New data released by the United States Census Bureau this week revealed that Texas has officially surpassed the 30 million population mark.
The report shows that the Lone Star State added 470,708 residents between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, which is an increase of almost 54,000 more than runner-up Florida and over 300,000 more than the third biggest increase – North Carolina.
The huge increase took Texas’ population count up to 30,029,572 on July 1, 2022, passing the 30 million mark and joining California as the only other state to do so.
“Texas was the largest-gaining state in the nation, reaching a total population of 30,029,572. Growth in Texas last year was fueled by gains from all three components: net domestic migration (230,961), net international migration (118,614), and natural increase (118,159)” read the United States Census Bureau report.
The Dallas Fort Worth area now accounts for a whopping 25% of that huge 30 million Texas population.
The new data from the United States Census Bureau also revealed that Texas’ GDP growth surged a huge 8.2% in the third quarter which is a huge increase from an annualized rate of 1.8% in the second quarter.
The oil and gas industry was the biggest contributor. According to the report over 42,000 jobs were added in the Texas oil patch in the past year, far more than in any other job sector.
Almost half of the population increase was down to net domestic migration with 230,961 people moving to Texas from other states.
Only Florida had more with a domestic migration increase of 318,855 and North Carolina saw the third biggest net domestic migration with 99,796.
The rest of Texas’ population increase was split fairly evenly between net international migration and a natural increase which analyzes the difference between births and deaths.
The biggest losses were in California which recorded a population decrease of -343,230 due to domestic migration alone followed by New York with -299,557 and Illinois with -141,656.
Texas is now the second-largest state based on both population and area. California is the most populated state with an estimated 39,029,342 million people to our 30,029,572 while Alaska is 1.723 million km² compared to our 695,662 km².
The full United States Census Bureau population report can be found here.
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