AUSTIN – The U.S. Census data today are a tremendous vindication of Texas’s policy framework of free markets and limited government, according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
According to the new census data, Texas’ population has surpassed 25 million, with growth of 20.6 percent during the last decade – more than twice the national average. As a result, Texas will gain four congressional districts next year, which is the most in Texas history and more than any other state this census cycle. By contrast, California, the nation’s most populous state, will not add a congressional seat in a reapportionment for the first time since its statehood in 1850.
“Today’s society is more mobile than ever, allowing people to easily move to where they perceive the best quality of life and economic opportunity for their families,” said TPPF President Brooke Rollins. “More than at any time in our nation’s history, people are voting with their feet that Texas is the place to be.”
Rollins said a major reason for Texas’ attractiveness has been the vitality of the state’s economy.
“Though Texas and New York have similar unemployment rates right now, that doesn’t come close to telling the real story,” Rollins said. “Texas has added 1.78 million job seekers and their families during the last decade, while New York has lost almost 850,000. Businesses want to locate where taxes and government interference are low, and for the last decade, that has meant Texas.”
Brooke Rollins is President and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit free-market research institute based in Austin.
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