Race and Ethnicity

Houston’s Black, Asian and Hispanic populations have grown substantially over the past 10 years. Houston’s White population, however, has stagnated. Those trends accelerated over the past two years. There were 88,000 fewer Whites in metro Houston in ’21 than in ’19. Hispanics more than made up for those losses, adding 89,000 residents. The Black population jumped by 24,000, the Asian population by 25,000 over the two years. 

Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in Houston. No single group comprises a majority of the population, however. That’s been the case for over a decade. Houston today resembles what the U.S. will look like 40 years from now.

Foreign Born

Individuals born outside the U.S. represent a larger share of the region’s population than a decade ago, 24.1 percent in ’21 versus 21.9 percent in ’11. By comparison, the foreign-born population for the nation was 13.6 percent in ’21, up marginally from 13.0 percent in ’11.

Since ’11, Houston has added over 400,000 foreign-born residents. They account for 36.1 percent of the region’s population gains since ’11. Two thirds (1.1 million) of Houston’s foreign-born population, arrived in the U.S. prior to ’10.

Less than half (42.9 percent) of our foreign-born are naturalized citizens. That is up from 35.2 percent 10 years ago. For the nation, 53.1 percent of foreign-born residents are citizens, up from 44.9 percent in ’11.

Place of Origin

The majority of our foreign-born came from Latin America (61.2 percent), followed by Asia (25.9 percent), Africa (6.8 percent), Europe (4.9 percent), North America (0.9 percent) and Oceania (0.2 per-cent). Twenty countries account for 85.5 percent of Houston’s foreign-born residents.

Age

Houston’s population continues to mature. In ’11, the region’s median age was 33.4 years. In ’21, the median was 35.3. The median for the U.S. is 38.8 years.

Seniors (residents over 65) accounted for 12.1 percent of our population in ’21, up from 8.9 percent in ’11. Minors (residents under 18) were 26.2 percent of the region’s population, down from 27.7 percent in ’11.

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Note: The geographic area referred to in this publication as “Houston,” "Houston Area” and “Metro Houston” is the nine-county Census designated metropolitan statistical area of Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX. The nine counties are: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller.