Texas

The name Texas, based on the Caddo word táyshaʼ (/tʼajʃaʔ/) 'friend', was applied, in the spelling Tejas or Texas,^{[21][22][23][1]} by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, specifically the Hasinai Confederacy,^[24] the final -s representing the Spanish plural.^[25] The Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in May 1690, in what is now Houston County, East Texas.^[26]

During Spanish colonial rule, in the 18th century, the area was known as Nuevas Filipinas ('New Philippines') and Nuevo Reino de Filipinas ('New Kingdom of the Philippines'),^[27] or as provincia de los Tejas ('province of the Tejas'),^[28] later also provincia de Texas (or de Tejas), ('province of Texas').^[29][27] It was incorporated as provincia de Texas into the Mexican Empire in 1821, and declared a republic in 1836. The Royal Spanish Academy recognizes both spellings, Tejas and Texas, as Spanish-language forms of the name of the U.S. state of Texas.^[30]

The English pronunciation with /ks/ is unetymological, contrary to the historical value of the letter x (/ʃ/) in Spanish orthography. Alternative etymologies of the name advanced in the late 19th century connected the name Texas with the Spanish word teja, meaning 'roof tile', the plural tejas being used to designate indigenous Pueblo settlements.^[31] A 1760s map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin shows a village named Teijas on the Trinity River, close to the site of modern Crockett.^[31]

Discover more about Etymology related topics

Caddo language

Caddo language

Caddo is a Native American language, the traditional language of the Caddo Nation. It is critically endangered, with no exclusively Caddo-speaking community and as of 2023 only 2 speakers who acquired the language as children outside school instruction, down from 25 speakers in 1997. Caddo has several mutually intelligible dialects. The most commonly used dialects are Hasinai and Hainai; others include Kadohadacho, Natchitoches and Yatasi.

Caddo

Caddo

The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language.

Hasinai

Hasinai

The Hasinai Confederacy was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans who occupied territory between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas. Today, their descendants are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Natchitoches Tribe of Louisiana.

Mission San Francisco de la Espada

Mission San Francisco de la Espada

Mission San Francisco de la Espada is a Roman Rite Catholic mission established in 1690 by Spain and relocated in 1731 to present-day San Antonio, Texas, in what was then known as northern New Spain. The mission was built in order to convert local Native Americans to Christianity and solidify Spanish territorial claims in the New World against encroachment from France. Today, the structure is one of four missions that comprise San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

Houston County, Texas

Houston County, Texas

Houston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,066. Its county seat is Crockett. Houston County was one of 46 entirely dry counties in the state of Texas, until voters in a November 2007 special election legalized the sale of alcohol in the county.

East Texas

East Texas

East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consists of the Piney Woods ecoregion. East Texas can sometimes be defined only as the Piney Woods. At the fringes, towards Central Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.

New Philippines

New Philippines

The New Philippines was the abbreviated name of a territory in New Spain. Its full and official name was Nuevo Reino de Filipinas.

Mexican Texas

Mexican Texas

Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially, Mexican Texas operated similarly to Spanish Texas. Ratification of the 1824 Constitution of Mexico created a federal structure, and the province of Tejas was joined with the province of Coahuila to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas.

First Mexican Empire

First Mexican Empire

The Mexican Empire was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, independent monarchies that have existed in the Americas, along with the Brazilian Empire and the Empire of Haiti (1804-1806). It is typically denominated as the First Mexican Empire to distinguish it from the Second Mexican Empire.

Pueblo

Pueblo

In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain used the term pueblo to refer to permanent indigenous towns they found in the region, mainly in New Mexico and parts of Arizona, in the former province of Nuevo México. This term continued to be used to describe the communities housed in apartment structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material. The structures were usually multi-storied buildings surrounding an open plaza, with rooms accessible only through ladders raised/lowered by the inhabitants, thus protecting them from break-ins and unwanted guests. Larger pueblos were occupied by hundreds to thousands of Puebloan people. Various federally recognized tribes have traditionally resided in pueblos of such design. Later Pueblo Deco and modern Pueblo Revival architecture, which mixes elements of traditional Pueblo and Hispano design, has continued to be a popular architectural style in New Mexico. The term is now part of the proper name of some historical sites, such as Acoma Pueblo.

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin

Jacques Nicolas Bellin was a French hydrographer, geographer, and member of the French intellectual group called the philosophes.

Crockett, Texas

Crockett, Texas

Crockett is a city and the county seat of Houston County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,332. Houston County is the oldest county and Crockett the fifth-oldest city in Texas.

Precontact era

Early Native American tribal territories

Texas lies between two major cultural spheres of Pre-Columbian North America: the Southwestern and the Plains areas. Archaeologists have found that three major indigenous cultures lived in this territory, and reached their developmental peak before the first European contact. These were:^[32] the Ancestral Puebloans from the upper Rio Grande region, centered west of Texas; the Mississippian culture, also known as Mound Builders, which extended along the Mississippi River Valley east of Texas; and the civilizations of Mesoamerica, centered south of Texas. Influence of Teotihuacan in northern Mexico peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries.

When Europeans arrived in the Texas region, several different cultures of Native peoples, divided into many smaller tribes, were living there. The language families present in the state were Caddoan, Atakapan, Athabaskan, Coahuiltecan, and Uto-Aztecan, in addition to several language isolates such as Tonkawa. Uto-Aztecan Puebloan and Jumano peoples lived neared the Rio Grande in the western portion of the state and the Athabaskan-speaking Apache tribes lived throughout the interior. The agricultural, moundbuilding Caddo controlled much of the northeastern part of the state, along the Red, Sabine, and Neches River basins.^[33][34] Atakapan peoples such as the Akokisa and Bidai lived along the northeastern Gulf Coast, whereas the Karankawa lived along the central coast.^[35] At least one tribe of Coahuiltecans, the Aranama, lived in southern Texas. This entire culture group, primarily centered in northeastern Mexico, is now extinct. It is difficult to say who lived in the northwestern region of the state originally. By the time the region came to be explored, it belonged to the fairly well-known Comanche, another Uto-Aztecan people who had transitioned into a powerful horse culture, but it is believed that they came later and did not live there during the 16th century. It may have been claimed by several different peoples, including Uto-Aztecans, Athabaskans, or even Dhegihan Siouans.

No culture was dominant across all of present-day Texas, and many peoples inhabited the area.^[36] Native American tribes who have lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Alabama, Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Aranama, Comanche, Choctaw, Coushatta, Hasinai, Jumano, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita.^[37][38] Many of these peoples migrated from the north or east during the colonial period, such as the Choctaw, Alabama-Coushatta, and Delaware.^[33]

The region was primarily controlled by the Spanish for the first couple centuries of contact, until the Texas Revolution. They were most interested in relationships with the Caddo, who were - like the Spanish - a settled, agricultural people. Several Spanish missions were opened in Caddo territory, but a lack of interest in Christianity among the Caddo meant conversions were few in number. Positioned between French Louisiana and Spanish Texas, the Caddo maintained cordial relations with both, but were closer with the French.^[39] After Spain took control of Louisiana, most of the missions in eastern Texas were closed and abandoned.^[40] The United States obtained Louisiana following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. The Caddo preferred the company of Americans and almost the entire population of them migrated into the states of Louisiana and Arkansas. The Spanish felt jilted after having spent so much time and effort and began trying to lure the Caddo back, even promising them more land. The United States (who had begun convincing tribes to self-segregate from whites by selling everything and moving west ever since they gained the Louisiana Purchase) faced an overflow of native peoples in Missouri and Arkansas and were able to negotiate with the Caddo to allow several displaced peoples to settle on unused lands in eastern Texas. They included the Muscogee, Houma Choctaw, Lenape and Mingo Seneca, among others, who all came to view the Caddoans as saviors, making those peoples highly influential.^[41][42]

Whether a Native American tribe was friendly or warlike was critical to the fates of European explorers and settlers in that land.^[43] Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunt wild game. Warlike tribes made life difficult and dangerous for Europeans through their attacks and resistance to the newcomers.^[43]

During the Texas Revolution, the U.S. became heavily involved. Prior treaties with the Spanish forbade either side from militarizing its native population in any potential conflict between the two nations. At that time, several sudden outbreaks of violence between Native Americans and Texans started to spread. Texans accused tribes, including the Caddo of stealing livestock despite lacking evidence.^[33] While no proof was found as to who the culprit was, those in charge of Texas at the time attempted multiple times to publicly blame and punish the Caddo for the incidents with the U.S. government trying to keep them in check. Furthermore, the Caddo never turned to violence because of it, excepting cases of self-defense.^[41]

By the 1830s, the U.S. had drafted the Indian Removal Act, which was used to facilitate the Trail of Tears. Fearing retribution of other native peoples, Indian Agents all over the eastern U.S. began desperately trying to convince all their native peoples to uproot and move west. This included the Caddo of Louisiana and Arkansas. Following the Texas Revolution, the Texans chose to make peace with their Native peoples but did not honor former land claims or agreements. The first president of Texas, Sam Houston, aimed to cooperate and make peace with Native tribes, but his successor Mirabeau B. Lamar took a much more hostile stance towards Native Americans. Hostility towards Natives by white Texans would eventually prompt the movement of most Native populations north into what would become Indian Territory—modern-day Oklahoma.^[33][41] Only the Alabama-Coushatta would remain in the parts of Texas subject to white settlement, though the Comanche would continue to control most of the western half of the state until their defeat in the 1870s and 1880s.^[44]

Colonization

The "six flags over Texas," representing the nations in control of Texas beginning in the colonial period.

The first historical document related to Texas was a map of the Gulf Coast, created in 1519 by Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda.^[45] Nine years later, shipwrecked Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his cohort became the first Europeans in what is now Texas.^[46][47] Cabeza de Vaca reported that in 1528, when the Spanish landed in the area, "half the natives died from a disease of the bowels and blamed us."^[48] Cabeza de Vaca also made observations about the way of life of the Ignaces Natives of Texas:

They went about with a firebrand, setting fire to the plains and timber so as to drive off the mosquitos, and also to get lizards and similar things which they eat, to come out of the soil. In the same manner they kill deer, encircling them with fires, and they do it also to deprive the animals of pasture, compelling them to go for food where the Indians want.^[49]

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado describes his 1541 encounter:

Two kinds of people travel around these plains with the cows; one is called Querechos and the others Teyas; they are very well built, and painted, and are enemies of each other. They have no other settlement or location than comes from traveling around with the cows. They kill all of these they wish and tan the hides, with which they clothe themselves and make their tents, and they eat the flesh, sometimes even raw, and they also even drink the blood when thirsty. The tents they make are like field tents, and they set them up over poles they have made for this purpose, which come together and are tied at the top, and when they go from one place to another they carry them on some dogs they have, of which they have many, and they load them with the tents and poles and other things, for the country is so level, as I said, that they can make use of these, because they carry the poles dragging along on the ground. The sun is what they worship most.^[50]

Following Cabeza de Vaca, the expedition of Hernando de Soto entered into Texas from the east, seeking a route to Mexico. They passed through the Caddo lands but turned back after reaching the River of Daycao (possibly the Brazos or Colorado), beyond which point the Native peoples were nomadic and did not have the agricultural stores to feed the expedition.^[51][52]

European powers ignored the area until accidentally settling there in 1685. Miscalculations by René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle resulted in his establishing the colony of Fort Saint Louis at Matagorda Bay rather than along the Mississippi River.^[53] The colony lasted only four years before succumbing to harsh conditions and hostile natives.^[54] A small band of survivors traveled eastward into the lands of the Caddo, but La Salle was killed by disgruntled expedition members.^[55]

In 1690 Spanish authorities, concerned that France posed a competitive threat, constructed several missions in East Texas among the Caddo.^[56] After Caddo resistance, the Spanish missionaries returned to Mexico.^[57] When France began settling Louisiana, mostly in the southern part of the state, in 1716 Spanish authorities responded by founding a new series of missions in East Texas.^[58] Two years later, they created San Antonio as the first Spanish civilian settlement in the area.^[59]

Nicolas de La Fora's 1771 map of the northern frontier of New Spain clearly shows the Provincia de los Tejas.^[60]

Hostile native tribes and distance from nearby Spanish colonies discouraged settlers from moving to the area. It was one of New Spain's least populated provinces.^[61] In 1749, the Spanish peace treaty with the Lipan Apache angered many tribes,^[62] including the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai.^[63] The Comanche signed a treaty with Spain in 1785 and later helped to defeat the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes.^[64][65] With more numerous missions being established, priests led a peaceful conversion of most tribes. By the end of the 18th century only a few nomadic tribes had not converted to Christianity.^[66]

Stephen F. Austin was the first American empresario given permission to operate a colony within Mexican Texas.

Mexico in 1824. Coahuila y Tejas is the northeasternmost state.

