Survey Says Whites Not Majority In Texas Anymore

HOUSTON—White non-Hispanics are no longer the majority in Texas — for the first time since the 1800’s.

Today’s Census Bureau survey says whites stopped being the majority in Texas as of last year.

Also, the numbers show that Texas joined only Illinois and North Carolina in having a poverty rate that measurably increased — while income decreased — in 2002-03.

Texas state demographer Steve Murdock says the two trends are related as economic woes have slowed white migration from other states.

Luis Figueroa with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund says the future of Latinos is the future of Texas, as the population numbers show.

Also:

— Most of the Texas population expansion since 2000 has come from births and international immigration — both sources of predominantly Hispanic growth.

— The black population remained basically flat, at around ten-point-eight percent.

— Asian-Americans now account for about three percent of the Texas population.