Demographics of Texas
Encyclopedia
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
is the second most populous U.S. state. In recent decades, it has experienced strong population growth. Texas has many major cities and metropolitan areas, along with many towns and rural areas. Much of the population is in the major cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin
Austin
Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas.Austin may also refer to:-In the United States:*Austin, Arkansas*Austin, Colorado*Austin, Chicago, Illinois*Austin, Indiana*Austin, Minnesota*Austin, Nevada*Austin, Oregon...
, and El Paso
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
.
Population
As of 2005, the state has an estimated population of 22.8 million—an increase of 388,419 (1.7%) from the prior year and an increase of 2 million (9.6%) since the year 2000. In all three subcategories—natural increase (births less deaths), net immigration, and net migration—Texas has seen an increase in population. The natural increase since the last census was 1,155,182 people (1,948,398 births minus 793,216 deaths). Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 663,161 people. Migration within the country produced a net increase of 218,722 people. The state passed New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the 1990s to become the second-largest U.S. state in population, after California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. On December 23, 2009 the US Census announced that Texas has gained around 4 million residents between 2000 and 2009, or a percent increase of about 20%. This is the highest population increase, by number of people, for any U.S. state during that time period. The large population increase can somewhat be contributed to Texas' relative insulation from the US housing bubble
United States housing bubble
The United States housing bubble is an economic bubble affecting many parts of the United States housing market in over half of American states. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and may not yet have hit bottom as of 2011. On December 30, 2008 the...
.
As of 2004, the state has 3.5 million foreign-born residents, 15.6% of the state population, of which an estimated 1.2 million are illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants account for more than one-third of the foreign-born population in Texas and 5.4% of the total state population. In 2010, illegal immigrants constituted an estimated 6.0% of the population, the fifth highest percentage of any state.
Census data report that 7.8% of Texas' population is under 5 years old, 28.2% under 18, and 9.9% over 64 years. Females made up 50.4% of the population, although there is a large surplus of 2 million men in the 25-44 age range in Texas.
The center of population
Center of population
In demographics, the center of population of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
is located at 30.943149 N, -97.388631 W, in Bell County
Bell County, Texas
Bell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Bell County was founded in 1850. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2000, the county's population was 237,974; in 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its population had reached...
, in the town of Holland
Holland, Texas
Holland is a town in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,102 at the 2000 census, and had slightly increased to 1,138 by 2009. The center of population of Texas is located in Holland...
.
Racial and ancestral makeup
As of the 2010 US Census, the racial distribution in Texas was as follows: 70.4% of the population of Texas were White AmericanWhite American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
; 11.8%, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
; 3.8%, Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
; 0.7%, American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
; 0.1%, native Hawaiian or Pacific islander only; 10.5% of the population were of some other race only; and 2.7% wer of two or more races. Hispanics (of any race) were 37.6% of the population of the state, while Non-Hispanic Whites
Non-Hispanic Whites
Non-Hispanic Whites or White, Not Hispanic or Latino are people in the United States, as defined by the Census Bureau, who are of the White race and are not of Hispanic or Latino origin/ethnicity. Hence the designation is exclusive in the sense that it defines who is not included as opposed to who is...
composed 45.3%.
English Americans predominate in eastern, central, and northern Texas; German Americans, in central and western Texas. African Americans, who historically made up one-third of the state population, are concentrated in parts of eastern Texas as well as in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas.
Other population groups in Texas also exhibit great diversity. Frontier Texas saw settlements of Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, particularly in Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Texas
Fredericksburg is the seat of Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 Census estimate, the city had a population of 10, 530...
and New Braunfels
New Braunfels, Texas
New Braunfels is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas that is a principal city of the metropolitan area. Braunfels means "brown rock" in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city's population was 57,740 as of the 2010 census, up 58% from the 2000...
. Many Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
, Germans from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Poles, Russians, Swedes, Norwegians, Czechs
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
, Slovaks, Italians
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
immigrated at least in part because of the European revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
. This immigration continued until World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the 1920s. The influence of these diverse European immigrants survives in the town names, architectural styles, music, and cuisine in Texas. Lavaca County, for example, is predominantly Czech American
Czech American
Czech Americans are citizens of the United States who were born in, or who descended from, the territory of the historic Czech lands, , or succession states, now known as the Czech Republic...