When the United States purchased Louisiana from France in 1803, American authorities insisted the agreement also included Texas. The boundary between New Spain and the United States was finally set at the Sabine River in 1819, at what is now the border between Texas and Louisiana.^[67] Eager for new land, many United States settlers refused to recognize the agreement. Several filibusters raised armies to invade the area west of the Sabine River.^[68] Marked by the War of 1812, some men who had escaped from the Spanish, held (Old) Philippines had immigrated to and also passed through Texas (New Philippines)^[69] and reached Louisiana where Philippine exiles aided the United States in the defense of New Orleans against a British invasion, with Filipinos in the Saint Malo settlement assisting Jean Lafitte in the Battle of New Orleans.^[70]

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence included the Texas territory, which became part of Mexico.^[71] Due to its low population, the territory was assigned to other states and territories of Mexico; the core territory was part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas, but other parts of today's Texas were part of Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, or the Mexican Territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.^[72]

Hoping more settlers would reduce the near-constant Comanche raids, Mexican Texas liberalized its immigration policies to permit immigrants from outside Mexico and Spain.^[73] Under the Mexican immigration system, large swathes of land were allotted to empresarios, who recruited settlers from the United States, Europe, and the Mexican interior. The first grant, to Moses Austin, was passed to his son Stephen F. Austin after his death.

Austin's settlers, the Old Three Hundred, made places along the Brazos River in 1822.^[74] Twenty-three other empresarios brought settlers to the state, the majority of whom were from the United States.^[75] The population of Texas grew rapidly. In 1825, Texas had about 3,500 people, with most of Mexican descent.^[76] By 1834, the population had grown to about 37,800 people, with only 7,800 of Mexican descent.^[77] Most of these early settlers who arrived with Austin and soon after were persons less than fortunate in life, as Texas was devoid of the comforts found elsewhere in Mexico and the United States during that time. Early Texas settler David B. Edwards described his fellow Texans as being "banished from the pleasures of life".^[78]

Many immigrants openly flouted Mexican law, especially the prohibition against slavery. Combined with United States' attempts to purchase Texas, Mexican authorities decided in 1830 to prohibit continued immigration from the United States.^[79] Illegal immigration from the United States into Mexico continued to increase the population of Texas anyway.^[80] New laws also called for the enforcement of customs duties angering native Mexican citizens (Tejanos) and recent immigrants alike.^[81]

The Anahuac Disturbances in 1832 were the first open revolt against Mexican rule, and they coincided with a revolt in Mexico against the nation's president.^[82] Texians sided with the federalists against the current government and drove all Mexican soldiers out of East Texas.^[83] They took advantage of the lack of oversight to agitate for more political freedom. Texians met at the Convention of 1832 to discuss requesting independent statehood, among other issues.^[84] The following year, Texians reiterated their demands at the Convention of 1833.^[85]

Republic

Within Mexico, tensions continued between federalists and centralists. In early 1835, wary Texians formed Committees of Correspondence and Safety.^[86] The unrest erupted into armed conflict in late 1835 at the Battle of Gonzales.^[87] This launched the Texas Revolution, and over the next two months the Texians defeated all Mexican troops in the region.^[88] Texians elected delegates to the Consultation, which created a provisional government.^[89] The provisional government soon collapsed from infighting, and Texas was without clear governance for the first two months of 1836.^[90]

Surrender of Santa Anna. Painting by William Henry Huddle, 1886.

During this time of political turmoil, Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna personally led an army to end the revolt.^[91] The Mexican expedition was initially successful. General José de Urrea defeated all the Texian resistance along the coast culminating in the Goliad massacre.^[92] Santa Anna's forces, after a thirteen-day siege, overwhelmed Texian defenders at the Battle of the Alamo. News of the defeats sparked panic among Texas settlers.^[93]

The Republic of Texas with present-day borders superimposed

The newly elected Texian delegates to the Convention of 1836 quickly signed a declaration of independence on March 2, forming the Republic of Texas. After electing interim officers, the Convention disbanded.^[94] The new government joined the other settlers in Texas in the Runaway Scrape, fleeing from the approaching Mexican army.^[93]

After several weeks of retreat, the Texian Army commanded by Sam Houston attacked and defeated Santa Anna's forces at the Battle of San Jacinto.^[95] Santa Anna was captured and forced to sign the Treaties of Velasco, ending the war.^[96] The Constitution of the Republic of Texas prohibited the government from restricting slavery or freeing slaves, and required free people of African descent to leave the country.^[97]

While Texas had won its independence, political battles raged between two factions of the new Republic. The nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar, advocated the continued independence of Texas, the expulsion of the Native Americans, and the expansion of the Republic to the Pacific Ocean. Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States and peaceful co-existence with Native Americans. The conflict between the factions was typified by an incident known as the Texas Archive War.^[98] With wide popular support, Texas first applied for annexation to the United States in 1836, but its status as a slaveholding country caused its admission to be controversial and it was initially rebuffed. This status, and Mexican diplomacy in support of its claims to the territory, also complicated Texas's ability to form foreign alliances and trade relationships.^[99]

The Comanche Indians furnished the main Native American opposition to the Texas Republic, manifested in multiple raids on settlements.^[100] Mexico launched two small expeditions into Texas in 1842. The town of San Antonio was captured twice and Texans were defeated in battle in the Dawson massacre. Despite these successes, Mexico did not keep an occupying force in Texas, and the republic survived.^[101] The cotton price crash of the 1840s depressed the country's economy.^[99]

Statehood

Captain Charles A. May's squadron of the 2nd Dragoons slashes through the Mexican Army lines. Resaca de la Palma, Texas, May 1846.

As early as 1837, the Republic of Texas made several attempts to negotiate annexation with the United States.^[102] Opposition within the republic from the nationalist faction, along with strong abolitionist opposition within the United States, slowed Texas's admission into the Union. Texas was finally annexed when the expansionist James K. Polk won the election of 1844.^[103] On December 29, 1845, the U.S. Congress admitted Texas to the U.S. as a constituent state of the Union.^[104]

The population of the new state was quite small at first, and there was a strong mix between the English-speaking American settlers who dominated in the state's eastern/northeastern portions and the Spanish-speaking former Mexicans (Tejanos) who dominated in the state's southern and western portions. Statehood brought many new settlers. Because of the long Spanish presence in Mexico and various failed colonization efforts by the Spanish and Mexicans in northern Mexico, there were large herds of Longhorn cattle that roamed the state. Hardy by nature, but also suitable for slaughtering and consumption, they represented an economic opportunity many entrepreneurs seized upon, thus creating the cowboy culture for which Texas is famous.

After Texas's annexation, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States. While the United States claimed Texas's border stretched to the Rio Grande, Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River leaving the Rio Grande Valley under contested Texan sovereignty.^[104] While the former Republic of Texas could not enforce its border claims, the United States had the military strength and the political will to do so. President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor south to the Rio Grande on January 13, 1846. A few months later Mexican troops routed an American cavalry patrol in the disputed area in the Thornton Affair starting the Mexican–American War. The first battles of the war were fought in Texas: the Siege of Fort Texas, Battle of Palo Alto and Battle of Resaca de la Palma. After these decisive victories, the United States invaded Mexican territory, ending the fighting in Texas.^[105]

After a series of United States victories, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the two-year war. In return, for US$18,250,000, Mexico gave the U.S. undisputed control of Texas, ceded the Mexican Cession in 1848, most of which today is called the American Southwest, and Texas's borders were established at the Rio Grande.^[105]

The Compromise of 1850 set Texas's boundaries at their present form. U.S. Senator James Pearce of Maryland drafted the final proposal where Texas ceded its claims to land which later became half of present-day New Mexico,^[106] a third of Colorado, and small portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming to the federal government, in return for the assumption of $10 million of the old republic's debt.^[106] Post-war Texas grew rapidly as migrants poured into the cotton lands of the state.^[107]

They also brought or purchased enslaved African Americans, whose numbers tripled in the state from 1850 to 1860, from 58,000 to 182,566.^[108]

Civil War to late 19th century

Texas was at war again after the election of 1860. At this time, blacks comprised 30 percent of the state's population, and they were overwhelmingly enslaved.^[109] When Abraham Lincoln was elected, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Five other Deep South states quickly followed. A state convention considering secession opened in Austin on January 28, 1861. On February 1, by a vote of 166–8, the convention adopted an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. Texas voters approved this Ordinance on February 23, 1861. Texas joined the newly created Confederate States of America on March 4, 1861, ratifying the permanent C.S. Constitution on March 23.^[1][110]

Not all Texans favored secession initially, although many of the same would later support the Southern cause. Texas's most notable Unionist was the state governor, Sam Houston. Not wanting to aggravate the situation, Houston refused two offers from President Lincoln for Union troops to keep him in office. After refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, Houston was deposed as governor.^[111] Around 2,000 Texans served in the Union Army, with a large contingent of recent German immigrants in Texas Hill Country being a Unionist stronghold.^[112]

While far from the major battlefields of the American Civil War, Texas contributed large numbers of soldiers and equipment to the rest of the Confederacy.^[113] Union troops briefly occupied the state's primary port, Galveston. Texas's border with Mexico was known as the "backdoor of the Confederacy" because trade occurred at the border, bypassing the Union blockade.^[114] The Confederacy repulsed all Union attempts to shut down this route,^[113] but Texas's role as a supply state was marginalized in mid-1863 after the Union capture of the Mississippi River. The final battle of the Civil War was fought at Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas, and saw a Confederate victory.^[115][116]

Texas descended into anarchy for two months between the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia and the assumption of authority by Union General Gordon Granger. Violence marked the early months of Reconstruction.^[113] Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston by General Gordon Granger, almost two and a half years after the original announcement.^[117][118] President Johnson, in 1866, declared the civilian government restored in Texas.^[119] Despite not meeting reconstruction requirements, Congress resumed allowing elected Texas representatives into the federal government in 1870. Social volatility continued as the state struggled with agricultural depression and labor issues.^[120]

Like most of the South, the Texas economy was devastated by the War. However, since the state had not been as dependent on slaves as other parts of the South, it was able to recover more quickly. The culture in Texas during the later 19th century exhibited many facets of a frontier territory. The state became notorious as a haven for people from other parts of the country who wanted to escape debt, war tensions, or other problems. Indeed, "Gone to Texas" was a common expression for those fleeing the law in other states. Nevertheless, the state also attracted many businessmen and other settlers with more legitimate interests as well.^[121]

The cattle industry continued to thrive, though it gradually became less profitable. Cotton and lumber became major industries creating new economic booms in various regions of the state. Railroad networks grew rapidly as did the port at Galveston as commerce between Texas and the rest of the U.S. (and the rest of the world) expanded. As with some other states before, the lumber industry quickly expanded in Texas and was its largest industry before the beginning of the 20th century.^[122]

Early to mid-20th century

Spindletop, the first major oil gusher

In 1900, Texas suffered the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history during the Galveston hurricane.^[123] On January 10, 1901, the first major oil well in Texas, Spindletop, was found south of Beaumont. Other fields were later discovered nearby in East Texas, West Texas, and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting "oil boom" transformed Texas.^[124] Oil production eventually averaged three million barrels per day at its peak in 1972.^[125]

In 1901, the Democratic-dominated state legislature passed a bill requiring payment of a poll tax for voting, which effectively disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites and Latinos. In addition, the legislature established white primaries, ensuring minorities were excluded from the formal political process. The number of voters dropped dramatically, and the Democrats crushed competition from the Republican and Populist parties.^[126][127] The Socialist Party became the second-largest party in Texas after 1912,^[128] coinciding with a large socialist upsurge in the United States during fierce battles in the labor movement and the popularity of national heroes like Eugene V. Debs. The socialists' popularity soon waned after their vilification by the United States government for their opposition to U.S. involvement in World War I.^[129][130]

The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl dealt a double blow to the state's economy, which had significantly improved since the Civil War. Migrants abandoned the worst-hit sections of Texas during the Dust Bowl years. Especially from this period on, blacks left Texas in the Great Migration to get work in the Northern United States or California and to escape the oppression of segregation.^[109] In 1940, Texas was 74% Anglo, 14.4% black, and 11.5% Hispanic.^[131]

World War II had a dramatic impact on Texas, as federal money poured in to build military bases, munitions factories, POW detention camps and Army hospitals; 750,000 Texans left for service; the cities exploded with new industry; the colleges took on new roles; and hundreds of thousands of poor farmers left the fields for much better-paying war jobs, never to return to agriculture.^[132][133] Texas manufactured 3.1 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking eleventh among the 48 states.^[134]

Texas modernized and expanded its system of higher education through the 1960s. The state created a comprehensive plan for higher education, funded in large part by oil revenues, and a central state apparatus designed to manage state institutions more efficiently. These changes helped Texas universities receive federal research funds.^[135]

