Office of State Demographer in the News

San Marcos' population of 46,685 is expected to swell by 70 percent during the next two decades, according to estimates from the Texas State Data Center.

The city is sandwiched between the rapidly expanding metropolitan areas of San Antonio and Austin. Factor in a growing university and a cherished river, and city officials say it is no wonder that San Marcos is expected to add about 33,000 residents by 2035.

Population growth has swelled in Texas in the last four decades, and it presents some of the same problems and opportunities in Bell County as it has throughout the rest of the state, the state demographer said during a lunch speech Tuesday in Temple.

Chief among those challenges is how to address lagging high school and college graduation rates among Hispanics ? who have grown from 32 to 38 percent of the state?s population since 2000 and represent a large chunk of the state?s future labor force, according to Census Bureau data.

"This is what worries me,? demographer Lloyd Potter told about 155 business and community leaders at the Temple Chamber of Commerce?s Legislative Affairs Committee program at the Hilton Garden Inn. ?If the Hispanic population is going to take off like this, what does that mean for the educational and the skill level of our labor force? I think it?s one of our biggest challenges."

With her husband, a naturalized American citizen, serving as her sponsor, Mexican school Principal Gabriela Verdin Gonzalez moved to San Antonio last year.

In doing so, the Tampico native became a member of a rather exclusive club: recent international immigrants to the city.

From April 1, 2010, through July 1, 2012, the San Antonio area added a mere 8,021 new residents from foreign countries, according to Census Bureau estimates released last month.

Opinion asked State Demographer Lloyd Potter, also a professor of demography at University of Texas, San Antonio, about past and future trends in Texas.

Panelists at the Engage Breakfast on April 4 discussed education, community involvement and the region's business climate as it pertains to the growing Hispanic population in Austin and Central Texas.

"I think there's a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of opportunity," said Geronimo Rodriguez, chairman of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "It's very exciting."

Panelists included Perla Cavazos, legislative director with state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston; Paul Cruz, chief schools officer with Austin Independent School District; Mando Rayo, vice president of engagement with Cultural Strategies?a marketing and communications firm; and Rodriguez. The discussion was moderated by KXAN-TV morning anchor Sally Hernandez.

Latinos are Texas' fastest-growing population group. And they are grappling with soaring obesity rates. According to the Department of State Health Services, almost 40 percent of Hispanics are obese. To combat the health crisis, cities as well as state lawmakers are aiming to get Latinos exercising and eating healthier.

If there were any denying the growth in the Permian Basin, the U.S. Census has released numbers that will change your mind.

Between July 1, 2011 and July 1, 2012, Midland and Odessa placed first and fifth respectively on the Census? list of fastest growing metro areas in the country by percent increase. Midland was listed as growing at 4.6 percent while Odessa was listed as growing at 3.4 percent. For Micros, Andrews was listed as No. 4 with a percentage increase of 4.7 percent.

The boom in Bakken and Permian Basin oil and gas activity helped fuel population growth in North Dakota and Texas from 2011 to 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.

Midland, Texas ranked as the fastest-growing metro area from July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2012, with population growth of 4.6 percent. Neighboring Odessa, Texas, ranked fifth, with Casper and Cheyenne, Wyo., and Bismarck, N.D. ranked among the top 20 fastest-growing metropolitan areas.

HOUSTON COUNTY, TX (KTRE) Various counties across the U.S. are fading, aging populations and weak local economies are prompting young adults find jobs somewhere else.

Intuitively I see that we've losing young people to larger cities, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio," said Erin ford, Houston County Judge.

According to the Associated Press more than one in three U.S. counties are dying off.

San Antonio's metro area grew robustly by nearly 100,000 residents in a little over two years, according to newly released numbers.

Texas metropolitan statistical areas, micropolitan statistical areas and counties ? including Houston and Harris County ? were among the fastest-growing last year, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

Between July 2011 and July 2012, Harris County experienced the largest increase in raw numbers of any county in the U.S. It added 80,005 residents over the year, followed by Los Angeles County in California and Maricopa County in Arizona, which both added nearly 74,000 people.

DALLAS (AP) ? The U.S. Census Bureau reports the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan region soared faster over a one-year period than any other in the country, with the Houston area coming in second.

Census estimates released Thursday show nearly 132,000 people were added to the Metroplex from July 2011 to July 2012. Since April 2010 the region's population has grown by nearly 275,000 people.

AUSTIN ? According to a panel discussion designed to prepare incoming legislators for the next session, which begins January, an increasing Texas population is not only changing demographic characteristics but affecting education as well.

More people are moving to the state of Texas than any other state and 65 percent of its growth can be attributed to people of Hispanic descent, reported Lloyd Potter, Texas State Demographer and moderator of a pre-legislative conference panel session last Friday.