock was the second-fastest growing metropolitan statistical area (MSA)* between 2007 and 2008. Its population jumped 3.8%, only outgrown by Raleigh, NC, which climbed 4.3%.

Overall Texas saw meteoric increases. (Top 100 fastest-growing MSA chart in downloadable Excel spreadsheet.) Thirteen MSAs saw increases across the state saw a total population rise of 2.3%, or 451,264 people.

The vast majority of those newcomers ended up in the Texas Triangle. In fact, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston took the #1 and #2 spot in the country for the most number of people added.

Overall Rank by % Growth	MSA	Change ('07-'08)	% Change
28	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	146,532	2.4
31	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown	130,185	2.3
2	Austin-Round Rock	60,012	3.8
30	San Antonio	46,524	2.3
14	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission	21,126	3
75	El Paso	12,093	1.7
37	Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood	8,180	2.2
45	Brownsville-Harlingen	7,831	2
29	Laredo	5,464	2.4
44	College Station-Bryan	4,226	2.1
72	Tyler	3,325	1.7
21	Midland	3,235	2.6
50	Odessa	2,531	2

On a county-by-county basis, 10 of the 25 counties with the largest total increase in population were in Texas. Furthermore, fully 19 of the 100 fastest growing counties were in Texas:

Overall Rank by % Growth	County	Texas Triangle Metro/Micro	% Growth
6	Williamson	Austin-Round Rock	6.0
8	Kendall	San Antonio	5.5
9	Rockwall	n/a	5.3
10	Hays	Austin-Round Rock	5.3
14	Fort Bend	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown	4.8
19	Comal	San Antonio	4.7
21	Montgomery	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown	4.5
24	Guadalupe	n/a	4.3
27	Collin	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	4.3
29	Kaufman	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	4.2
37	Andrews	n/a	4.0
43	Denton	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	3.7
47	Ellis	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	3.6
48	Ward	n/a	3.6
76	Wilson	San Antonio	3.2
79	Hood	Somerville + Granbury	3.1
85	Parker	n/a	3.1
95	Hidalgo	Athens	3.0
100	Travis	Austin-Round Rock	3.0

That means the Texas Triangle accounted for 87.6% of the entire state's population growth. DFW and Houston were nearly neck-and-neck, but the Metroplex edged out the Bayou City by attracting 32.5% of new Texans.

MSA	Share of New Texans
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington	32.47%
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown	28.85%
Austin-Round Rock	13.30%
San Antonio	10.31%
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission	4.68%
El Paso	2.68%
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood	1.81%
Brownsville-Harlingen	1.74%
Laredo	1.21%
College Station-Bryan	0.94%
Tyler	0.74%
Midland	0.72%
Odessa	0.56%

Although it's great to be the state everybody loves, Texans already here are beginning to question the effects of so many more people will have on their way of life. .:.

Triangle Census - Megas, Metros & Micros

The following statistics are organized by urban (or non-urban) area, i.e., megapolitan, metropolitan, or micropolitan. Underneath its constituent counties are included with individual population and housing unit data.

City Profiles

• Austin
• Dallas
• Fort Worth
• Houston
• San Antonio
• Texas [Census.gov ]
• Texas [CityData.com]

The Metroplex Megapolitan Area
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA

• County: Dallas..... Population: 2,218,899 / Housing Units: 854,119
• Tarrant.....1,446,219 / 565,830
• Collin.....491,675 / 194,892
• Denton.....432,976 / 168,069
• Johnson.....126,811 / 46,269
• Ellis.....111,360 / 39,071
• Hunt.....76,596 / 32,490
• Wise.....48,793 / 19,242
• Delta.....5,327 / 2,410

Bayou City Megapolitan Area
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown MSA

• Harris.....3,400,578 / 1,298,130
• Fort Bend.....354,452 / 115,991
• Montgomery.....293,768 / 112,770
• Galveston.....250,158 / 111,733
• Brazoria.....241,767 / 90,628
• Liberty.....70,154 / 26,359
• Chambers.....26,031 / 10,336
• Austin.....23,590 / 10,205
• San Jacinto.....22,246 / 11,520

Southwest Megapolitan Area
Austin-Round Rock MSA

• Travis.....812,280 / 335,881
• Williamson.....249,967 / 90,325
• Hays.....97,589 / 35,643
• Bastrop.....57,733 / 22,254
• Caldwell.....32,194 / 11,901

San Antonio MSA

• Bexar.....1,392,931 / 521,359
• Guadalupe.....89,023 / 33,585
• Comal.....78,021 / 32,718
• Medina.....39,304 / 14,826
• Atascosa.....38,628 / 14,883
• Wilson.....32,408 / 12,110
• Kendall.....23,743 / 9,609
• Bandera.....17,645 / 9,503

Other Metropolitan Areas
College Station-Bryan MSA

• Brazos.....152,415 / 59,023
• Burleson.....16,470 / 8,197

Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood MSA

• Bell.....237,974 / 92,782
• Coryell.....74,978 / 21,776
• Lampasas.....17,762 / 7,601

