This study takes an in depth look at metropolitan areas in Texas. Texas is a rapidly changing state, and the twenty-seven metropolitan areas are the center for growth and change. In this study of metropolitan expansion in Texas, population growth, transportation, and urban conglomeration are topics discussed.
Statistical information has been compiled from projection figures from the Texas State Data Center(TSDC) and is located in Appendix A. Population projections from the Texas Water Development Board(TWDB) were used as a comparison against TSDC projections. TWDB data used in this study are located in Appendix B. This study groups metropolitan areas into five distinctive tier levels using geographic location, as well as similarities in growth patterns.
Since the first official U.S. Census count in 1850, Texas has never seen a decade without growth. The vast wide open spaces that Texas has been famous for are becoming an item of the past as urban expansion spreads across the landscape. Texas has become the second largest state in population in the U.S., with 22 million residents in 2003. Of the 22 million residents Texas currently has, all but approximately 3 million live in the twenty-seven metropolitan areas. As Texas continues to grow, it is becoming more important to study where this growth is occurring. Transportation and infrastructure needs must be met as Texas is expected to double in population in the next 50 years. Texas urban areas are among the most rapidly growing in the United States. Austin is the second fastest growing of the nation’s 49 metropolitan areas over 1 million in population, while Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio rank among the top 15. Among all of the nearly 300 metropolitan areas in the United States, Laredo ranks as the second fastest growing, McAllen is third and Brownsville is fifteenth. It is expected that 80 percent of growth in Texas over the next 25 years will be in the major metropolitan areas.(2)