Changing Texas: Implications of Addressing or Ignoring the Texas Challenge

Chapter 3: Recent and Projected Household Change in Texas

CHAPTER 3 Recent and Projected Household Change in Texas Texas households, like Texas’ population, have shown patterns of substantial change in recent decades. In this chapter we examine both recent patterns of change and projected patterns of future change in the number of Texas households. For both periods the change in the number and characteristics of households, the change by race/ethnicity, the aging of householders (those persons in whose name a housing unit is owned or rented), and the change in household types are examined. As with the analysis of population in Chapter 2, our purpose is to establish the base, in this case the base of households, whose numbers and characteristics impact the socioeconomic characteristics and service usage rates in Texas both now and in the future. RECENT PATTERNS OF HOUSEHOLD CHANGE The increase in the number of households closely follows the increase in the population. The number of households in Texas increased by 1,529,579 from 2000 to 2010 (Table 3.1), while the population increased by 4,293,741, for a 20.7 percent increase in the number of households and a 20.6 percent increase in the total population. Similarly, the increase in the number of households by race/ethnicity of householder also generally reflects population change. However, because households are units of population and those heading them (statistically creating a household) must be 15 years of age or older, populations with higher proportions of persons 15 years of age or older tend to have larger numbers of householders per unit of population, and hence larger numbers of households, while those population groups with young age distributions tend to have lower numbers of households per unit of population. These patterns are reflected in Table 3.2. Texas population in 2010 30 Chapter 3 consisted of 45.3 percent nonHispanic White, 11.5 percent nonHispanic Black, 37.6 percent Hispanic, and 5.6 percent nonHispanic Asians and Other persons, while the 8,922,933 households in Texas in 2010 were composed of 53.8 percent nonHispanic White households, 12.0 percent nonHispanic Black households, 29.3 percent Hispanic households, and 4.9 percent nonHispanic Asian and Other households. The data in Table 3.2 also show that the growth in the number of households does reflect total population change. From 1990 to 2010, Hispanic and nonHispanic Asian and Other groups had the largest percentage increases in the number of households; 1990 to 2010 change was 16.4 percent for nonHispanic White, 58.9 percent for nonHispanic Black, 125.7 percent for Hispanic, and 286.2 percent for nonHispanic Asian and Other households. Whereas the percentage of all households with a nonHispanic White householder decreased from 68.0 percent of all households in 1990 to 53.8 percent by 2010, the percentage of households with a Black householder increased from 11.1 percent to 12.0 percent, the percentage with an Hispanic householder increased from 19.1 to 29.3 percent, and the percentage with an Asian or Other householder increased from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 4.9 percent in 2010. Change in Texas households has reflected national patterns with the size Table 3.1 Number and Percent Change in Households in the United States and Texas, 1970–2010 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Number of Households United States 63,616,135 80,467,427 91,947,410 105,480,101 116,716,292 Texas 3,433,996 4,934,936 6,070,937 7,393,354 8,922,933 Percent Change in Households 1970–1980 1980–1990 1990–2000 2000–2010 United States 26.5 14.3 14.7 10.7 Texas 43.7 23.0 21.8 20.7 Source: Carter et al. 2006; and U.S. Census Bureau 2011d. Table 3.2 Number and Percent of Households and Change in Households in Texas by Race/Ethnicity of Householder, 1990–2010 Households NH* White NH Black Hispanic NH Asian & Other Total Year Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % 1990 4,127,371 68.0 672,366 11.1 1,158,010 19.1 113,190 1.8 6,070,937 100.0 2000 4,540,078 61.4 843,712 11.4 1,789,623 24.2 219,941 3.0 7,393,354 100.0 2010 4,803,580 53.8 1,068,108 12.0 2,614,157 29.3 437,088 4.9 8,922...