Mid-20th to early 21st century

Beginning around the mid-20th century, Texas began to transform from a rural and agricultural state to one urban and industrialized.^[136] The state's population grew quickly during this period, with large levels of migration from outside the state.^[136] As a part of the Sun Belt, Texas experienced strong economic growth, particularly during the 1970s and early 1980s.^[136] Texas's economy diversified, lessening its reliance on the petroleum industry.^[136] By 1990, Hispanics and Latino Americans overtook blacks to become the largest traditional minority group in the state.^[136] Texas has the largest Black and African American population with over 3.9 million.^[137]

During the late 20th century, the Republican Party replaced the Democratic Party as the dominant party in the state.^[136] Beginning in the early 21st century, metropolitan areas including Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Austin became centers for the Texas Democratic Party in statewide and national elections as liberal policies became more accepted in urban areas.^{[138][139][140][141]}

From the mid-2000s to 2019, Texas gained an influx of business relocations and regional headquarters from companies in California.^{[142][143][144][145]} Texas became a major destination for migration during the early 21st century and was named the most popular state to move for three consecutive years.^[146] Another study in 2019 determined Texas's growth rate at 1,000 people per day.^[147]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the first confirmed case of the virus in Texas was announced on March 4, 2020.^[148] On April 27, 2020, Governor Greg Abbott announced phase one of re-opening the economy.^[149] Amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in autumn 2020, Abbott and other U.S. governors refused to enact further lockdowns.^[150][151] In November 2020, Texas was selected as one of four states to test Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine distribution.^[152] As of February 2, 2021, there had been over 2.4 million confirmed cases in Texas, with at least 37,417 deaths.^[153]

During February 13–17, 2021, the state faced a major weather emergency as Winter Storm Uri hit the state, as well as most of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States.^[154][155] Historically high power usage across the state caused the state's power grid to become overworked and ERCOT (the main operator of the Texas Interconnection grid) declared an emergency and began to implement rolling blackouts across Texas, causing a power crisis.^{[156][157][158]} Over 3 million Texans were without power and over 4 million were under boil notices.^[159]

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History of Texas

History of Texas

Native people lived in what is now Texas more than 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of prehistoric Leanderthal Lady. In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. The name Texas derives from táyshaʼ, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai, which means "friends" or "allies." In the recorded history of what is now the U.S. state of Texas, all or parts of Texas have been claimed by six countries: France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the United States of America.

Pre-Columbian Mexico

Pre-Columbian Mexico

The pre-Columbian history of the territory now making up the country of Mexico is known through the work of archaeologists and epigraphers, and through the accounts of Spanish conquistadores, settlers and clergymen as well as the indigenous chroniclers of the immediate post-conquest period.

Native American tribes in Texas

Native American tribes in Texas

Native American tribes in Texas are the Native American tribes who are currently based in Texas and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas who historically lived in Texas.

Plains Indians

Plains Indians

Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains of North America. While hunting-farming cultures have lived on the Great Plains for centuries prior to European contact, the region is known for the horse cultures that flourished from the 17th century through the late 19th century. Their historic nomadism and armed resistance to domination by the government and military forces of Canada and the United States have made the Plains Indian culture groups an archetype in literature and art for Native Americans everywhere.

Ancestral Puebloans

Ancestral Puebloans

The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. They are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, which developed from the Picosa culture. The people and their archaeological culture are often referred to as Anasazi, meaning "ancient enemies", as they were called by Navajo. Contemporary Puebloans object to the use of this term, with some viewing it as derogatory.

Mississippian culture

Mississippian culture

The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earthen platform mounds, and often other shaped mounds as well. It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages linked together by loose trading networks. The largest city was Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center located in what is present-day southern Illinois.

Mound Builders

Mound Builders

A number of pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed "Mound Builders", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to a specific people or archaeological culture, but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks which indigenous peoples erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The "Mound Builder" cultures span the period of roughly 3500 BCE to the 16th century CE, including the Archaic period, Woodland period, and Mississippian period. Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, and the Mississippi River valley and its tributary waters.

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to most of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. In the pre-Columbian era many societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas, begun at Hispaniola island in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii) the formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Caddo

Caddo

The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language.

Atakapa

Atakapa

The Atakapa or Atacapa were an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct bands.

Coahuiltecan

Coahuiltecan

The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter-gatherers. First encountered by Europeans in the sixteenth century, their population declined due to imported European diseases, slavery, and numerous small-scale wars fought against the Spanish, criollo, Apache, and other Coahuiltecan groups. After the Texas secession from Mexico, the Coahuiltecan culture was largely forced into harsh living conditions. It is because of these harsh influences that most people in the United States and Texas are not familiar with Coahuiltecan or Tejano culture outside of the main population groups mostly located in South Texas, West Texas, and San Antonio.

Jumanos

Jumanos

Jumanos were a tribe or several tribes, who inhabited a large area of western Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico, especially near the Junta de los Rios region with its large settled Indigenous population. They lived in the Big Bend area in the mountain and basin region. Spanish explorers first recorded encounters with the Jumano in 1581. Later expeditions noted them in a broad area of the Southwest and the Southern Plains.

Sam Rayburn Reservoir

Texas Hill Country

Texas is the second-largest U.S. state, after Alaska, and the largest state within the contiguous United States, with an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²). Though 10% larger than France, almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, and more than twice the size of the United Kingdom, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 39th-largest.^[160]

Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers. The Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south. The Red River forms a natural border with Oklahoma and Arkansas to the north. The Sabine River forms a natural border with Louisiana to the east. The Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western border with New Mexico at 103° W. El Paso lies on the state's western tip at 32° N and the Rio Grande.^[106]

With 10 climatic regions, 14 soil regions and 11 distinct ecological regions, regional classification becomes problematic with differences in soils, topography, geology, rainfall, and plant and animal communities.^[161] One classification system divides Texas, in order from southeast to west, into the following: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and Basin and Range Province.^[162]

The Gulf Coastal Plains region wraps around the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast section of the state. Vegetation in this region consists of thick piney woods. The Interior Lowlands region consists of gently rolling to hilly forested land and is part of a larger pine-hardwood forest. The Cross Timbers region and Caprock Escarpment are part of the Interior Lowlands.^[162]

Steinhagen Reservoir

The Great Plains region in Central Texas spans through the state's panhandle and Llano Estacado to the state's hill country near Lago Vista and Austin. This region is dominated by prairie and steppe. "Far West Texas" or the "Trans-Pecos" region is the state's Basin and Range Province. The most varied of the regions, this area includes Sand Hills, the Stockton Plateau, desert valleys, wooded mountain slopes and desert grasslands.^[163]

Texas has 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers,^[164][165] with the Rio Grande as the largest. Other major rivers include the Pecos, the Brazos, Colorado, and Red River. While Texas has few natural lakes, Texans have built more than a hundred artificial reservoirs.^[166]

The size and unique history of Texas make its regional affiliation debatable; it can be fairly considered a Southern or a Southwestern state, or both. The vast geographic, economic, and cultural diversity within the state itself prohibits easy categorization of the whole state into a recognized region of the United States. Notable extremes range from East Texas which is often considered an extension of the Deep South, to Far West Texas which is generally acknowledged to be part of the interior Southwest.^[167]

Geology

Palo Duro Canyon

Franklin Mountains State Park

Big Bend National Park

Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. The continental crust forms a stable Mesoproterozoic craton which changes across a broad continental margin and transitional crust into true oceanic crust of the Gulf of Mexico. The oldest rocks in Texas date from the Mesoproterozoic and are about 1,600 million years old.^[168]

These Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks underlie most of the state, and are exposed in three places: Llano uplift, Van Horn, and the Franklin Mountains, near El Paso. Sedimentary rocks overlay most of these ancient rocks. The oldest sediments were deposited on the flanks of a rifted continental margin, or passive margin that developed during Cambrian time.

This margin existed until Laurasia and Gondwana collided in the Pennsylvanian subperiod to form Pangea. This is the buried crest of the Appalachian Mountains–Ouachita Mountains zone of Pennsylvanian continental collision. This orogenic crest is today buried beneath the Dallas–Waco–Austin–San Antonio trend.^[169]

The late Paleozoic mountains collapsed as rifting in the Jurassic period began to open the Gulf of Mexico. Pangea began to break up in the Triassic, but seafloor spreading to form the Gulf of Mexico occurred only in the mid- and late Jurassic. The shoreline shifted again to the eastern margin of the state and the Gulf of Mexico's passive margin began to form. Today 9 to 12 miles (14 to 19 km) of sediments are buried beneath the Texas continental shelf and a large proportion of remaining US oil reserves are here. At the start of its formation, the incipient Gulf of Mexico basin was restricted and seawater often evaporated completely to form thick evaporite deposits of Jurassic age. These salt deposits formed salt dome diapirs, and are found in East Texas along the Gulf coast.^[170]

East Texas outcrops consist of Cretaceous and Paleogene sediments which contain important deposits of Eocene lignite. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sediments in the north; Permian sediments in the west; and Cretaceous sediments in the east, along the Gulf coast and out on the Texas continental shelf contain oil. Oligocene volcanic rocks are found in far west Texas in the Big Bend area. A blanket of Miocene sediments known as the Ogallala formation in the western high plains region is an important aquifer.^[171] Located far from an active plate tectonic boundary, Texas has no volcanoes and few earthquakes.^[172]

Wildlife

A wide range of animals and insects live in Texas. It is the home to 65 species of mammals, 213 species of reptiles and amphibians, including the American green tree frog, and the greatest diversity of bird life in the United States—590 native species in all.^[173] At least 12 species have been introduced and now reproduce freely in Texas.^[174]

Texas plays host to several species of wasps, including an abundance of Polistes exclamans,^[175] and is an important ground for the study of Polistes annularis.^[176]

During the spring Texas wildflowers such as the state flower, the bluebonnet, line highways throughout Texas. During the Johnson Administration the first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, worked to draw attention to Texas wildflowers.^[177]

Climate

Köppen climate types in Texas

The large size of Texas and its location at the intersection of multiple climate zones gives the state highly variable weather. The Panhandle of the state has colder winters than North Texas, while the Gulf Coast has mild winters. Texas has wide variations in precipitation patterns. El Paso, on the western end of the state, averages 8.7 inches (220 mm) of annual rainfall,^[178] while parts of southeast Texas average as much as 64 inches (1,600 mm) per year.^[179] Dallas in the North Central region averages a more moderate 37 inches (940 mm) per year.^[180]

Snow falls multiple times each winter in the Panhandle and mountainous areas of West Texas, once or twice a year in North Texas, and once every few years in Central and East Texas. Snow falls south of San Antonio or on the coast only in rare circumstances. Of note is the 2004 Christmas Eve snowstorm, when 6 inches (150 mm) of snow fell as far south as Kingsville, where the average high temperature in December is 65 °F.^[181]

Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F (26 °C) in the mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100 °F (38 °C) in the Rio Grande Valley, but most areas of Texas see consistent summer high temperatures in the 90 °F (32 °C) range.

Night-time summer temperatures range from the upper 50s °F (14 °C) in the West Texas mountains to 80 °F (27 °C) in Galveston.^[182][183]

The table below consists of averages for August (generally the warmest month) and January (generally the coldest) in selected cities in various regions of the state.

Storms

Thunderstorms strike Texas often, especially the eastern and northern portions of the state. Tornado Alley covers the northern section of Texas. The state experiences the most tornadoes in the United States, an average of 139 a year. These strike most frequently in North Texas and the Panhandle.^[185] Tornadoes in Texas generally occur in the months of April, May, and June.^[186]

Some of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history have impacted Texas. A hurricane in 1875 killed about 400 people in Indianola, followed by another hurricane in 1886 that destroyed the town. These events allowed Galveston to take over as the chief port city. The 1900 Galveston hurricane subsequently devastated that city, killing about 8,000 people or possibly as many as 12,000. This makes it the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.^[123] In 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Rockport as a Category 4 Hurricane, causing significant damage there. The storm stalled over land for a very long time, allowing it to drop unprecedented amounts of rain over the Greater Houston area and surrounding counties. The result was widespread and catastrophic flooding that inundated hundreds of thousands of homes. Harvey ultimately became the costliest hurricane worldwide, causing an estimated $198.6 billion in damage, surpassing the cost of Hurricane Katrina.^[187]

Other devastating Texas hurricanes include the 1915 Galveston hurricane, Hurricane Audrey in 1957 which killed more than 600 people, Hurricane Carla in 1961, Hurricane Beulah in 1967, Hurricane Alicia in 1983, Hurricane Rita in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008. Tropical storms have also caused their share of damage: Allison in 1989 and again during 2001, Claudette in 1979, and Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019.^{[188][189][190]}

There is no substantial physical barrier between Texas and the polar region. Although it is unusual, it is possible for arctic or polar air masses to penetrate Texas,^[191][192] as occurred during the February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm.^[193][194] Usually, prevailing winds in North America will push polar air masses to the southeast before they reach Texas. Because such intrusions are rare, and, perhaps, unexpected, they may result in crises such as the 2021 Texas power crisis.

Greenhouse gases

As of 2017^[update], Texas emitted the most greenhouse gases in the U.S., almost twice the amount of California, the second-most polluting state.^[195] As of 2017^[update] the state emits about 1,600 billion pounds (707 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide annually.^[195] As an independent state, Texas would rank as the world's seventh-largest producer of greenhouse gases.^[196] Causes of the state's vast greenhouse gas emissions include the state's large number of coal power plants and the state's refining and manufacturing industries.^[196] In 2010, there were 2,553 "emission events" which poured 44.6 million pounds (20,200 metric tons) of contaminants into the Texas sky.^[197]

Administrative divisions

Colonia in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexico–United States border

The state has three cities with populations exceeding one million: Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas.^[202] These three rank among the 10 most populous cities of the United States. As of 2020, six Texas cities had populations greater than 600,000 people. Austin, Fort Worth, and El Paso are among the 20 largest U.S. cities. Texas has four metropolitan areas with populations greater than a million: Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, Houston–Sugar Land–The Woodlands, San Antonio–New Braunfels, and Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos. The Dallas–Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas number about 7.5 million and 7 million residents as of 2019, respectively.^[203]

Three interstate highways—I-35 to the west (Dallas–Fort Worth to San Antonio, with Austin in between), I-45 to the east (Dallas to Houston), and I-10 to the south (San Antonio to Houston) define the Texas Urban Triangle region. The region of 60,000 square miles (160,000 km²) contains most of the state's largest cities and metropolitan areas as well as 17 million people, nearly 75 percent of Texas's total population.^[204] Houston and Dallas have been recognized as world cities.^[205] These cities are spread out amongst the state.^[206]

In contrast to the cities, unincorporated rural settlements known as colonias often lack basic infrastructure and are marked by poverty.^[207] The office of the Texas Attorney General stated, in 2011, that Texas had about 2,294 colonias, and estimates about 500,000 lived in the colonias. Hidalgo County, as of 2011, has the largest number of colonias.^[208] Texas has the largest number of people living in colonias of all states.^[207]

Texas has 254 counties, which is more than any other state by 95 (Georgia).^[209] Each county runs on Commissioners' Court system consisting of four elected commissioners (one from each of four precincts in the county, roughly divided according to population) and a county judge elected at large from the entire county. County government runs similar to a "weak" mayor-council system; the county judge has no veto authority, but votes along with the other commissioners.^[210][211]

Although Texas permits cities and counties to enter "interlocal agreements" to share services, the state does not allow consolidated city-county governments, nor does it have metropolitan governments. Counties are not granted home rule status; their powers are strictly defined by state law. The state does not have townships—areas within a county are either incorporated or unincorporated. Incorporated areas are part of a municipality. The county provides limited services to unincorporated areas and to some smaller incorporated areas. Municipalities are classified either "general law" cities or "home rule".^[212] A municipality may elect home rule status once it exceeds 5,000 population with voter approval.^[213]

Texas also permits the creation of "special districts", which provide limited services. The most common is the school district, but can also include hospital districts, community college districts, and utility districts (one utility district near Austin was the plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case involving the Voting Rights Act). Municipal, school district, and special district elections are nonpartisan,^[214] though the party affiliation of a candidate may be well-known. County and state elections are partisan.^[215]

Largest cities or towns in Texas 2021 U.S. Census Bureau Estimate[216]
	Rank	Name	County	Pop.	Rank	Name	County	Pop.
Houston San Antonio	1	Houston	Harris	2,288,250	11	Laredo	Webb	256,153	Dallas Austin
	2	San Antonio	Bexar	1,451,853	12	Irving	Dallas	254,198
	3	Dallas	Dallas	1,288,457	13	Garland	Dallas	242,035
	4	Austin	Travis	964,177	14	Frisco	Collin	210,719
	5	Fort Worth	Tarrant	935,508	15	McKinney	Collin	202,690
	6	El Paso	El Paso	678,415	16	Amarillo	Potter	201,234
	7	Arlington	Tarrant	392,786	17	Grand Prairie	Dallas	197,347
	8	Corpus Christi	Nueces	317,773	18	Brownsville	Cameron	187,831
	9	Plano	Collin	288,253	19	Killeen	Bell	156,261
	10	Lubbock	Lubbock	260,993	20	Pasadena	Harris	148,626

Discover more about Geography related topics

Geography of Texas

Geography of Texas

The geography of Texas is diverse and large. Occupying about 7% of the total water and land area of the U.S., it is the second largest state after Alaska, and is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which end in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Texas is in the South Central United States of America, and is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.

List of U.S. states and territories by area

List of U.S. states and territories by area

This is a complete list of the U.S. states, its federal district and its major territories ordered by total area, land area and water area. The water area includes inland waters, coastal waters, the Great Lakes and territorial waters. Glaciers and intermittent bodies of water are counted as land area. Alaska accounts for 17.53% of the total area; Texas for 7.07%; only 6 states account for 3% or more of the total area and only 17 for more than 2%.

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is a U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada to the east, and it shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with the Russian Federation's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest.

Contiguous United States

Contiguous United States

The contiguous United States consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii, and all other offshore insular areas, such as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The colloquial term "Lower 48" is used also, especially in relation to just Alaska.

Germany

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a population of over 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

List of the largest country subdivisions by area

List of the largest country subdivisions by area

This is a list of the 50 largest country subdivisions and dependent territories by area in square kilometres.

Rio Grande

Rio Grande

The Rio Grande, known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio Grande is 1,896 miles (3,051 km). It originates in south-central Colorado, in the United States, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande drainage basin (watershed) has an area of 182,200 square miles (472,000 km2); however, the endorheic basins that are adjacent to and within the greater drainage basin of the Rio Grande increase the total drainage-basin area to 336,000 square miles (870,000 km2).

Chihuahua (state)

Chihuahua (state)

Chihuahua, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is located in the northwestern part of Mexico and is bordered by the states of Sonora to the west, Sinaloa to the southwest, Durango to the south, and Coahuila to the east. To the north and northeast, it shares an extensive border with the U.S. adjacent to the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. Its capital city is Chihuahua City; the largest city is Ciudad Juárez.

Coahuila

Coahuila

Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is one of the 32 states of Mexico.

Nuevo León

Nuevo León

Nuevo León is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a total land area of 64,555 square kilometers, Nuevo León is the 13th largest federal entity in Mexico. The state is bordered by Tamaulipas to the east, Coahuila to the west, and both Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi to the south. To the north, it shares an extremely narrow international border with the U.S. state of Texas. The Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge is the only vehicular bridge that connects the United States with the state of Nuevo León. It crosses over the Rio Grande between the city of Colombia, Nuevo León, and Laredo, Texas.

Red River of the South

Red River of the South

The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major river in the Southern United States. It was named for its reddish water color from passing through red-bed country in its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. Although once a tributary of the Mississippi River, the Red River is now a tributary of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi that flows separately into the Gulf of Mexico. This confluence is connected to the Mississippi River by the Old River Control Structure.

Texas population density map

The United States Census Bureau determined the resident population of Texas was 29,145,505 at the 2020 U.S. census, a 15.9% increase since the 2010 United States census.^[217][218] At the 2020 census, the apportioned population of Texas stood at 29,183,290.^[219] The 2015 Texas Population Estimate program estimated the population was 27,469,114 on July 1, 2015.^[220] In 2010, Texas had a census population of 25,145,561.^[221] Texas is the second-most populous state in the United States after California and the only other U.S. state to surpass a total estimated population of 30 million people as of July 2, 2022.^[222][223]

In 2015, Texas had 4.7 million foreign-born residents, about 17% of the population and 21.6% of the state workforce.^[224] The major countries of origin for Texan immigrants were Mexico (55.1% of immigrants), India (5%), El Salvador (4.3%), Vietnam (3.7%), and China (2.3%).^[224] Of immigrant residents, some 35.8 percent were naturalized U.S. citizens.^[224] As of 2018, the population increased to 4.9 million foreign-born residents or 17.2% of the state population, up from 2,899,642 in 2000.^[225]

In 2014, there were an estimated 1.7 million undocumented immigrants in Texas, making up 35% of the total Texas immigrant population and 6.1% of the total state population.^[224] In addition to the state's foreign-born population, an additional 4.1 million Texans (15% of the state's population) were born in the United States and had at least one immigrant parent.^[224]

According to the American Community Survey's 2019 estimates, 1,739,000 residents were undocumented immigrants, a decrease of 103,000 since 2014 and increase of 142,000 since 2016. Of the undocumented immigrant population, 951,000 have resided in Texas from less than 5 up to 14 years. An estimated 788,000 lived in Texas from 15 to 19 and 20 years or more.^[226]

Texas's Rio Grande Valley has seen significant migration from across the U.S.–Mexico border. During the 2014 crisis, many Central Americans, including unaccompanied minors traveling alone from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, reached the state, overwhelming Border Patrol resources for a time. Many sought asylum in the United States.^[227][228]

Texas's population density as of 2010 is 96.3 people per square mile (37.2 people/km²) which is slightly higher than the average population density of the U.S. as a whole, at 87.4 people per square mile (33.7 people/km²). In contrast, while Texas and France are similarly sized geographically, the European country has a population density of 301.8 people per square mile (116.5 people/km²). Of its dense population, two-thirds of all Texans live in major metropolitan areas such as Houston. The Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area is the largest in Texas. While Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest city in the United States by population, the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area is larger than the city and metropolitan area of Houston.^[229][230]

According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 24,432 homeless people in Texas.^{[231] [232]}

Map of counties in Texas by racial and ethnic plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census

Non-Hispanic White   20–30%   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%

Hispanic or Latino   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90%+

Race and ethnicity

In 2019, non-Hispanic whites represented 41.2% of Texas's population, reflecting a national demographic shift.^{[234][235][236]} Blacks or African Americans made up 12.9%, American Indians and Alaska Natives 1.0%, Asian Americans 5.2%, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.1%, some other race 0.2%, and two or more races 1.8%. Hispanics or Latino Americans of any race made up 39.7% of the estimated population.^[237] At the 2020 census, the racial and ethnic composition of the state was 42.5% white (39.7% non-Hispanic white), 11.8% Black or African American, 5.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 13.6% some other race, 17.6% two or more races, and 39.3% Hispanic and Latino American of any race.^[238][239]

In 2010, 49% of all births were Hispanics; 35% were non-Hispanic whites; 11.5% were non-Hispanic blacks, and 4.3% were Asians/Pacific Islanders.^[240] Based on U.S. Census Bureau data released in February 2011, for the first time in recent history, Texas's white population is below 50% (45%) and Hispanics grew to 38%. Between 2000 and 2010, the total population grew by 20.6%, but Hispanics and Latino Americans grew by 65%, whereas non-Hispanic whites grew by only 4.2%.^[241] Texas has the fifth highest rate of teenage births in the nation and a plurality of these are to Hispanics or Latinos.^[242] Following continued population growth among people of color since the 2020 census alongside the 2022 Buffalo, NY mass shooting,^[243] concerns about racial and ethnic tensions were highlighted in some Texas newspapers regarding the extremist Great Replacement theory.^[244][245]

Languages

The most common accent or dialect spoken by natives throughout Texas is sometimes referred to as Texan English, which itself is a sub-variety of a broader category of American English known as Southern American English.^[247][248] Creole language is spoken in some parts of East Texas.^[249] In some areas of the state—particularly in the large cities—Western American English and General American English, is increasingly common. Chicano English—due to a growing Hispanic population—is widespread in South Texas, while African-American English is especially notable in historically minority areas of urban Texas.