Waco MSA

• McLennan.....213,517 / 84,795

12 Micropolitan Areas

Athens
• Henderson.....73,277 / 35,935
Bay City
• Matagorda.....37,957 / 18,611
Bonham
• Fannin.....31,242 / 12,887
Brenham
• Washington.....30,373 / 13,241
Corsicana
• Navarro.....45,124 / 18,449

El Campo

• Wharton.....41,188 / 16,606

Gainesville

• Cooke.....36,363 / 15,061

Huntsville

• Walker.....61,758 / 21,099

Mineral Wells

• Palo Pinto.....27,026 / 14,102

Palestine

• Anderson.....55,109 / 18,436

Paris

• Lamar.....48,499 / 21,113

Shermann-Denison

• Grayson.....110,595 / 48,315

Somerville + Granbury

• Hood.....41,100 / 19,105

Stephenville

• Erath.....33,001 / 14,422

Sulphur Springs

• Hopkins.....31,960 / 14,020

14 Non-Urban Counties

• Hill.....32,321 / 14,624
• Milam.....24,238 / 10,866
• Grimes.....23,552 / 9,490
• Limestone.....22,051 / 9,725
• Fayette.....21,804 / 11,113
• Colorado.....20,390 / 9,431
• DeWitt.....20,013 / 8,756
• Gonzales.....18,628 / 8,194
• Falls.....18,576 / 7,658
• Freestone.....17,867 / 8,138
• Bosque.....17,204 / 8,644
• Lee.....15,657 / 6,851
• Leon.....15,335 / 8,299
• Madison.....12,940 / 4,797

Tomorrow's Stars

Latest Census data show surging growth outside core megapolitans

The Census Bureau just released its numbers for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Accounting for two-thirds of the U.S. population, those 100 MSAs show some interesting trends.
First, big doesn't necessarily mean slow-growing. Of the 15 largest metros (see below), six have double digit population growth since 2000: Dallas-Fort Worth (16.3%) ; Houston (17.5%); DC metro (10.3%); Atlanta (21.0%); Phoenix (24.2%); and Riverside (23.7). Cumulatively, those six fast growers added 4.6 million new residents. The other 9 big metros added just 2.4 million new residents.

Big 15 Metros >> 2006 Population
1 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA >> 18,818,5362
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA >> 12,950,1293
3 Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI >> 9,505,7484
4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX >> 6,003,9675
5 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD >> 5,826,7426
6 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX >> 5,539,9497
7 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL >> 5,463,8578
8 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV >> 5,290,4009
9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA >> 5,138,22310
10 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI >> 4,468,96611
11 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH >> 4,455,21712
12 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA >> 4,180,02713
13 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ >> 4,039,18214
14 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA >> 4,026,13515
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA >> 3,263,497
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Looking at these numbers through the lens of megapolitan areas, it's striking to note the strong showing of Texas in the top megas. Looking at the numbers and the growth rate for Texas, the big three megas of NYC-Philly, Los Angeles-San Diego, and Chicago-Milwaukee have pretty good competition.
On a map, Dallas and Houston and San Antonio may look far apart, but the reality is they are strongly tied together. In addition to large, fast moving interstates (running between metros), another significant linkage is air travel. Like the heavily used Amtrack on the East Coast, Southwest Airlines, the maverick short haul, no-frills air carrier based in Dallas, has grown over the decades by providing continuous flights between the Lone Star state's major metros. It has provided a level of air passenger service that is only now catching on across the country.
Aided by such linkages and a ballooning population, Dallas-Fort Worth could be bigger than Chicago in a generation. And Houston wouldn't be far behind. And with San Antonio and Austin growing both growing at double digit clips, Texas could become a dominating Third Coast. In fact, by 2030, the Texas Triangle is projected to have 24 million residents. By comparison, estimates for sprawling and densely populated Southern California (anchored by Los Angeles-San Diego) are not much higher at 27.8 million people. GEO

All the World's a City

Is skyfarming the wave of the future?

After last month's fascinating article comparing London and New York, New York Magazine does it again with another mind-opening story on "vertical farms." That is, using skyscrapers as centers of agriculture.
The NY Mag article cites Columbia professor Dr. Dickson Despommier, who says within 10-15 years a "supergreen," 30-story skyscraper could be built that produces fruit, vegetables, and grains while generating clean energy and purifying waste water. He figures 150 such vertical farms could feed the population of New York City proper (~8 million people), about 55,000 people fed per building.
(Similar ideas have long been proferred by advocates of space exploration, who have done endless calculations to prove that giant space stations could grow and feed city-sized populations in orbit around the Earth.)
That's a lot of construction, but according to Emporis, NYC currently has 5,560 high-rise buildings within its 800 square kilometers of land area. And 120 more are under construction, with 120 in the planning stages.
The professor says vertical farming would be able to feed the estimated 9.3 billion people expected to populate Earth in 2050, without using up more land area.The magazine suggests that the land requirements to feed the increase in world population (which now stands at about 6.2 billion) will require cultivation of a landmass area as large as Brazil." And with an estimated 80% of the world's population expected to live in urban areas by 2050, which works out to 7.3 billion citydwellers, why not grow agriculture where it is consumed? GEO