Hispanics Now Largest Demographic Group in Texas

Hispanics have become the largest demographic group in Texas for the first time, according to updated U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday.

The estimates of the Census Bureau are as of July 1, 2022, and it means Hispanics are now the largest demographic group in states with the largest populations in the U.S., California, and Texas.

Non-Hispanic whites had been the majority of the population in Texas from 1850 to at least 2004, when the portion of that demographic dropped below 50% for the first time. The data from the Census Bureau now shows Hispanics make up 40.2% of the population, with non-Hispanic whites closely behind at 39.8% and Blacks at 12.5%.

It also shows Texas joining California as the only U.S. states with populations above 30 million.

"Numbers alone do not tell the whole story," Roberto Tellez, Texas director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, the country's oldest Hispanic civil rights organization, told The Hill. "While it is inevitable that Hispanics would become the numeric majority in Texas, until we have fair and equal access to the reins of power through the ballot box, we cannot achieve our full potential. LULAC continues to strive for that day which will and must come."

Texas added 223,136 new Hispanic residents from July 2021 to July 2022, the data showed, for a total population of 12,068,549, which is 128,938 more than the total of 11,939,611 non-Hispanic whites. Over the past 10 years, the Hispanic population in Texas has grown 27.5%, far outpacing the non-Hispanic white population (4.7%).

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