Hispanics and Latinos in Texas

Hispanic and Latino Texans are residents of the state of Texas who are of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 51.5 of the state's population. 39.6% of Texans are of Mexican descent, accounting for 88% of Hispanics in Texas.^[1]

Tejano or Texano (Spanish for "Texan") is a term used to identify a Texan of Criollo Spanish or Mexican heritage.

History

The first European to see Texas was Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, who led an expedition for the governor of Jamaica, Francisco de Garay, in 1520. While searching for a passage between the Gulf of Mexico and Asia,^[2] Álvarez de Pineda created the first map of the northern Gulf Coast.^[3] This map is the earliest recorded document of Texas history.^[3]

Demographics

Hispanics (of any race) were 37.6% of the population of the state. As of 2010, 45% of Texas residents had Hispanic ancestry; these include recent immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and South America, as well as Tejanos, whose ancestors have lived in Texas as early as the 1700s. Tejanos are the largest ancestry group in southern Duval County and among the largest in and around Bexar County, including San Antonio, where over one million Hispanics live. The state has the second largest Hispanic population in the United States, behind California.

Hispanics dominate southern, south-central, and western Texas and form a significant portion of the residents in the cities of Dallas, Houston, and Austin. The Hispanic population contributes to Texas having a younger population than the American average, because Hispanic births have outnumbered non-Hispanic white births since the early 1990s. In 2007, for the first time since the early nineteenth century, Hispanics accounted for more than half of all births (50.2%), while non-Hispanic whites accounted for just 34%.

Houston

Steve Murdock, a demographer with the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University and a former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, predicted that, between 2000 and 2040 (assuming that the net migration rate will equal half that of 1990-2000), Hispanic public school enrollment will increase by 213 percent, while non-Hispanic white enrollment will decrease by 15 percent.^[4] As of 2010, 29.21% (6,543,702) of Texas residents age 5 and older spoke Spanish at home as a primary language.^[5]

Spanish language in Texas

"No Smoking" sign in Spanish and English at the headquarters of the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin, Texas

In Texas, English is the state's de facto official language (though it lacks de jure status) and is used in government. However, the continual influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants increased the import of Spanish in Texas. Texas's counties bordering Mexico are mostly Hispanic, and consequently, Spanish is commonly spoken in the region. The Government of Texas, through Section 2054.116 of the Government Code, mandates that state agencies provide information on their websites in Spanish to assist residents who have limited English proficiency.^[6]

See also

• Tejano
• History of Mexican Americans in Texas
• History of Mexican Americans in Houston
• History of Mexican Americans in Dallas–Fort Worth

References

External links

• Demographic Profile of Hispanics in Texas, 2011, Pew Research Center