Texas Quick Facts
- Residents: Texan
- Nickname: Lone Star State
- Origin of name: Texas comes from the Hasinai Indian word tejas meaning friends or allies.
- State Capital: Austin
- State abbreviation/Postal code: Tex./TX
- Governor: Rick Perry, R (to Jan. 2011)
- Lieut. Governor: David Dewhurst, R (to Jan. 2011)
- Senators: John Cornyn, R (to Jan. 2009); Kay Bailey Hutchison, R (to Jan. 20013)
- U.S. Representatives: 32
- Entered Union (rank): Dec. 29, 1845 (28)
- Present constitution adopted: 1876
- Motto: Friendship
State symbols:
- Flower - Bluebonnet (1901)
- Tree - Pecan (1919)
- Bird - Mockingbird (1927)
- Song - "Texas, Our Texas" (1929)
- Fish - Guadalupe bass (1989)
Seashell - Lightning whelk (1987)- Dish - Chili (1977)
- Folk dance - Square dance (1991)
- Fruit - Texas red grapefruit (1993)
- Gem - Texas blue topaz (1969)
- Gemstone cut - Lone Star cut (1977)
- Grass - Sideoats grass (1971)
- Reptile - Horned lizard (1993)
- Stone - Petrified palmwood (1969)
- Plant - Prickly pear cactus
- Insect - Monarch butterfly
- Pepper - Jalapeño pepper
- Mammal - Longhorn
- Small mammal - Armadillo
- Flying mammal - Mexican free-tailed bat
5 largest cities (2005 est.)
- Houston, 2,016,582;
- San Antonio, 1,256,509
- Dallas, 1,213,825
- Austin, 690,252
- Fort Worth, 624,067
Land area: 261,797 sq mi. (678,054 sq km)
Number of counties: 254 (More than any other State!)
State parks: 115 (600,000+ ac.)
TEXAS POPULATION:
In 1998 Texas overtook New York as the nation's 2nd most populous state. Between 1990 and 2000 Texas's population grew from 16,986,510 to 20,851,820, a gain of 22.8%, and the 2nd-largest increase for the decade among the 50 states. The state had placed 4th in the 1970 census, with a population of 11,196,730, but had surpassed Pennsylvania in 1974. The estimated population as of 2002 was 21,779,893, an increase of 4.5% since 2000. The population is projected to reach 27.2 million by 2025. The population density in 2000 was 79.6 persons per sq mi.
2005 resident population est.: 22,859,968
- White: 14,799,505 (71.0%)
- Black: 2,404,566 (11.5%)
- American Indian: 118,362 (0.6%)
- Asian: 562,319 (2.7%)
- Other race: 2,438,001 (11.7%)
- Two or more races: 514,633 (2.5%)
- Hispanic/Latino: 6,669,666 (32.0%)
- Male: 10,352,910 (49.6%)
- Female: 10,498,910 (50.4%)
- Median age: 32.3
TEXAS CLIMATE:
Texas's great size and topographic variety make climatic description difficult.
Brownsville, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, has had no measurable snowfall during all the years that records have been kept, but Vega, in the panhandle, averages 23 in (58 cm) of snowfall per year.
Near the Louisiana border, rainfall exceeds 56 in (142 cm) annually, while in parts of extreme West Texas, rainfall averages less than 8 in (20 cm).
Average annual precipitation in Dallas (1971–2000) was 34.7 in (88 cm); in El Paso, 9.4 in (23.9 cm); and in Houston, 47.8 in (121.4 cm).
Generally, a maritime climate prevails along the Gulf coast, with continental conditions inland; the Balcones Escarpment is the main dividing line between the two zones, but they are not completely isolated from each other's influence.
Texas has two basic seasons–a hot summer that may last from April through October, and a winter that starts in November and usually lasts until March.
When summer ends, the state is too dry for autumn foliage, except in East Texas. Temperatures in El Paso, in the southwest, range from a mean January minimum of 29°F (–2°C) to a mean July maximum of 96°F (36°C); at Amarillo, in the panhandle, from 23°F (–5°C) in January to 91°F (33°C) in July; and at Galveston, on the Gulf, from 48°F (9°C) in January to 88°F (31°C) in August.
Perhaps the most startling contrast is in relative humidity, averaging 34% at noon in El Paso, 44% in Amarillo, and 72% in Galveston.
In the Texas panhandle, the average date of the first freeze is 1 November; in the lower Rio Grande Valley, 16 December. The last freeze arrives in the panhandle on 15 April, and in the lower Rio Grande Valley on 30 January. The valley thus falls only six weeks short of having a 12-month growing season while the panhandle approximates the growing season of the upper Midwest.
Record temperatures range from –23°F (–31v) at Seminole, on 8 February 1933, to 120°F (49v) at Seymour in north-central Texas on 12 August 1936.
The greatest annual rainfall was 109 in (277 cm), measured in 1873 at Clarksville, just below the Red River in northeast Texas; the least annual rainfall, 1.786 in (4.47 cm), was recorded at Wink, near the New Mexico line, in 1956. Thrall, in central Texas, received 38.2 in (97 cm) of rain in 24 hours on 9–10 September 1921. Alvin, in Brazoria County on the Gulf Coast, had 43 in (109 cm) of rain on 25–26 July 1979, a national record for the most rainfall during a 24-hour period. Romero, on the New Mexico border, received a record 65 in (165 cm) of snow in the winter of 1923–24, and Hale Center, near Lubbock, measured 33 in (84 cm) during one storm in February 1956. The highest sustained wind velocity in Texas history, 145 mph (233 km/hr), occurred when Hurricane Carla hit Matagorda and Port Lavaca along the Gulf coast on 11 September 1961.
TEXAS TRANSPORTATION:
Texas ranks first among the 50 states in total railroad mileage, highway mileage, and number of airports, and 2nd only to California in motor vehicle registrations and in number of general aviation aircraft.
Transportation has been a severe problem for Texas because of the state's extraordinary size and sometimes difficult terrain; one of the more unusual experiments in US transport history was the use of camels in southwestern Texas during the mid-1800s. The Republic of Texas authorized railroad construction as early as 1836, but the financial panic of 1837 helped kill that attempt. Not until 1853 did the state's first railroad–from Harrisburg (now incorporated into Houston) to Stafford's Point, 20 mi (32 km) to the west–come into service. At the outbreak of the Civil War, 10 railroads were operating, all but two connected with seaports. Although the state legislature in 1852 had offered railroad companies eight sections (5,120 acres/2,072 hectares) of land per mile of road construction and doubled that offer two years later, Texas lacked sufficient capital to satisfy its railroad-building needs until the war was over. The state generally held to the 10,240-acre (4,144-hectare) figure until all grants ceased in 1882. In all, Texas granted more than 50,000 sq mi (130,000 sq km) to railroad companies.
In 1870, Texas had fewer than 600 mi (970 km) of track; 10 years later, it had 3,026 mi (4,870 km); in 1890, 6,045 mi (9,729 km); and by 1920, 16,049 mi (25,828 km). A peak was reached in 1932, when there were 17,078 mi (27,484 km) of track; by the end of 2000, trackage had dwindled to 14,006 rail mi (22,540 km), with 11,377 mi (18,309 km) of the total being Class I railroad. Total rail mileage in Texas still ranks higher than any other state. Three carriers–Burlington Northern/Santa Fe, Kansas City Southern, and Union Pacific–control almost 85% of the mileage. The only rail passenger service in Texas is provided by Amtrak, which runs two routes–the Sunset Limited (New Orleans–Los Angeles) from Beaumont through Houston and San Antonio to El Paso, and the Texas Eagle (Chicago–San Antonio).
In mid-1983, Dallas-area voters approved the creation of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system (DART) to serve the city and 13 suburbs. Surface rail routes, running 160 mi (257 km), were to be constructed and bus service doubled at an expense of some $8.9 billion over a 26-year period. Ft. Worth has the state's only true subway–a 1-mi (1.6-km) line from a parking lot to a downtown shipping and office center–although Dallas-Ft. Worth Regional Airport has its own rail shuttle system.
Texas has by far the most mileage of any state. In 2000, Texas had 301,035 mi (484,468 km) of public roadway, 218,641 mi (351,868 km) of it rural. In 1997, expenditures on roads and highways by federal, state, and local governments came to more than $7.5 billion, 2nd only to California. The leading interstate highways are I-10 and I-20, respectively linking Houston and the Dallas–Ft.Worth Areas with El Paso in the west, and I-35 and I-45, connecting Dallas–Ft. Worth with, respectively, San Antonio (via Austin) and Galveston (via Houston). There were 13,462,023 licensed drivers in 2000 (2nd highest). Registered motor vehicles in 2000 included 7,616,183 automobiles, 6,368,516 trucks, 187,174 motorcycles, and 85,397 buses.
After American entry into World War I, Texas began to build airfields for training grounds; when the war ended, many US fliers returned to Texas and became civilian commercial pilots, carrying air mail (from 1926), dusting crops, and mapping potential oil fields. In 2002, the state had 1,805 landing facilities. In 2000, the Dallas–Ft. Worth Regional Airport, the nation's largest air terminal, serviced nearly half of the aircraft departures in Texas, with another sixth handled by George Bush Intercontinental Airport. In May 1999, the city of Austin formally opened the $585 million Austin-Bergstrom Airport.
