Texas Population Estimates and Projections Program Overview

The Texas Population Estimates and Projections Program was established in the mid-1980s to meet a growing demand for population estimates for places and counties and for estimates and projections for counties that had age, sex and race/ethnicity detail.

The Programs' Overall Objectives

• To allow the State of Texas to actively participate in the U.S. Bureau of Census population estimates and projections programs:
  • The Federal-State Cooperative for Population Estimates
  • The Federal-State Cooperative for Population Projections
• To produce annual estimates of the total populations of counties and places in the state and estimates of county populations by age, sex, and race/ethnicity.
• To produce biennial projections of the population of the state and all counties in the state by age, sex and race/ethnicity.

Users of the Estimates and Projections

Estimates and projections of the programs are used by more than 500 entities per year. Some of the public agency users include:

• Governor's Office (for numerous purposes)
• Legislative Budget Board (for budget planning)
• Legislative Council (for redistricting planning)
• Comptroller's Office (as a basis for their estimates for regions)
• Texas Department of Transportation (for facility, route and highway construction planning)
• Texas National Guard (to guide their recruiting efforts and estimate future manpower needs)
• Texas Department of State Health Services (to increase accuracy of their service projections)
• Texas Economic Development Council
• Numerous other state agencies and public organizations
• Numerous County Judges and Other local officials (for redistricting and other purposes)

The Programs

• Texas Population Estimates Program
  
• Texas Population Projections Program