At the 2020 American Community Survey's estimates, 64.9% of the population spoke only English, and 35.1% spoke a language other than English.^[250] Roughly 30% of the total population spoke Spanish. By 2021, approximately 50,546 Texans spoke French or a French-creole language. German and other West Germanic languages were spoken by 49,565 residents; Russian, Polish, and other Slavic languages by 37,444; Korean by 31,673; Chinese 86,370; Vietnamese 92,410; Tagalog 40,124; and Arabic by 47,170 Texans.^[251]

At the census of 2010, 65.8% (14,740,304) of Texas residents age 5 and older spoke only English at home, while 29.2% (6,543,702) spoke Spanish, 0.8 percent (168,886) Vietnamese, and Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin) was spoken by 0.6% (122,921) of the population over five.^[246] Other languages spoken include German (including Texas German) by 0.3% (73,137), Tagalog with 0.3% (64,272) speakers, and French (including Cajun French) was spoken by 0.3% (55,773) of Texans.^[246] Reportedly, Cherokee is the most widely spoken Native American language in Texas.^[252] In total, 34.2% (7,660,406) of Texas's population aged five and older spoke a language at home other than English as of 2006.^[246]

Religion

With the coming of Spanish Catholic and American Protestant colonialism and missionary societies,^[254] indigenous American Indian religions and spiritual traditions dwindled. Since then, colonial and present-day Texas has become a predominantly Christian state, with 75.5% of the population identifying as such according to the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020.^[255]

St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Among its majority Christian populace, the largest Christian denomination as of 2014 has been the Catholic Church, per the Pew Research Center at 23% of the population, although Protestants collectively constituted 50% of the Christian population in 2014;^[256] in the 2020 study by the Public Religion Research Institute, the Catholic Church's membership increased to encompassing 28% of the population identifying with a religious or spiritual belief.^[255] At the 2020 Association of Religion Data Archives study, there were 5,905,142 Catholics in the state.^[257] The largest Catholic jurisdictions in Texas are the Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston—the first and oldest Latin Church diocese in Texas^[258]—the dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth, and the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

First Baptist Church of Dallas

Being part of the strongly, socially conservative Bible Belt,^[259] Protestants as a whole declined to 47% of the population in the 2020 study by the Public Religion Research Institute. Predominantly-white Evangelical Protestantism declined to 14% of the Protestant Christian population. Mainline Protestants in contrast made up 15% of Protestant Texas. Hispanic or Latino American-dominated Protestant churches and historically Black or African American Protestantism grew to a collective 13% of the Protestant population.

Evangelical Protestants were 31% of the population in 2014, and Baptists were the largest Evangelical tradition (14%);^[256] according to the 2014 study, they made up the second largest Mainline Protestant group behind Methodists (4%). Nondenominational and interdenominational Protestant Christians were the second largest Evangelical group (7%) followed by Pentecostals (4%). The largest Evangelical Baptists in the state were the Southern Baptist Convention (9%) and independent Baptists (3%). The Assemblies of God USA was the largest Evangelical Pentecostal denomination in 2014. Among Mainline Protestants, the United Methodist Church was the largest denomination (4%) and the American Baptist Churches USA comprised the second largest Mainline Protestant group (2%).

According to the Pew Research Center in 2014, the state's largest historically African American Christian denominations were the National Baptist Convention (USA) and the Church of God in Christ. Black Methodists and other Christians made up less than 1 percent each of the Christian demographic. Other Christians made up 1 percent of the total Christian population, and the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox formed less than 1 percent of the statewide Christian populace. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the largest nontrinitarian Christian group in Texas alongside the Jehovah's Witnesses.^[256]

Among its Protestant population, the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020 determined Southern Baptists numbered 3,319,962; non-denominational Protestants 2,405,786 (including Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and the Churches of Christ altogether numbering 2,758,353); and United Methodists 938,399 as the most numerous Protestant groups in the state.^[257] Baptists altogether (Southern Baptists, American Baptist Associates, American Baptists, Full Gospel Baptists, General Baptists, Free Will Baptists, National Baptists, National Baptists of America, National Missionary Baptists, National Primitive Baptists, and Progressive National Baptists) numbered 3,837,306; Methodists within United Methodism, the AME, AME Zion, CME, and the Free Methodist Church numbered 1,026,453 Texans.

The same study tabulated 425,038 Pentecostals spread among the Assemblies of God, Church of God (Cleveland), and Church of God in Christ. Nontrinitarian or Oneness Pentecostals numbered 7,042 between Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, COOLJC, and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Other Christians including the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox numbered 55,329 altogether, and Episcopalians numbered 134,318 although the Anglican Catholic Church, Anglican Church in America, Anglican Church in North America, Anglican Province of America, and Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite had a collective presence in 114 churches.

Non-Christian faiths accounted for 4% of the religious population in 2014, and 5% in 2020 per the Pew Research Center and Public Religion Research Institute.^[256][255] Adherents of many other religions reside predominantly in the urban centers of Texas. Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism were tied as the second largest religion as of 2014 and 2020. In 2014, 18% of the state's population were religiously unaffiliated. Of the unaffiliated in 2014, an estimated 2% were atheists and 3% agnostic; in 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute noted the largest non-Christian groups were the irreligious (20%), Judaism (1%), Islam (1%), Buddhism (1%) and Hinduism, and other religions at less than 1 percent each.

In 1990, the Islamic population was about 140,000 with more recent figures putting the current number of Muslims between 350,000 and 400,000 as of 2012.^[260] The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated there were 313,209 Muslims as of 2020.^[257] Texas is the fifth-largest Muslim-populated state in the country as of 2014.^[261] The Jewish population was around 128,000 in 2008.^[262] In 2020, the Jewish population grew to over 176,000.^[263] According to ARDA's 2020 study, there were 43 Chabad synagogues; 17,513 Conservative Jews; 8,110 Orthodox Jews; and 31,378 Reform Jews. Around 146,000 adherents of religions such as Hinduism and Sikhism lived in Texas as of 2004.^[264] By 2020, there were 112,153 Hindus and 20 Sikh gurdwaras; 60,882 Texans adhered to Buddhism.

Discover more about Demographics related topics

1850 United States census

1850 United States census

The United States census of 1850 was the seventh census of the United States. Conducted by the Census Office, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 23,191,876—an increase of 35.9 percent over the 17,069,453 persons enumerated during the 1840 census. The total population included 3,204,313 slaves.

1860 United States census

1860 United States census

The United States census of 1860 was the eighth census conducted in the United States starting June 1, 1860, and lasting five months. It determined the population of the United States to be 31,443,322 in 33 states and 10 organized territories. This was an increase of 35.4 percent over the 23,069,876 persons enumerated during the 1850 census. The total population included 3,953,762 slaves.

1870 United States census

1870 United States census

The United States census of 1870 was the ninth United States census. It was conducted by the Census Bureau from June 1, 1870, to August 23, 1871. The 1870 census was the first census to provide detailed information on the African American population, only five years after the culmination of the Civil War when slaves were granted freedom. The total population was 38,925,598 with a resident population of 38,558,371 individuals, a 22.6% increase from 1860.

1880 United States census

1880 United States census

The United States census of 1880 conducted by the Census Bureau during June 1880 was the tenth United States census. It was the first time that women were permitted to be enumerators. The Superintendent of the Census was Francis Amasa Walker. This was the first census in which a city—New York City—recorded a population of over one million.

1890 United States census

1890 United States census

The United States census of 1890 was taken beginning June 2, 1890, but most of the 1890 census materials were destroyed in 1921 when a building caught fire and in the subsequent disposal of the remaining damaged records. It determined the resident population of the United States to be 62,979,766—an increase of 25.5 percent over the 50,189,209 persons enumerated during the 1880 census. The data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier.

1900 United States census

1900 United States census

The United States census of 1900, conducted by the Census Office on June 1, 1900, determined the resident population of the United States to be 76,212,168, an increase of 21.01% from the 62,979,766 persons enumerated during the 1890 census.

1910 United States census

1910 United States census

The United States census of 1910, conducted by the Census Bureau on April 15, 1910, determined the resident population of the United States to be 92,228,496, an increase of 21 percent over the 76,212,168 persons enumerated during the 1900 census. The 1910 census switched from a portrait page orientation to a landscape orientation.

1920 United States census

1920 United States census

The United States census of 1920, conducted by the Census Bureau during one month from January 5, 1920, determined the resident population of the United States to be 106,021,537, an increase of 15.0 percent over the 92,228,496 persons enumerated during the 1910 census.

1930 United States census

1930 United States census

The United States census of 1930, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during the 1920 census.

1940 United States census

1940 United States census

The United States census of 1940, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.6 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people. The census date of record was April 1, 1940.

1950 United States census

1950 United States census

The United States census of 1950, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 150,697,361, an increase of 14.5 percent over the 131,669,275 persons enumerated during the 1940 census.

1960 United States census

1960 United States census

The United States census of 1960, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 179,323,175, an increase of 19 percent over the 151,325,798 persons enumerated during the 1950 census. This was the first census in which all states recorded a population of over 200,000. This census's data determined the electoral votes for the 1964 and 1968 presidential elections. This was also the last census in which New York was the most populous state.

A geomap depicting income by county as of 2014

Texas counties by GDP (2021)

As of 2022-Q3, Texas had a gross state product (GSP) of $2.4 trillion, the second highest in the U.S.^[265] Its GSP is greater than the GDPs of Canada, Russia and Italy, which are the world's 8th-, 9th- and 10th-largest economies, respectively.^[266] The state ranks 22nd among U.S. states with a median household income of $64,034, while the poverty rate is 14.2%, making Texas the state with 14th highest poverty rate in the United States (compared to 13.15% nationally). Texas's economy is the second-largest of any country subdivision globally, behind California.

Texas's large population, an abundance of natural resources, thriving cities and leading centers of higher education have contributed to a large and diverse economy. Since oil was discovered, the state's economy has reflected the state of the petroleum industry. In recent times, urban centers of the state have increased in size, containing two-thirds of the population in 2005. The state's economic growth has led to urban sprawl and its associated symptoms.^[267]

As of May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state's unemployment rate was 13 percent.^[268]

In 2010, Site Selection Magazine ranked Texas as the most business-friendly state in the nation, in part because of the state's three-billion-dollar Texas Enterprise Fund.^[269] Texas has the highest number of Fortune 500 company headquarters in the United States as of 2022.^[19][20] In 2010, there were 346,000 millionaires in Texas, constituting the second-largest population of millionaires in the nation.^[e][270] In 2018, the number of millionaire households increased to 566,578.^[271]

Taxation

Texas has a reputation for low taxes.^[272] According to the Tax Foundation, Texans' state and local tax burdens rank among the lowest in the nation, 7th lowest nationally; state and local taxes cost $3,580 per capita, or 8.4 percent of resident incomes.^[273] Texas is one of seven states that lack a state income tax.^[273][274]

Instead, the state collects revenue from property taxes (though these are collected at the county, city, and school district level; Texas has a state constitutional prohibition against a state property tax) and sales taxes. The state sales tax rate is 6.25 percent,^[273][275] but local taxing jurisdictions (cities, counties, special purpose districts, and transit authorities) may also impose sales and use tax up to 2 percent for a total maximum combined rate of 8.25 percent.^[276]

Texas is a "tax donor state"; in 2005, for every dollar Texans paid to the federal government in federal income taxes, the state got back about $0.94 in benefits.^[273] To attract business, Texas has incentive programs worth $19 billion per year (2012); more than any other U.S. state.^[277][278]

Agriculture and mining

Cotton modules after harvest in West Texas

An oil well

Brazos Wind Farm

Electronic Data Systems headquarters in Plano

Texas has the most farms and the highest acreage in the United States. The state is ranked No. 1 for revenue generated from total livestock and livestock products. It is ranked No. 2 for total agricultural revenue, behind California.^[279] At $7.4 billion or 56.7 percent of Texas's annual agricultural cash receipts, beef cattle production represents the largest single segment of Texas agriculture. This is followed by cotton at $1.9 billion (14.6 percent), greenhouse/nursery at $1.5 billion (11.4 percent), broiler chickens at $1.3 billion (10 percent), and dairy products at $947 million (7.3 percent).^[280]

Texas leads the nation in the production of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, wool, mohair and hay.^[280] The state also leads the nation in production of cotton which is the number one crop grown in the state in terms of value.^{[279][281][282]} The state grows significant amounts of cereal crops and produce.^[279] Texas has a large commercial fishing industry. With mineral resources, Texas leads in creating cement, crushed stone, lime, salt, sand and gravel.^[279]

Texas throughout the 21st century has been hammered by drought. This has cost the state billions of dollars in livestock and crops.^[283]

Energy

Ever since the discovery of oil at Spindletop, energy has been a dominant force politically and economically within the state.^[284] If Texas were its own country it would be the sixth largest oil producer in the world according to a 2014 study.^[285]

The Railroad Commission of Texas, contrary to its name, regulates the state's oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining. Until the 1970s, the commission controlled the price of petroleum because of its ability to regulate Texas's oil reserves. The founders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) used the Texas agency as one of their models for petroleum price control.^[286]

As of January 1, 2021, Texas has proved recoverable petroleum reserves of about 15.6 billion barrels (2.48×10⁹ m³) of crude oil (44% of the known U.S. reserves) and 9.5 billion barrels (1.51×10⁹ m³) of natural gas liquids.^[287][288] The state's refineries can process 5.95 million barrels (946,000 m³) of oil a day.^[287][288] The Port Arthur Refinery in Southeast Texas is the largest refinery in the U.S.^[287] Texas is also a leader in natural gas production at 28.8 billion cubic feet (820,000,000 m³) per day, some 32% of the nation's production.^[289][290] Texas has 102.4 trillion cubic feet (2.90×10¹² m³) of gas reserves which is 23% of the nation's gas reserves.^[287][288] Many petroleum companies are based in Texas such as: ConocoPhillips,^[291] EOG Resources, ExxonMobil,^[292] Halliburton,^[293] Hilcorp, Marathon Oil,^[294] Occidental Petroleum,^[295] Pioneer Natural Resources, Tesoro,^[296] Valero Energy,^[297] and Western Refining.^[298]

According to the Energy Information Administration, Texans consume, on average, the fifth most energy (of all types) in the nation per capita and as a whole, following behind Wyoming, Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Iowa.^[287]

Unlike the rest of the nation, most of Texas is on its own alternating current power grid, the Texas Interconnection. Texas has a deregulated electric service. Texas leads the nation in total net electricity production, generating 437,236 MWh in 2014, 89% more MWh than Florida, which ranked second.^[299][300] As an independent nation, Texas would rank as the world's eleventh-largest producer of electricity, after South Korea, and ahead of the United Kingdom.