ECONOMY:
Traditionally, the Texas economy has been dependent on the production of cotton, cattle, timber, and petroleum. In recent years, cotton has declined in importance, cattle ranchers have suffered financial difficulties because of increased production costs, and lumber production has remained relatively stable. But in the 1970s, as a result of rising world petroleum prices, oil and natural gas emerged as by far the state's most important resource.
The decades since World War II have also witnessed a boom in the electronics, computer, transport equipment, aerospace, and communications industries, which has placed Texas 2nd only to California in manufacturing among all the states of the Sunbelt region.
Between 1972 and 1982, the Texas economy grew 6 percent a year, twice the national average, led by a booming oil industry. Other factors that contributed to the Lone Star State's robust economy in the early 1980s were a plentiful labor market, high worker productivity, diversification of new industries, and less restrictive regulation of business activities than in most other states. The result was a steady increase in industrial production, construction values, retail sales, and personal income, coupled with a relatively low rate of unemployment. In 1982, however, Texas began to be affected by the worldwide recession. Lower energy demand, worldwide overproduction of oil, and the resulting fall in prices, caused a steep decline in the state's petroleum industry.
Unemployment in Texas jumped from 6.9% in 1982 to 8% in 1983, a period during which the national rate fell 0.1%. Much of this unemployment was among persons who came to Texas seeking jobs, particularly from northern industrial states. The rise and fall in the oil industry's fortunes affected other industries as well. Thousands of banks had speculated in real estate in the early eighties. By the late eighties, many of their investments had become worthless, and numerous banks were declared insolvent.
In the wake of the oil-centered recession, Texas began attempts to diversify. The state government has successfully wooed hightech industries to locate in Texas. The percentage of economic activity contributed by the oil and gas extraction industry dropped from about 20% to 6% between 1980 and 2000. Electronics, telecommunications, food processing, services and retail trade, on the other hand, saw substantial growth in the 1990s. While output from oil and gas extraction increased 7.4% between 1997 and 2001, output from general services rose 35.4%; from financial services, 32.5%; from retail and wholesale trade, 30.7%; from the transportation and public utilities sector, 26.4%; and from government, 24%. In the recession and slowdown of 2001 and 2002, employment growth in Texas followed the national trends, remaining negative through the fourth quarter of 2002. Shortfalls in state revenues following, particularly, the collapse of capital gains income, faced the state government with a serious budget deficit. Higher oil prices in 2003, following a Venezuelan oil strike and the US-led invasion of Iraq, should benefit the Texan economy.
In 2001, Texas's gross state product gross state product was $763.9 billion, the 3rd largest among the states, to which general services contributed $156.4 billion; trade, $131.7 billion; financial services, $118.2 billion; manufacturing, $93.8 billion; government, $85.4 billion; transportation and public utilities, $83 billion; mining (of which 97.9% was oil and gas extraction), $46.9 billion; and construction, $37.8 billion. The public sector in 2001 constituted 11.2% of gross state product, compared to the 12% average for the states.
INCOME
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2001, Texas had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $28,472 which ranked 28th in the United States (including the District of Columbia) and was 94% of the national average, $30,413. The 2001 PCPI reflected an increase of 1.7% from 2000 compared to the national change of 2.2%. In 2001, Texas had a total personal income (TPI) of $608,465,986,000 which ranked 3rd in the United States and accounted for 7% of the national total. The 2001 TPI reflected an increase of 3.7% from 2000 compared to the national change of 3.3%.
Earnings of persons employed in Texas increased from $458,488,441,000 in 2000 to $474,958,148,000 in 2001, an increase of 3.6%.
The largest industries in 2001 were services, 27.3% of earnings; state and local government, 10.5%; and transportation and public utilities, 9.4%. Of the industries that accounted for at least 5% of earnings in 2001, the slowest growing from 2000 to 2001 was wholesale trade (6.8% of earnings in 2001), which decreased 2.5%; the fastest was state and local government, which increased 6.0%.
According to data released by the US Census Bureau, in 2000, the median household income was $39,842 compared to the national average of $42,148. In 2001, the median income for a family of four was $56,606 compared to the national average of $63,278.
For the period 1999 to 2001, the average poverty rate was 15.2% which placed it 45th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia ranked lowest to highest.
EDUCATION:
Although public instruction began in Texas as early as 1746, education was slow to develop during the period of Spanish and Mexican rule. The legislative foundation for a public school system was laid by the government of the Republic of Texas during the late 1830s, but funding was slow in coming.
After annexation, in 1846, Galveston began to support free public schools, and San Antonio had at least four free schools by the time a statewide system of public education was established in 1854. Free segregated schooling was provided for black children beginning in the 1870s, but their schools were ill-maintained and underfinanced.
School desegregation was accomplished during the 1960s, nonviolently for the most part.
In 2000, 75.7% of the population 25 years old and over had completed four years of high school, and 23.2% had four or more years of college.
The total enrollment for fall 1999 in Texas public schools stood at 3,991,783. Of these, 2,895,853 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 1,095,930 attended high school. Minority students made up approximately 59% of the total enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools in 2001. Total enrollment was estimated at 4,033,697 in fall 2000 and is expected to reach 4,248,000 by fall 2005.
Expenditures for public education in 2000/01 were estimated at $25,753,029. Enrollment in nonpublic schools in fall 2001 was 227,645. As of fall 2000, there were 1,202,890 students enrolled in college or graduate school. In the same year Texas had 201 degree-granting institutions. Institutions of higher education include 42 public four-year colleges and universities, 67 public community college campuses, and more than 38 private institutions.
The leading public universities are Texas A&M (College Station), which opened in 1876, and the University of Texas (Austin), founded in 1883. Each institution is now the center of its own university system, including campuses in several other cities. Oil was discovered on lands owned by the University of Texas in 1923, and beginning in 1924, the university and Texas A&M shared more than $1 billion in oil-related rentals and royalties.
Other state-supported institutions include the University of Houston and Texas Tech University (Lubbock).
The first private college in Texas was Rutersville, established by a Methodist minister in Fayette County in 1840. The oldest private institution still active in the state is Baylor University (1845), at Waco. Other major private universities include Hardin-Simmons (Abilene), Rice (Houston), Southern Methodist or SMU (Dallas), and Texas Christian, or TCU (Ft. Worth).
Well-known black-oriented institutions of higher learning include Texas Southern University in Houston and Prairie View A&M University. In 1997, minority students comprised 38.2% of total postsecondary enrollment.
Tuition charges to Texas colleges are among the lowest in the nation. The Texas Student Assistance Corp. administers a guaranteed-loan program and tuition equalization grants for needy students.
Texas Trivia:
On December 20, 1835 the first Declaration of Texas Independence was signed in Goliad and the first flag of Texas Independence was hoisted.
The state was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845.
Texas is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation.
In 1836 five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas: Washington-on-the-Brazos: Harrisburg: Galveston: Velasco: and Columbia. Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston in 1837. In 1839 the capital was moved to the new town of Austin.
The capitol in Austin opened May 16, 1888. The dome of the building stands seven feet higher than that of the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Texas is the only state to have the flags of 6 different nations fly over it. They are: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the United States.
Although six flags have flown over Texas, there have been eight changes of government:
Spanish 1519-1685
French 1685-1690- Spanish 1690-1821
Mexican 1821-1836
Republic of Texas 1836-1845
United States 1845-1861
Confederate States 1861-1865- United States 1865-present
In January 1925 Miriam Amanda Ferguson (D) became the first female governor of Texas. She succeeded her husband, who was impeached and removed.
Texas boasts the largest of all the state capitol buildings, constructed of 15,000 carloads of pink granite.
The armadillo is the official state mammal.
The lightning whelk is the official state shell.
Rodeo is the official state sport of Texas, though High School Football is more popular.
Texas Geographical Trivia:
- The state's cattle population is estimated to be near 16 million.
- More land is farmed in Texas than in any other state.
- The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.
- The first suspension bridge in the United States was the Waco Bridge. Built in 1870 and still in use today as a pedestrian crossing of the Brazos River.
- A coastal live oak located near Fulton is the oldest tree in the state. The tree has an estimated age of more than 1,500 years.
- Texas is the first state to have 5 straight Miss USA winners 1985, 86, 87, 88, 89. Texas also has the most Miss USA winners (8).
- Texas is home to Dell and Compaq computers and central Texas is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of the south.
- The land area of Texas is larger than all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois combined, extending 801 miles from north to south and 773 miles from east to west.
- The Alamo is located in San Antonio. It is where Texas defenders fell to Mexican General Santa Anna and the phrase Remember the Alamo originated. The Alamo is considered the cradle of Texas liberty and the state's most popular historic site.
Texas Sports Trivia
- Professional sports teams include the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, Houston Astros, Houston Comets, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Texas Rangers.
- Texas has the first domed stadium in the country. The structure was built in Houston and opened in April 1965.
- The Houston Comets are the only team in the country to win four back-to-back WNBA championships. 1997-2000 Cynthia Cooper remains the only player to win the WNBA Championship MVP.
- The Heisman trophy is named for John William Heisman the first full-time coach and athletic director at Rice University in Houston.
