How Many People Move to North Texas Every Year?
A few weeks ago, when the Census released some new numbers, we in North Texas got to crow about sitting at the top of the list of metropolitan areas with the largest population growth. Yay! Only thing is, some news outlets got the story wrong. Like CNNMoney.com, which wrote: “More people moved to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, than to any other metropolitan area in the United States last year.”
Not so fast. While North Texas did add more people, some of that growth was “natural” (i.e., it came from births outpacing deaths). The rest of the growth came from in-migration (i.e., people moving here). When you look at just in-migration, here’s how things shape up:
1. Atlanta 99,800
2. Dallas-Fort Worth 92,600
3. Phoenix 90,200
4. Houston 56,300
Interesting, no? Especially the huge dropoff from No. 3 to No. 4. (Thanks to the CVB for help with the numbers.)
16 Comments to “How Many People Move to North Texas Every Year?”
Leave a Reply
All material copyright © 2008 D Magazine. All rights reserved.
one could reduce those numbers, in each city, dramatically by getting a green van and a loud speaker and broadcasting “IMMIGRATION”. Farmers Branch, Tx understands the issue.
Decent point, houstonc — except that CNNMoney.com almost certainly cites this as testament to a growing economy, which it is. Not necessarily pro-illegal-immigration myself — it’s the rare issue on which I waver — but their presence is certainly a bellwether of a robust business climate.
In this sense, Farmers Branch, Texas, does not, in fact, understand the issue.
From the Census Bureau site, when you factor out (international) immigration and births:
1. Atlanta 75,577
2. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale 67,785
3. Dallas-Fort Worth 53,613
4. Charlotte 46,233
5. Austin 40,534
And, for the years 2000-2007, factoring out immigration and births. This represents the number moving in from elsewhere in US minus people moving out to elsewhere in US. Eh. Not quite as impressive.
1. Phoenix 490,577
2. Riverside-San Bernadino 480,543
3. Atlanta 369,760
4. Las Vegas 299,630
5. Tampa 260,418
6. Orlando 233,803
7. Dallas-Fort Worth 229,749
8. Charlotte NC-SC 190,631
9. Austin 173,317
10.Houston 157,918
And all those new residents will be using more water, needing more electricity, overcrowding more schools, congesting more roads, and consuming more resources. Whether these new folks are legal or illegal, the lives of the rest of us here will change, and not necessarily for the better.
The big question is, “Where are they working?” and the next question is, “How long are they going to stay?”
Those are your economic indicators.
Bob reminds me of my grandpa
At least they don’t use the term DFW Metroplex…
They’ll also be purchasing goods and services locally — the price of which their labor, in part, keeps relatively low — and paying sales taxes on their purchases, as well as other taxes, in many cases.
Will their tax receipts cover the public services they use? Depends on which tendentious study you turn to. I’ll go ahead and concede, Probably not.
I know what Bob means when he says “whether they’re legal or illegal.” Definitely don’t agree, but it’s disturbingly clear what he’s saying.
When Tim O’Hare was a little boy, he and Lumpy would eat milk and cookies and then go swimmin’ in the crick and that night they’d watch Ed Sullivan and life made sense back then.
Thing is, life still makes sense — just not to Tim O’Hare (his meteoric rise to Farmers Branch, Texas, Councilperson not withstanding).
Bob, sounds like you just don’t like “new folks.”
So is Bob saying it would be OK to need to add to our infrastructure if the people that moved here were all from Nebraska?
I don’t know , Bethany — seems like folks from Nebraska would fall unambiguously in the “here legally” category. Maybe Bob’s misanthropy has grown to entirely eclipse his finer traits — his expansive manner when hectoring young children, for example, or his way with a Bloody Mary. The only other explanation would be that he feels innately superior to brown people.
Bob? Bob? You still kickin’?
Yeah, I’m still kickin’ and I’m not misanthropic and I like new folks and old folks. My point was (and is) that we don’t do a very good job to plan for this growth or to finance this new growth or to execute this new growth. If we see it coming (which we do) we should try to maximize the positive effects and minimize the negative effects before and during the arrival of this growth, rather than just let it happen and then ***** about the results.
Fair enough point, Bob. Sorry to have misconstrued.
Yeah, they’ll need more water…Marvin Nichols fight time again!!
Actually, they’re building more water, or will be soon.
http://eleventybillionthblog.b.....nally.html