, Seguin
Seguin, Texas
Seguin is a city in Guadalupe County, Texas, in the United States. It is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,011; the July 1, 2009 Census estimate, however, showed the population had increased to 26,842...
has a large Slovak American
Slovak American
Slovak Americans are Americans of Slovak descent. In the 1990 Census Slovak Americans made up the second-largest portion of Slavic ethnic groups. There are currently about 790,000 people of Slovak descent living in the United States. -Eighteenth century:...
community, and Nederland
Nederland, Texas
Nederland is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,547 at the 2010 census.The city is adjacent to the Southeast Texas Regional Airport in Port Arthur, which serves the nearby cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur. It is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
has many Dutch Americans whose ancestors immigrated from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. In the 1980 United States census
United States Census
The United States Census is a decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution. The population is enumerated every 10 years and the results are used to allocate Congressional seats , electoral votes, and government program funding. The United States Census Bureau The United States Census...
the largest ancestry group reported in Texas was English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
with 3,083,323 Texans citing that they were of English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
or mostly English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
ancestry making them 27% of the state at the time. Their ancestry primarily goes back to the original thirteen colonies and for this reason many of them today simply claim "American" ancestry, though they are of predominately English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
stock.
As of 2007, 36% of Texas residents had Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
ancestry; these including recent immigrants from Mexico, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, as well as Tejanos, whose ancestors who have lived in Texas since before Texan independence (or, at least, for several generations). Tejanos are the largest ancestry group in southern Duval County and amongst the largest in and around Bexar County
Bexar County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,392,931 people, 488,942 households, and 345,681 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,117 people per square mile . There were 521,359 housing units at an average density of 418 per square mile...
(including San Antonio, where over one million Hispanics live). The Hispanic population in Texas has increased through immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, including illegal aliens
Illegal Aliens
Illegal Aliens is a 2007 film starring Anna Nicole Smith and Joanie Laurer. This comedy/science-fiction film is made in the mold of classic 1980s B-movies. Hitting stores on May 1, 2007, the release of the movie was pushed back following the death of Smith in February 2007 and it is her final film...
from Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and primarily from Mexico. The state has the second largest Hispanic population in the United States (California has the largest). Hispanics dominate southern
South Texas
South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of and including San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande River, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 3.7 million. The southern portion of this region is...
, south-central, and western Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
and form a significant portion of the residents in the cities of Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, and Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. This is a partial cause of Texas having a younger population than the American average, because Hispanic births have outnumbered non-Hispanic white births since the early 1990s. In 2007, for the first time since the early nineteenth century, Hispanics accounted for more than half of all births (50.2%), while non-Hispanic whites accounted for just 34.3%.
African Americans, who formed one-third of the population of Texas during the nineteenth century, are concentrated in the parts of eastern Texas where the cotton plantation culture was most prominent before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, as well as in Dallas and Houston. African Americans are more than twenty percent of urban populations in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
and about ten percent of the populations of Austin and San Antonio; they form a majority in sections of southern Dallas, eastern Fort Worth, and South Houston. Because of a strong labor market from 1995 to 2000, Texas is one of three states in the South receiving the highest numbers of black college graduates in a New Great Migration
New Great Migration
The New Great Migration is the term for demographic changes from 1965 to the present which are a reversal of the previous 35-year trend of black migration within the United States...
.
In recent years, the Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
population in Texas has grown, especially in Houston with its newly developed Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
, in Fort Bend County (which has the largest concentration of Asian Americans in the southern United States), in suburbs in western and northern Dallas, and in Arlington
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
, near Fort Worth. Vietnamese Americans, South Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Korean Americans, and Japanese Americans make up the largest Asian American groups in Texas. The Gulf Coast has the largest number of Asian Americans in the state, because the shrimp fishing industry attracted tens of thousands of Vietnamese, Filipinos, and Chinese from the coast of the South China Sea in the late 1970s and 1980s.
American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes who once lived or resettled inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Alabama, Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
, Atakapan, Bidai
Bidai
The Bidai were a band of Atakapa Indians from eastern Texas.-History:Their oral history says that the Bidai were the original peoples in their region. Their central settlements were along Bedias Creek, but their territory ranged from the Brazos River to the Neches River. The first written record...
, Caddo
Caddo
The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...
, Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
, Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
, Coushatta
Coushatta
----The Coushatta are a historic Muskogean-speaking Native American people living primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. When first encountered by Europeans, they lived in the territory of present-day Georgia and Alabama...
, Hueco, the Karankawa
Karankawa
Karankawa were a group of Native American peoples, now extinct as a tribal group, who played a pivotal part in early Texas history....
of Galveston
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, Kiowa
Kiowa
The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
, Lipan, Muscogee, Natchez
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
, Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
, Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
, Tonkawa
Tonkawa
The Tickanwa•tic Tribe , better known as the Tonkawa , are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the now-extinct Tonkawa language believed to have been a language isolate not related to any other indigenous tongues...
