Meet the face of the new Texas: Jose Villagran, 39, first-generation Mexican American, four kids, suburbanite. Along with thousands of others like him, Villagran was born in Houston to Mexican parents and still works in the city, but he moved his family to this safer, cheaper suburb 14 miles south of Houston.
Census data released Thursday show a robust statewide population spurt the past decade — adding more than 4.2 million residents, or 20.6% — attributed primarily to Hispanics such as Villagran, minorities born in urban centers but quickly spreading to suburbs and rural areas across the state.
"There are more Mexicans here than ever before," Villagran, a buyer for a scrap metal company, says of Pasadena. "We've kind of taken over."
And then some. Overall, Texas' population grew to more than 25 million, awarding the nation's second most populous state four more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hispanics accounted for 65% of the state's growth since 2000, while non-Hispanic whites experienced the smallest increase of any group, just 4.2%. The black population grew by 22%.
"We're seeing the development of two populations groups in Texas: aging Anglos and young minorities," says Steve Murdock, a former Census Bureau director and now a Rice University sociology professor. "We're seeing Hispanic growth not just deepen but become pervasive throughout the state."
A healthy state economy during the recent recession and Mexican nationals fleeing drug cartel violence in Mexico also contributed to Texas' population boom, he says. Border towns saw sharp increases: Brownsville's population rose 25% and Laredo's by 33%.
But natural Latino population increases — more Latinos born in the state than dying — were the main engine, he says. For the first time in recent history, Texas is less than half non-Hispanic white, dipping to 45%, the data shows. Hispanics make up about 38% of the total population.
The state's burgeoning Hispanic population mirrors what's happening across the USA, Murdock says. "The Texas of today is the U.S. of tomorrow," he says.
Another telling statistic: Texas added nearly 1 million children under 18 — 95% of them Hispanic, says William Frey, a demographer for the Brookings Institution. "That's the future of the state," he says. "It's a diverse one."
The increased Hispanic numbers are expected to spark heated debate in the months ahead over how to redraw districts to accommodate the four new congressional seats and include more minority voters, says Ross Ramsey, managing editor of the Texas Tribune, an online political site. "That's the beginning of a political dogfight," he says.
Texas' population surge came in four main areas: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston-Galveston, San Antonio-Austin and the Rio Grande Valley, all areas with high numbers of Latinos. Those four areas account for 84% of the statewide gain.
Houston remains Texas' largest city with 2.1 million residents. San Antonio moved up during the decade to the second slot with 1.3 million, trailed by Dallas with 1.2 million, the data show.
In the Houston area, Latinos no longer are confined to the East End neighborhood, their historical enclave, says Deacon Joe Rubio, an administrator for Catholic Charities Houston. Historically white suburbs such as Katy, Dickinson and Pasadena are swelling with Latinos, he says.
In Harris County, where Houston is located, the Latino population grew nearly 50% to 1.7 million and Asian Texans grew by 44% to 250,000, while the number of whites dropped from 1.4 million to 1.35 million — a 6% decline.
"There is a significant spread from traditional barrios or neighborhoods to suburban areas and other areas where you wouldn't find them before," Rubio says.
Once home to the Ku Klux Klan and the setting for the 1980 hit movie Urban Cowboy, Pasadena today is dotted with carnicerias (meat markets), washaterias (laundromats) and taquerias. The former Elks Lodge is now the El Palacio Real, hosting quinceañeras and other traditional Hispanic galas.
Resident Raul Silva, 41, has seen the city transform since he moved his wife and two children here from Houston 12 years ago. He says he hopes the new Census figures give Hispanic Texans more political muscle and the ability to self-improve.
"We need better representation," says Silva, stopping Thursday for a breakfast taco at Taqueria de Jalisco with his wife, Diana Selestino, 38. "I'd like to see it happen soon."