The state is a leader in renewable energy commercialization; it produces the most wind power in the nation.^[287][301] In 2014, 10.6% of the electricity consumed in Texas came from wind turbines.^[302] The Roscoe Wind Farm in Roscoe, Texas, is one of the world's largest wind farms with a 781.5 megawatt (MW) capacity.^[303] The Energy Information Administration states the state's large agriculture and forestry industries could give Texas an enormous amount biomass for use in biofuels. The state also has the highest solar power potential for development in the U.S.^[287]

Technology

Astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston

With large universities systems coupled with initiatives like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, a wide array of different high tech industries have developed in Texas. The Austin area is nicknamed the "Silicon Hills" and the north Dallas area the "Silicon Prairie". Many high-tech companies are located in or have their headquarters in Texas (and Austin in particular), including Dell, Inc.,^[304] Borland,^[305] Forcepoint,^[306] Indeed.com,^[307] Texas Instruments,^[308] Perot Systems,^[309] Rackspace and AT&T.^{[310][311][312]}

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (NASA JSC) in Southeast Houston, sits as the crown jewel of Texas's aeronautics industry. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have their test facilities in Texas.^[313][314] Fort Worth hosts both Lockheed Martin's Aeronautics division and Bell Helicopter Textron.^[315][316] Lockheed builds the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the largest Western fighter program, and its successor, the F-35 Lightning II in Fort Worth.^[317]

Commerce

Texas's affluence stimulates a strong commercial sector consisting of retail, wholesale, banking and insurance, and construction industries. Examples of Fortune 500 companies not based on Texas traditional industries are AT&T, Kimberly-Clark, Blockbuster, J. C. Penney, Whole Foods Market, and Tenet Healthcare.^[318]

Nationally, the Dallas–Fort Worth area, home to the second shopping mall in the United States, has the most shopping malls per capita of any American metropolitan statistical area.^[319]

Mexico, the state's largest trading partner, imports a third of the state's exports because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA has encouraged the formation of maquiladoras on the Texas–Mexico border.^[320]

Discover more about Economy related topics

Economy of Texas

Economy of Texas

The economy of the State of Texas is the second largest by GDP in the United States after that of California. It has a gross state product of $2.4 trillion as of 2022. In 2022, Texas led the nation with the most companies in the Fortune 500 with 53 in total. As of 2021, Texas grossed more than $300 billion a year in exports—more than the exports of California and New York combined.

List of countries by GDP (nominal)

List of countries by GDP (nominal)

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or government official exchange rates. Nominal GDP does not take into account differences in the cost of living in different countries, and the results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the exchange rates of the country's currency. Such fluctuations may change a country's ranking from one year to the next, even though they often make little or no difference in the standard of living of its population.

Economy of Canada

Economy of Canada

The economy of Canada is a highly developed mixed economy. It is the 8th-largest GDP by nominal and 15th-largest GDP by PPP in the world. As with other developed nations, the country's economy is dominated by the service industry which employs about three quarters of Canadians. It has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and is the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil. It is also the fifth-largest exporter of natural gas.

Economy of Russia

Economy of Russia

The economy of Russia has gradually transformed from a planned economy into a mixed market-oriented economy. It has enormous natural resources, particularly oil and natural gas. It is the world's ninth-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the sixth-largest by PPP. Russia's membership to the WTO was accepted in 2011.

Economy of Italy

Economy of Italy

The economy of Italy is a highly developed social market economy. It is the third-largest national economy in the European Union, the 10th-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and the 12th-largest by GDP (PPP). Italy is a founding member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the OECD, the G7 and the G20; it is the eighth-largest exporter in the world, with $611 billion exported in 2021. Its closest trade ties are with the other countries of the European Union, with whom it conducts about 59% of its total trade. The largest trading partners, in order of market share in exports, are Germany (12.5%), France (10.3%), the United States (9%), Spain (5.2%), the United Kingdom (5.2%) and Switzerland (4.6%).

Poverty in the United States

Poverty in the United States

In the United States, poverty has both social and political implications. In 2020, there were 37.2 million people in poverty. Some of the many causes include income inequality, inflation, unemployment, debt traps and poor education. The vast majority of people living in poverty are less educated and end up in a state of unemployment; higher incarceration rates have also been observed. Although the US is a relatively wealthy country by international standards, poverty has consistently been present throughout the United States, along with efforts to alleviate it, from New Deal-era legislation during the Great Depression, to the national war on poverty in the 1960s and poverty alleviation efforts during the 2008 Great Recession.

Economy of California

Economy of California

The economy of the State of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.63 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation (2022), it would rank in terms of nominal GDP as the world's fifth largest economy, behind Germany and ahead of India. Additionally, California's Silicon Valley is home to some of the world's most valuable technology companies, including Apple, Alphabet, and Nvidia. In total, over 10% of Fortune 1000 companies were based in California in 2018, the most of any state.

COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and later worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 10 March 2023, the pandemic had caused more than 676 million cases and 6.88 million confirmed deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history.

Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along with privately held companies for which revenues are publicly available. The concept of the Fortune 500 was created by Edgar P. Smith, a Fortune editor, and the first list was published in 1955. The Fortune 500 is more commonly used than its subset Fortune 100 or superset Fortune 1000.

Property tax

Property tax

A property tax is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.

Sales tax

Sales tax

A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase.

Income tax in the United States

Income tax in the United States

The United States federal government and most state governments impose an income tax. They are determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income, which is the total income less allowable deductions. Income is broadly defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and trusts may be taxable on undistributed income. Partnerships are not taxed, but their partners are taxed on their shares of partnership income. Residents and citizens are taxed on worldwide income, while nonresidents are taxed only on income within the jurisdiction. Several types of credits reduce tax, and some types of credits may exceed tax before credits. An alternative tax applies at the federal and some state levels.

The Alamo is one of the most recognized symbols of Texas.

Historically, Texas culture comes from a blend of Southern (Dixie), Western (frontier), and Southwestern (Mexican/Anglo fusion) influences, varying in degrees of such from one intrastate region to another. Texas is placed in the Southern United States by the United States Census Bureau.^[321] A popular food item, the breakfast burrito, draws from all three, having a soft flour tortilla wrapped around bacon and scrambled eggs or other hot, cooked fillings. Adding to Texas's traditional culture, established in the 18th and 19th centuries, immigration has made Texas a melting pot of cultures from around the world.^[322][323]

Texas has made a strong mark on national and international pop culture. The entire state is strongly associated with the image of the cowboy shown in westerns and in country western music. The state's numerous oil tycoons are also a popular pop culture topic as seen in the hit TV series Dallas.^[324][325]

The internationally known slogan "Don't Mess with Texas" began as an anti-littering advertisement. Since the campaign's inception in 1986, the phrase has become "an identity statement, a declaration of Texas swagger".^[326]

Texas self-perception

Big Tex presided over every Texas State Fair since 1952 until it was destroyed by a fire in 2012. Since then a new Big Tex was created.

"Texas-sized" is an expression that can be used in two ways: to describe something that is about the size of the U.S. state of Texas,^[327][328] or to describe something (usually but not always originating from Texas) that is large compared to other objects of its type.^{[329][330][331]} Texas was the largest U.S. state until Alaska became a state in 1959. The phrase "everything is bigger in Texas" has been in regular use since at least 1950.^[332]

Arts

Houston is one of only five American cities with permanent professional resident companies in all the major performing arts disciplines: the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, and The Alley Theatre.^[333] Known for the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, the Houston Theater District—a 17-block area in the heart of Downtown Houston—ranks second in the country in the number of theater seats in a concentrated downtown area, with 12,948 seats for live performances and 1,480 movie seats.^[333]

Founded in 1892, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, also called "The Modern", is Texas's oldest art museum. Fort Worth also has the Kimbell Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, the Will Rogers Memorial Center, and the Bass Performance Hall downtown. The Arts District of Downtown Dallas has arts venues such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center.^[334]

The Deep Ellum district within Dallas became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hotspot in the Southern United States. The name Deep Ellum comes from local people pronouncing "Deep Elm" as "Deep Ellum".^[335] Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in early Deep Ellum clubs.^[336]

Austin, The Live Music Capital of the World, boasts "more live music venues per capita than such music hotbeds as Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or New York City".^[337] The city's music revolves around the nightclubs on 6th Street; events like the film, music, and multimedia festival South by Southwest; the longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits; and the Austin City Limits Music Festival held in Zilker Park.^[338]

Since 1980, San Antonio has evolved into "The Tejano Music Capital Of The World".^[339] The Tejano Music Awards have provided a forum to create greater awareness and appreciation for Tejano music and culture.^[340]

Discover more about Culture related topics

Culture of Texas

Culture of Texas

The culture of Texas is often considered one of the major cultures influencing the greater American culture. Texas is one of the most populous and populated American states in its urban centers and has seen tremendous waves of migration out of the American North and West in contrast to its eastern neighbors in the Deep South. But it retains the regionalisms and distinct cultural identities of German Texan, Tejanos, Cajuns, Irish, African American, and White Southern enclaves established before the republic era and admission to statehood.

Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western United States, with the Midwestern and Northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

Southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. The largest cities by metropolitan area are Phoenix, Las Vegas, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Tucson. Before 1848, in the historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as well as parts of Alta California and Coahuila y Tejas, settlement was almost non-existent outside of Nuevo México's Pueblos and Spanish or Mexican municipalities. Much of the area had been a part of New Spain and Mexico until the United States acquired the area through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the smaller Gadsden Purchase in 1854.

Breakfast burrito

Breakfast burrito

The breakfast burrito, sometimes referred to as a breakfast wrap outside of the American Southwest, is a variety of American breakfast composed of breakfast items wrapped inside a flour tortilla burrito. This style was invented and popularized in several regional American cuisines, most notably originating in New Mexican cuisine, and expanding beyond Southwestern cuisine and neighboring Tex-Mex. Southwestern-style breakfast burritos may include any combination of scrambled eggs, potatoes, cheese, peppers, salsa, onions, chorizo, bacon, or sour cream. In other variations of breakfast burritos, more ingredients such as tomatoes, cheese, ham, and other fresh products can be added.

Melting pot

Melting pot

A melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous through the influx of foreign elements with different cultural backgrounds, possessing the potential to create disharmony within the previous culture. It can also create a harmonious hybridized society known as cultural amalgamation. Historically, it is often used to describe the cultural integration of immigrants to the United States. A related concept has been defined as "cultural additivity."

Cowboy

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world work at identical tasks and have obtained considerable respect for their achievements. Cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, perform work similar to the cowboy.

Dallas (1978 TV series)

Dallas (1978 TV series)

Dallas is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991. The series revolves around an affluent and feuding Texas family, the Ewings, who own the independent oil company Ewing Oil and the cattle-ranching land of Southfork. The series originally focused on the marriage of Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes, whose families were sworn enemies. As the series progressed, Bobby's elder brother, oil tycoon J.R. Ewing, became the show's breakout character, whose schemes and dirty business became the show's trademark. When the show ended on May 3, 1991, J.R. was the only character to have appeared in every episode.

Don't Mess with Texas

Don't Mess with Texas

"Don't Mess with Texas" is a slogan for a campaign aimed at reducing littering on Texas roadways by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The phrase "Don't Mess with Texas" is prominently shown on road signs on major highways, television, radio and in print advertisements. The campaign is credited with reducing litter on Texas highways roughly 72% between 1987 and 1990. The campaign's target market was 18- to 35-year-old males, which was statistically shown to be the most likely to litter. While the slogan was not originally intended to become a statewide cultural phenomenon, it did.

