Alas, the long-awaited Census data for Texas has been released. It is full of fascinating information and this geek will be busy for days pondering the information.

Preliminary reviews indicate some things we already knew. Texas is officially a minority majority population. The number of white/non Hispanic residents has dropped below 50%.

Our urban areas are growing rapidly and reflect the highest increase in numbers across the state. And, they are growing with ever-increasing diversity.

The increase in Hispanic residents may be even greater than anyone anticipated and this presents significant challenges for redistricting.

I had the great privilege of working on the Census campaign for Harris County. We were charged with increasing the number of respondents reporting and to encourage the public to participate.

It was a daunting task but was made much easier with technology provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. They provided a map that allowed us to check daily for the rate of return from Harris County residents. Utilizing these tools, we were able to send teams into target areas and watch the numbers increase within a few days or discover that the census addresses included large, abandoned properties and notify them of that information.

Through the efforts of our team, the partnership with County Judge Ed Emmet and the Harris County Community Services Department, we were able to significantly increase Harris County’s rate of response over 2000.

However, we still did not succeed in achieving 100% rate of return. There were many citizens who chose not to participate in the Census for a variety of reasons.

The headlines will tell you that Houston’s population, according to official numbers, is just under 2.1 million. If the undercount is factored in, it is absolutely safe to say that the city has exceeded the 2.1 million mark.

The same holds true for Harris County. The number falls just short of 4.1 million and it is safe to assume that the official count is easily 4.1 or even greater. For the 10 county region, it is approximately 6 million.

Bottom line – Hispanics have experienced explosive growth in Texas. We will discuss this further in the coming days.

It’s a great time to be a geek!