Texas’ 2022 population boom is from nearly 670,000 moving to the state
Texas is among the nation’s fastest-growing, largest-gaining states. Texas gained 9 million more residents than any other state between 2000 and 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s state-level statistics on geographic mobility released on Oct. 19..
The population increased by 43%, making it the fourth fastest growing state. The second most populous state ballooned past 30 million people as of 2022 estimates. It’s now one of only two states with a population of 30 million or more, second only to California with 39 million people.
“Unlike Florida, where growth stemmed mainly from domestic migration, Texas experienced moderate increases across all components of population change,” said the Census Bureau website.
Texas did lose 494,077 residents in 2022, according to the recently released census data. Most ended up in California with 42,279 and Florida with 38,207. That’s followed by Oklahoma with 26,440, Colorado with 25,466 and Georgia with 23,754.
“Highly populated states, including California, Texas and Florida, experienced some of the largest state-to-state flows,” the Census Bureau website says. “People leaving these states tended to move to other highly populated or neighboring states.”
Population of 11 Texas counties more than doubled
From 2000 to 2022, the population of 11 of Texas’s 254 counties more than doubled. Rockwall, Hays, Williamson, Fort Bend and Kaufman were the fastest growing counties in Texas. The largest gaining were Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Collin and Denton counties.
Harris County was the largest gaining county, adding 1.36 million people, and Rockwall was the fastest growing, nearly tripling. While Harris County added the most residents, several counties in Dallas-Fort Worth had significant gains too. Tarrant County gained the second-largest number of people, almost 700,000, while Kaufman County’s population rose by 139% making it the fifth fastest-growing county. Collin County grew by 132% or 659,578 residents and Denton by 123% or 538,490 people, making them two of the fastest-growing, largest-gaining counties in Texas.
Texas gained an average 412,958 residents annually between 2000 and 2022. About half of Texas’s population gain since 2000 resulted from natural increase (more births than deaths); around 29% from net domestic migration gains; and 22% from net international migration gains. A staggering 668,338 people moved to Texas from a different state, which is the second most of any state after Florida. An estimated 237,051 moved to Texas from abroad, according to the latest Census Bureau data.
Between 2021 and 2022, 102,442 Californians became Texans. Another 41,747 moved to Texas from Florida, and 30,890 from New York. The Census Bureau says 25,272 people came to Texas from Illinois and 25,192 people from Louisiana made Texas home.