Advertising campaign

Advertising campaign

An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and concepts into one large media base. Advertising campaigns utilize diverse media channels over a particular time frame and target identified audiences.

Big Tex

Big Tex

Big Tex is a 55-foot (17 m) tall figure and marketing icon of the annual State Fair of Texas held at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The figure has become a cultural icon of Dallas and Texas. Since 1952 Big Tex has served as a cultural ambassador to visitors, and the figures prime location in the fairgrounds serves as a traditional meeting point.

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is a U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., it borders British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada to the east, and it shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with the Russian Federation's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest.

Music of Texas

Music of Texas

The U.S. state of Texas has long been a center for musical innovation and is the birthplace of many notable musicians. Texans have pioneered developments in Tejano and Conjunto music, Rock 'n Roll, Western swing, jazz, punk rock, country, hip-hop, electronic music, gothic industrial music, religious music, mariachi, psychedelic rock, zydeco and the blues.

The second president of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, is the Father of Texas Education. During his term, the state set aside three leagues of land in each county for equipping public schools. An additional 50 leagues of land set aside for the support of two universities would later become the basis of the state's Permanent University Fund.^[341] Lamar's actions set the foundation for a Texas-wide public school system.^[342]

Between 2006 and 2007, Texas spent $7,275 per pupil, ranking it below the national average of $9,389. The pupil/teacher ratio was 14.9, below the national average of 15.3. Texas paid instructors $41,744, below the national average of $46,593. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) administers the state's public school systems. Texas has over 1,000 school districts; all districts except the Stafford Municipal School District are independent from municipal government and many cross city boundaries.^[343] School districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. Due to court-mandated equitable school financing for school districts, the state has a tax redistribution system called the "Robin Hood plan". This plan transfers property tax revenue from wealthy school districts to poor ones.^[344] The TEA has no authority over private or home school activities.^[345]

Students in Texas take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in primary and secondary school. STAAR assess students' attainment of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies skills required under Texas education standards and the No Child Left Behind Act. The test replaced the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test in the 2011–2012 school year.^[346]

Generally prohibited in the West at large, school corporal punishment is not unusual in the more conservative, rural areas of the state, with 28,569 public school students paddled at least one time,^[f] according to government data for the 2011–2012 school year.^[347] The rate of school corporal punishment in Texas is surpassed only by Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas.^[347]

Higher education

The University of Texas at Austin

University of Houston

Texas A&M University

Rice University

The state's two most widely recognized flagship universities are The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, ranked as the 21st^[348] and 41st^[349] best universities in the nation according to 2020's latest Center for World University Rankings report, respectively. Some observers^[350] also include the University of Houston and Texas Tech University as tier one flagships alongside UT Austin and A&M.^[351][352] The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) ranks the state's public universities into three distinct tiers:^[353]

• National Research Universities (Tier 1)^[354][355]
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • Texas A&M University
  • Texas Tech University
  • University of Houston
  • The University of Texas at Arlington
  • The University of Texas at Dallas
  • The University of North Texas
  • The University of Texas at El Paso
• Emerging Research Universities (Tier 2)^[353]
  • The University of Texas at San Antonio
  • Texas State University
• Comprehensive Universities (Tier 3)^[353]
  • All other public universities (25 in total)

Texas's alternative affirmative action plan, Texas House Bill 588, guarantees Texas students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class automatic admission to state-funded universities. This does not apply to The University of Texas at Austin, which automatically admits Texas students who graduated in the top 6 percent of their high school class.^[356] The bill encourages demographic diversity while attempting to avoid problems stemming from the Hopwood v. Texas (1996) case.^[357]

Thirty-six (36) separate and distinct public universities exist in Texas, of which 32 belong to one of the six state university systems.^[358][359] Discovery of minerals on Permanent University Fund land, particularly oil, has helped fund the rapid growth of the state's two largest university systems: the University of Texas System and the Texas A&M System. The four other university systems: the University of Houston System, the University of North Texas System, the Texas State System, and the Texas Tech System are not funded by the Permanent University Fund.^[360]

The Carnegie Foundation classifies four of Texas's universities as Tier One research institutions: The University of Texas at Austin, the Texas A&M University, the University of Houston and Texas Tech University. The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are the flagship universities of the University of Texas System and Texas A&M University System, respectively. Both were established by the Texas Constitution and hold stakes in the Permanent University Fund.^[360]

The state has sought to expand the number of flagship universities by elevating some of its seven institutions designated as "emerging research universities". The two expected to emerge first are the University of Houston and Texas Tech University, likely in that order according to discussions on the House floor of the 82nd Texas Legislature.^[361]

The state is home to various private institutions of higher learning—ranging from liberal arts colleges to a nationally recognized top-tier research university. Rice University in Houston is one of the leading teaching and research universities of the United States and is ranked the nation's 17th-best overall university by U.S. News & World Report.^[362]

Trinity University, a private, primarily undergraduate liberal arts university in San Antonio, has ranked first among universities granting primarily bachelor's and select master's degrees in the Western United States for 20 consecutive years by U.S. News.^[363] Private universities include Abilene Christian University, Austin College, Baylor University, University of Mary Hardin–Baylor, and Southwestern University.^{[364][365][366]}

Universities in Texas host three presidential libraries: George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University,^[367] the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum at The University of Texas at Austin,^[368][369] and the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University.^[370]

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Education in Texas

Education in Texas

Texas has over 1,000 public school districts—all but one of the school districts in Texas are independent, separate from any form of municipal or county government. School districts may cross city and county boundaries. Independent school districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) oversees these districts, providing supplemental funding, but its jurisdiction is limited mostly to intervening in poorly performing districts.

Mirabeau B. Lamar

Mirabeau B. Lamar

Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was an attorney born in Georgia, who became a Texas politician, poet, diplomat, and soldier. He was a leading Texas political figure during the Texas Republic era. He was elected as the second President of the Republic of Texas after Sam Houston. He was known for waging war against bands of Cherokee and Comanche peoples to push them out of Texas, and for establishing a fund to support public education.

League (unit)

League (unit)

A league is a unit of length. It was common in Europe and Latin America, but is no longer an official unit in any nation. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the leuga, the league became a common unit of measurement throughout western Europe. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries.

Permanent University Fund

Permanent University Fund

The Permanent University Fund (PUF) is a sovereign wealth fund created by the State of Texas to fund public higher education within the state. A portion of the returns from the PUF are annually directed towards the Available University Fund (AUF), which distributes the funds according to provisions set forth by the 1876 Texas Constitution, subsequent constitutional amendments, and the board of regents of the Texas A&M University System and University of Texas System. The PUF provides extra funds, above monies from tax revenues, to the UT System and the Texas A&M System which collectively have approximately 50 percent of state public university students. The PUF does not provide any funding to other public Universities in the State of Texas.

List of school districts in Texas

List of school districts in Texas

This is a list of school districts in Texas, sorted by Region and County.

School district

School district

A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations.

Eminent domain

Eminent domain

Eminent domain, land acquisition, compulsory purchase/acquisition, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation is the power of a state, provincial, or national government to take private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and transfer ownership of private property from one property owner to another private property owner without a valid public purpose. This power can be legislatively delegated by the state to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized by the legislature to exercise the functions of public character.

Robin Hood plan

Robin Hood plan

The Robin Hood plan was a media nickname given to legislation enacted by the U.S. state of Texas in 1993 to provide court-mandated equitable school financing for all school districts in the state, in response to the Texas Supreme Court's ruling in Edgewood Independent School District v. Kirby.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling

Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an online teacher, many homeschool families use less formal, more personalized and individualized methods of learning that are not always found in schools. The actual practice of homeschooling can vary. The spectrum ranges from highly structured forms based on traditional school lessons to more open, free forms such as unschooling, which is a lesson- and curriculum-free implementation of homeschooling. Some families who initially attended a school go through a deschool phase to break away from school habits and prepare for homeschooling. While "homeschooling" is the term commonly used in North America, "home education" is primarily used in Europe and many Commonwealth countries. Homeschooling should not be confused with distance education, which generally refers to the arrangement where the student is educated by and conforms to the requirements of an online school, rather than being educated independently and unrestrictedly by their parents or by themselves.

Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline.

Social studies

Social studies

In multiple countries' curriculums, social studies is the integrated study of multiple fields of social science and the humanities, including history, culture, geography and political science. The term was first coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as a catch-all for these subjects, as well as others which did not fit into the traditional models of lower education in the United States, such as philosophy and psychology. One of the purposes of social studies, particularly at the level of higher education, is to integrate several disciplines, with their unique methodologies and special focuses of concentration, into a coherent field of subject areas that communicate with each other by sharing different academic "tools" and perspectives for deeper analysis of social problems and issues. Social studies aims to train students for informed, responsible participation in a diverse democratic society. The content of social studies provides the necessary background knowledge in order to develop values and reasoned opinions, and the objective of the field is civic competence.

No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels.

Notwithstanding the concentration of elite medical centers in the state, The Commonwealth Fund ranks the Texas healthcare system the third worst in the nation.^[371] Texas ranks close to last in access to healthcare, quality of care, avoidable hospital spending, and equity among various groups.^[371] Causes of the state's poor rankings include politics, a high poverty rate, and the highest rate of illegal immigration in the nation.^[372] In May 2006, Texas initiated the program "code red" in response to the report the state had 25.1 percent of the population without health insurance, the largest proportion in the nation.^[373]

The Trust for America's Health ranked Texas 15th highest in adult obesity, with 27.2 percent of the state's population measured as obese.^[374] The 2008 Men's Health obesity survey ranked four Texas cities among the top 25 fattest cities in America; Houston ranked 6th, Dallas 7th, El Paso 8th, and Arlington 14th.^[375] Texas had only one city (Austin, ranked 21st) in the top 25 among the "fittest cities" in America.^[375] The same survey has evaluated the state's obesity initiatives favorably with a "B+".^[375] The state is ranked forty-second in the percentage of residents who engage in regular exercise according to a 2007 study.^[376]

Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and the rate by which Texas women died from pregnancy-related complications doubled from 2010 to 2014, to 23.8 per 100,000 — a rate unmatched in any other U.S. state or economically developed country.^[377] In May 2021, the state legislature passed the Texas Heartbeat Act, which banned abortion from as early as six weeks of pregnancy, except to save the life of the mother. The Act allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who assists in an abortion, except for the woman on whom the abortion is performed. The Act applies to pregnancies caused by incest or rape, although a clause prohibits the perpetrators from enforcing it with civil lawsuits.^[378][379] On August 25, 2022, another law took effect that made committing abortion at any stage of pregnancy a felony punishable by life in prison.^[380]

Medical research

The Texas Medical Center in Houston

Texas has many elite research medical centers. The state has 15 medical schools,^[381] four dental schools,^[382] and two optometry schools.^[383] Texas has two Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories: one at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston,^[384] and the other at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio—the first privately owned BSL-4 lab in the United States.^[385]

The Texas Medical Center in Houston, holds the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions, with over 50 member institutions.^[386] Texas Medical Center performs the most heart transplants in the world.^[387] The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is a highly regarded academic institution that centers around cancer patient care, research, education and prevention.^[388]

San Antonio's South Texas Medical Center facilities rank sixth in clinical medicine research impact in the United States.^[389] The University of Texas Health Science Center is another highly ranked research and educational institution in San Antonio.^[390][391]

Both the American Heart Association and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center call Dallas home.^[392] The institution's medical school employs the most medical school Nobel laureates in the world.^[392][393]

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Healthcare in Texas

Healthcare in Texas

This article summarizes healthcare in Texas. In 2017, the United Healthcare Foundation ranked Texas as the 34th healthiest state in the United States. Obesity, excessive drinking, maternal mortality, infant mortality, and vaccinations are among the major public health issues facing Texas.

List of hospitals in Texas

List of hospitals in Texas

List of hospitals in Texas, sorted alphabetically.

Trust for America's Health

Trust for America's Health

Trust for America's Health (TFAH) is a Washington, D.C.-based health policy organization. The organization's website calls the group "a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority."

Obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's weight divided by the square of the person's height—is over 30 kg/m2; the range 25–30 kg/m2 is defined as overweight. Some East Asian countries use lower values to calculate obesity. Obesity is a major cause of disability and is correlated with various diseases and conditions, particularly cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.

Arlington, Texas

Arlington, Texas

Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. The city had a population of 394,266 in 2020, making it the second-largest city in the county, after Fort Worth, and the third-largest city in the metropolitan area, after Dallas and Fort Worth. Arlington is the 50th-most populous city in the United States, the seventh-most populous city in the state of Texas, and the largest city in the state that is not a county seat.

