Booming cities in the Lone Star state dominated the latest population estimates for cities as of July, 1, 2006, released by the census today. Six Texas cities were in the top 25 in the U.S, and three, including Houston, were in the top 10, with San Antonio the seventh-largest and Dallas the ninth.
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Nineteen Texas cities, or nearly 20 percent, were among the top 100 fastest-growing cities with populations of at least 100,000 between 2000 and July 1, 2006. McKinney, north of Dallas, ranked No. 1 on that list, nearly doubling its population.
“What you’re seeing is verification that, numerically, Texas continues to be the fastest-growing state in the nation,” said state demographer Steve Murdock, whom President Bush has nominated to be Census Bureau director.
As of July 1, 2006, Texas edged out California as the state with the largest population growth, gaining 2.7 million people since 2000 while California gained 2.6 million. In that time period, Texas grew at a 12.7 percent rate, compared with California’s 8 percent.
It’s looking a lot more like we’ll be gaining four seats in Congress in 2011. I wonder what effect on the politics of redistricting that will have, since for sure some of those seats are going to be preordained as minority opportunity districts.
And speaking of redistricting:
Houston grew from 1.98 million to 2.14 million in the same period.
We’re going to be ready to add new district City Council seats by 2011 as well, right?