Millions more reasons to love Texas, but some reason for fear

If you needed any reminder of the remarkable part of the country where most of us live, you need to look no further than the latest population figures for the year just past.

Texas is again the fastest-growing of all the states. Our numbers increase by about 1,000 people every day. Yes, every day. That means Texas grew during 2018 by a city almost the size of Arlington.

When adding up the combined residents of the four states that surround Texas, you come up with about half our population, which is approaching the 29 million mark that will be achieved before this year’s end. We’ll likely hit 30 million within the next two or three years.

Of the nation’s 25 largest cities, six of them are in Texas. No other state has as many on that list. California has only four and New York has but one.

According to Forbes, the U. S. Census Bureau has reported that in the five years from 2012 to 2016, more than 520,000 Californians moved out. Their main destination? You guessed it, more than 114,000 of them came to Texas.

Concerns abound that the desired outcome will be more challenging than in recent times as a result of those abandoning the liberal states they fled, then forgetting why.

So, we’ll take all the good news about our growth with a cautionary note and hope that our new neighbors will embrace the conservatism that has made Texas such a popular place to live and prosper.

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