Texas, The U.S., Becoming More And More Latino

Both sides of my family have long resided in the borderlands, specifically El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, but recently on the American side for just over one hundred years. During that past century each generation of my family has borne witness to population trends that, through heightened fertility and immigration rates, have produced a United States that is increasingly Latino.

Which is to say, my family’s experience will now become the experience of others all over the United States.

When my grandparents were children in the early twentieth century, the majority of El Paso was comprised primarily by white residents. Keep in mind that the entire population of El Paso during the early twentieth century was over three times as large as our sister city south of the border. Back then, the total population of El Paso could have easily fit in today’s Sun Bowl Stadium at the University of Texas at El Paso.

It was not until the late 1950s that El Paso produced a Latino majority population of approximately 140,000 residents who were primarily of Mexican ancestry. It must be noted that the massive Latino population growth of that era resulted in the escalation of Latino voter mobilization and the election of the first Mexican American mayor in a major American city, Raymond L. Telles.

By the time I graduated from high school, well over 30 years later, the city’s Latino population numbered greater than 500,000 residents. After 50 years of rapid Latino population growth, four out of five Paseños are Latino—now the city contains the third-largest concentration of Latinos within Tejas and ranks as the seventh-largest Latino population within the continental United States. Nowadays, much more of our state resembles the border region demographically, according to the 2010 Census:

• Texas has the second largest Latino population in the United States (9,460,921)
• 1 out of 3 Texans are Latino
• In Laredo, 9 out of 10 residents are Latino
• In Brownsville, 9 out of 10 residents are Latino
• In McAllen, 4 out of 5 residents are Latino
• In San Antonio, 2 out of 3 residents are Latino
• In Corpus Christi, 1 out 2 residents are Latino
• In Houston, 2 out of 5 residents are Latino
• In Dallas, 2 out of 5 residents are Latino
• In Fort Worth, 1 out of 3 residents are Latino
• In Austin, 1 out of 3 residents are Latino

Now compare these ratios to other states and major cities with the largest concentrations of Latino residents:

• 1 out of 3 Californians are Latino (14,013,719)
• 1 out of 2 residents in Los Angeles are Latino
• 1 out of 5 New York state residents are Latino (3,416,922)
• 1 out 3 residents in New York City are Latino
• 1 out of 5 Floridians are Latino (4,223,806)
• 2 out of 3 residents are Latino in Miami
• 1 out of 6 Illinoisans are Latino (2,027,578)
• 1 out 3 residents are Latino in Chicago

Here is a complete listing of the top ten cities with the largest Latino populations:

The rest of Texas is becoming like El Paso and the rest of the country is becoming like Texas. As this massive demographic shift continues to unfold rapidly, I believe that knowledge and recommendations distilled from Texas border counties that have had longer exposure to Latino majorities can benefit the rest of the state and country, something I hope to write about often here on News Taco.

Joseph P. A. Villescas, Ph.D. is an independent consultant, writer and instructor. He conducts extensive investigations on Latino and other multidimensional populations that explore trends in their educational development, media consumption, internet usage, voting behaviors, racial categorization, organizational capacities and readiness for future leadership roles in community settings. He is also the founder and owner of Villescas Research, Media & Instruction, LLC.