, Wichita
Wichita (tribe)
The Wichita people are indigenous inhabitants of North America, who traditionally spoke the Wichita language, a Caddoan language. They have lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas...
, and many others. Three federally recognized Native American tribes currently are centered in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas in eastern Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley
Rio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley or the Lower Rio Grande Valley, informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas...
, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo
Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is a Puebloan Native American tribal entity in the Ysleta section of El Paso, Texas, comprising a formerly Southern Tiwa-speaking people who were displaced from New Mexico in 1680 and 1681 during the Pueblo Revolt against the Spaniards.-Tigua:In Spanish the people and...
of El Paso
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
, Texas.
According to Steve Murdock, a demographer with the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
and a former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, the White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
population is aging while the minority populations are relatively young. As of 2011, according to Murdock, two out of three children in Texas are not non-Hispanic Whites. Murdock also predicted that, between 2000 and 2040 (assuming that the net migration rate will equal half that of 1990-2000), Hispanic enrollment in Texan public schools will increase by 213 percent while White enrollment will decrease by 15 percent. .
Languages
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 68.76% of the population aged 5 and older speak only EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at home, while 27.00% speak Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Other languages spoken include Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
by 0.63%, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
by 0.48%, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(including Texas German
Texas German
Texas German is a dialect of the German language that is spoken by descendants of German immigrants who settled in the Texas Hill Country region in the mid-19th century. These immigrants founded the towns of New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Schulenburg, Weimar, Walburg, and Comfort...
) by 0.42%, and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
(including Cajun French
Cajun French
Cajun French is a variety or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana, specifically in the southern and southwestern parishes....
) by 0.32% http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=48&mode=state_tops&ll=all.
Religion
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Protestant Bible Belt
Bible Belt
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas is home to three major evangelical seminaries and several of America's largest megachurches, including the Potter's House
The Potter's House Church, Dallas
The Potter's House is a megachurch in Dallas, Texas, USA founded by Bishop T. D. Jakes.Outreach Magazine ranked it the 10th largest in the USA as of 2008 based on attendance of 17,000.-History:...
pastored by T.D Jakes and Prestonwood Baptist pastored by Jack Graham
Jack Graham (pastor)
Jack Graham is the Pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church and the voice of PowerPoint Ministries, the broadcast ministry of Prestonwood. Prestonwood is one of the United States’s largest congregations, with a membership exceeding 28,000....
. Houston is home to the largest church in the nation, Lakewood Church
Lakewood Church
Lakewood Church is a non-denominational Christian megachurch located in Houston, Texas. It is the largest congregation in the United States, averaging more than 43,500 in attendance per week. The 16,800-seat Lakewood Church Central Campus, home to four English language services and two Spanish...
, pastored by Joel Osteen
Joel Osteen
Joel Scott Osteen is an American author, televangelist, and the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. His ministry reaches over seven million broadcast media viewers weekly in over 100 nations around the world.-Biography:...
. Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
has the most churches per capita in the nation.
In 2000, The religious demographics of Texas were:
- EvangelicalEvangelicalismEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Protestant – 24.4% - Mainline Protestant – 8.1%
- OrthodoxOrthodox ChristianityThe term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
– 0.1% - Roman Catholic – 21.0%
- HinduHinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, Sikhs, Buddhists, MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, others; 2.0% - Unclaimed – 44.5%
The largest single denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Catholic Church 4,368,969, the Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
3,519,459 and the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
1,022,342. Evangelical Protestant Christian influence had a strong impact in social/cultural and political implications in Texas throughout its history, but not all Texans share this view of Christian religious doctrine. Austin, the state capital, is perceived as a more secular and liberal community.
Other religious groups are also found in Texas, such as Jewish Texans, a unique subculture of the American Jewish community. Most of the state's estimated 128,000 Jews live in or around Dallas and Houston.http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/48_2000.asp
Cities and towns
Global city
A global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...
of Houston and Dallas.
Texas has 25 metropolitan areas, with four having populations over 1 million and two over 5 million. According to the List of United States cities by population, Texas has 3 of the 10 cities in the US with populations greater than 1 million, and is tied with California for the most of any other state. Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Fort Worth, and El Paso are also among the top 25 largest U.S. cities.
The Texas Urban Triangle is a region defined by three interstate highways
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
– I-35 to the west (Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio), I-45 to the east (Dallas to Houston), and I-10 to the south (San Antonio to Houston).
The region contains most of the state's largest cities and metropolitan areas, as well as nearly 75 percent of Texas' total population.
External links
- Kever, Jeannie. "Census finds thousands of Californians flocking to Texas." Houston ChronicleHouston ChronicleThe Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
. Tuesday November 15, 2011.