Texas Heartbeat Act

Texas Heartbeat Act

The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8, is an act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law took effect on September 1, 2021, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request for emergency relief from Texas abortion providers. It is the first time a state has successfully imposed a six-week abortion ban since Roe v. Wade, and the first abortion restriction to rely solely on enforcement by private individuals through civil lawsuits, rather than having state officials enforce the law with criminal or civil penalties. The act authorizes members of the public to sue anyone who performs or facilitates an illegal abortion for a minimum of $10,000 in statutory damages per abortion, plus court costs and attorneys' fees.

Abortion

Abortion

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnancies. When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced abortion, or less frequently "induced miscarriage". The unmodified word abortion generally refers to an induced abortion. The reasons why women have abortions are diverse and vary across the world. Reasons include maternal health, an inability to afford a child, domestic violence, lack of support, feeling they are too young, wishing to complete education or advance a career, and not being able or willing to raise a child conceived as a result of rape or incest.

Texas Medical Center

Texas Medical Center

The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a 2.1-square-mile (5.4 km2) medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrated in a triangular area between Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park, are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation—a non-profit umbrella organization—which constitutes the largest medical complex in the world. The TMC has an extremely high density of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research.

Optometry

Optometry

Optometry is a specialized health care profession that involves examining the eyes and related structures for defects or abnormalities. Optometrists are health care professionals who typically provide comprehensive primary eye care.

South Texas Medical Center

South Texas Medical Center

The South Texas Medical Center (STMC) or Bexar County Hospital District consists of 900 acres (360 ha) of medical-related facilities on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas, United States.

The High Five Interchange in Dallas

Texans have historically had difficulties traversing Texas due to the state's large size and rough terrain. Texas has compensated by building America's largest highway and railway systems. The regulatory authority, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), maintains the state's immense highway system, regulates aviation,^[394] and public transportation systems.^[395]

The state is an important transportation hub. From the Dallas/Fort Worth area, trucks can reach 93 percent of the nation's population within 48 hours, and 37 percent within 24 hours.^[396] Texas has 33 foreign trade zones (FTZ), the most in the nation.^[397] In 2004, a combined total of $298 billion of goods passed through Texas FTZs.^[397]

Highways

"Welcome to Texas" sign

The first Texas freeway was the Gulf Freeway opened in 1948 in Houston.^[398] As of 2005, 79,535 miles (127,999 km) of public highway crisscrossed Texas (up from 71,000 miles (114,263 km) in 1984).^[399] To fund recent growth in the state highways, Texas has 17 toll roads (see list) with several additional tollways proposed.^[400] In Central Texas, the southern section of the State Highway 130 toll road has a speed limit of 85 miles per hour (137 km/h), the highest in the nation.^[401] All federal and state highways in Texas are paved.

Airports

Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Terminal E at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston

Texas has 730 airports, second-most of any state in the nation. Largest in Texas by size and passengers served, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is the second-largest by area in the United States, and fourth in the world with 18,076 acres (73.15 km²).^[402] In traffic, DFW airport is the busiest in the state, the fourth busiest in the United States,^[403] and sixth worldwide.^[404] American Airlines Group's American / American Eagle, the world's largest airline in total passengers-miles transported and passenger fleet size,^[405] uses DFW as its largest and main hub. It ranks as the largest airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically per year and the largest airline in the world by number of passengers carried.^[406] Southwest Airlines, headquartered in Dallas, has its operations at Dallas Love Field.^[407]

Texas's second-largest air facility is Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). It served as the largest hub for the former Continental Airlines, which was based in Houston; it serves as the largest hub for United Airlines, the world's third-largest airline, by passenger-miles flown.^[408][g] IAH offers service to the most Mexican destinations of any U.S. airport.^[409][410] The next five largest airports in the state all serve more than three million passengers annually; they include Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, William P. Hobby Airport, San Antonio International Airport, Dallas Love Field and El Paso International Airport. The smallest airport in the state to be designated an international airport is Del Rio International Airport.

Ports

Port of Houston along the Houston Ship Channel

Around 1,150 seaports dot Texas's coast with over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of channels.^[411] Ports employ nearly one-million people and handle an average of 317 million metric tons.^[412] Texas ports connect with the rest of the U.S. Atlantic seaboard with the Gulf section of the Intracoastal Waterway.^[411] The Port of Houston today is the busiest port in the United States in foreign tonnage, second in overall tonnage, and tenth worldwide in tonnage.^[413] The Houston Ship Channel spans 530 feet (160 m) wide by 45 feet (14 m) deep by 50 miles (80 km) long.^[414]

Railroads

Part of the state's tradition of cowboys is derived from the massive cattle drives which its ranchers organized in the nineteenth century to drive livestock to railroads and markets in Kansas, for shipment to the east. Towns along the way, such as Baxter Springs, the first cow town in Kansas, developed to handle the seasonal workers and tens of thousands of head of cattle being driven.^[415]

The first railroad to operate in Texas was the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, opening in August 1853.^[416] The first railroad to enter Texas from the north, completed in 1872, was the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad.^[417] With increasing railroad access, the ranchers did not have to take their livestock up to the Midwest and shipped beef out from Texas. This caused a decline in the economies of the cow towns.^[418]

Since 1911, Texas has led the nation in length of railroad miles within the state. Texas railway length peaked in 1932 at 17,078 miles (27,484 km), but declined to 14,006 miles (22,540 km) by 2000. While the Railroad Commission of Texas originally regulated state railroads, in 2005 the state reassigned these duties to TxDOT.^[419]

In the Dallas–Fort Worth area, three public transit agencies provide rail service: Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA), and Trinity Metro. DART began operating the first light rail system in the Southwest United States in 1996.^[420] The Trinity Railway Express (TRE) commuter rail service, which connects Fort Worth and Dallas, is provided by Trinity Metro and DART.^[421] Trinity Metro also operates the TEXRail commuter rail line, connecting downtown Fort Worth and Northeast Tarrant County to DFW Airport.^[422] The A-train commuter rail line, operated by DCTA, acts as an extension of the DART Green line into Denton County.^[423] In the Austin area, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates a commuter rail service known as Capital MetroRail to the northwestern suburbs. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) operates light rail lines in the Houston area.^[424]

Amtrak provides Texas with limited intercity passenger rail service. Three scheduled routes serve the state: the daily Texas Eagle (Chicago–San Antonio); the tri-weekly Sunset Limited (New Orleans–Los Angeles), with stops in Texas; and the daily Heartland Flyer (Fort Worth–Oklahoma City). Texas may get one of the nation's first high-speed rail line. Plans for a privately funded high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston have been planned by the Texas Central Railway company.^[425]

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Transportation in Texas

Transportation in Texas

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is a governmental agency and its purpose is to "provide safe, effective, and efficient movement of people and goods" throughout the state. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with maintenance of the state's immense highway system, the agency is also responsible for aviation in the state and overseeing public transportation systems.

High Five Interchange

High Five Interchange

The High Five Interchange is one of the first five-level stack interchanges built in Dallas, Texas. Located at the junction of the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway and the Central Expressway, it replaces an antiquated combination interchange constructed in the 1960s.

Dallas

Dallas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County with portions extending into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. With a 2020 census population of 1,304,379, it is the ninth-most populous city in the U.S. and the third-largest city in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. Located in the North Texas region, the city of Dallas is the main core of the largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States and the largest inland metropolitan area in the U.S. that lacks any navigable link to the sea.

Texas Department of Transportation

Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas Department of Transportation is a Texas state government agency responsible for construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system and the support of the state's aviation, rail, and public transportation systems. TxDOT previously administered vehicle registration prior to the creation of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles in November 2009.

Central Texas

Central Texas

Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas surrounding Austin and roughly bordered by San Saba to Bryan and San Marcos to Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part of the Texas Hill Country and corresponds to a physiographic section designation within the Edwards Plateau, in a geographic context.

Texas State Highway 130

Texas State Highway 130

Texas State Highway 130 (SH 130), also known as the Pickle Parkway, is a highway from Interstate 35 (I-35) in San Antonio along I-410 and I-10 to east of Seguin, then north as tollway from there to I-35 north of Georgetown. SH 130 runs in a 91-mile (146 km) corridor east and south of Austin. The route parallels I-35 and is intended to relieve the Interstate's traffic volume through the San Antonio–Austin corridor by serving as an alternate route.

List of airports in Texas

List of airports in Texas

This list of airports in Texas is grouped by type and sorted by location. It contains all public-use and military airports in the state. Some private-use and former airports may be included where notable, such as airports that were previously public-use, those with commercial enplanements recorded by the FAA or airports assigned an IATA airport code.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about 23 miles (37 km) north of Downtown Houston between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 with direct access to the Hardy Toll Road expressway, George Bush Intercontinental Airport has scheduled flights to a large number of domestic and international destinations covering five continents. It is the busiest airport in Texas for international passenger traffic and number of international destinations, as well as being the second busiest airport in Texas overall, and the 12th busiest in the United States for total passenger traffic.

American Airlines Group

American Airlines Group

American Airlines Group Inc. is an American publicly traded airline holding company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It was formed on December 9, 2013, by the merger of AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, and US Airways Group, the parent company of US Airways. Integration was completed when the Federal Aviation Administration granted a single operating certificate for both carriers on April 8, 2015, and all flights now operate under the American Airlines brand.

American Airlines

American Airlines

American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenger mile. American, together with its regional partners and affiliates, operates an extensive international and domestic network with almost 6,800 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld alliance, the third-largest airline alliance in the world. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the brand name American Eagle.

The current Texas Constitution was adopted in 1876. Like many states, it explicitly provides for a separation of powers. The state's Bill of Rights is much larger than its federal counterpart, and has provisions unique to Texas.^[426]

State government

The Texas State Capitol at night

Texas has a plural executive branch system limiting the power of the governor, which is a weak executive compared to some other states. Except for the secretary of state, voters elect executive officers independently; thus candidates are directly answerable to the public, not the governor.^[427] This election system has led to some executive branches split between parties and reduced the ability of the governor to carry out a program. When Republican president George W. Bush served as Texas's governor, the state had a Democratic lieutenant governor, Bob Bullock. The executive branch positions consist of the governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller of public accounts, land commissioner, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, the State Board of Education, and the secretary of state.^[427]

The bicameral Texas Legislature consists of the House of Representatives, with 150 members, and a Senate, with 31 members. The Speaker of the House leads the House, and the lieutenant governor, the Senate.^[428] The Legislature meets in regular session biennially for just over a hundred days, but the governor can call for special sessions as often as desired (notably, the Legislature cannot call itself into session).^[429] The state's fiscal year begins September 1.^[430]

The judiciary of Texas is among the most complex in the United States, with many layers and overlapping jurisdictions. Texas has two courts of last resort: the Texas Supreme Court, for civil cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Except for some municipal benches, partisan elections select judges at all levels of the judiciary; the governor fills vacancies by appointment.^[431] Texas is notable for its use of capital punishment, having led the country in executions since capital punishment was reinstated in the Gregg v. Georgia case (see Capital punishment in Texas).^[432]

The Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction. Over the years, the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption. They have acted as riot police and as detectives, protected the Texas governor, tracked down fugitives, and functioned as a paramilitary force both for the republic and for the state. The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 and formally constituted in 1835. The Rangers were integral to several important events of Texas history and some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West.^[433]

The Texas constitution defines the responsibilities of county governments, which serve as agents of the state. What are called commissioners court and court judges are elected to serve as the administrative arm. Most cities in the state, those over 5,000 in population, have home-rule governments. The vast majority of these have charters for council-manager forms of government, by which voters elect council members, who hire a professional city manager as an operating officer.^[434]

Politics

Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, 36th president of the United States

George W. Bush of Texas, 43rd president of the United States

In the 1870s, white Democrats wrested power back in the state legislature from the biracial coalition at the end of Reconstruction. In the early 20th century, the legislature passed bills to impose poll taxes, followed by white primaries; these measures effectively disfranchised most blacks, poor whites and Mexican Americans.^[126][127] In the 1890s, 100,000 blacks voted in the state; by 1906, only 5,000 could vote.^[435] As a result, the Democratic Party dominated Texas politics from the turn of the century, imposing racial segregation and white supremacy. It held power until after passage in the mid-1960s of national civil rights legislation enforcing constitutional rights of all citizens.^[436][437]

Although Texas was essentially a one-party state during this time and the Democratic primary was viewed as "the real election", the Democratic Party had conservative and liberal factions, which became more pronounced after the New Deal.^[438] Additionally, several factions of the party briefly split during the 1930s and 1940s.^[438]

The state's conservative white voters began to support Republican presidential candidates by the mid-20th century. After this period, they supported Republicans for local and state offices as well, and most whites became Republican Party members.^[439] The party also attracted some minorities, but many have continued to vote for Democratic candidates. The shift to the Republican Party is much-attributed to the fact the Democratic Party became increasingly liberal during the 20th century, and thus increasingly out-of-touch with the average Texas voter.^[440] As Texas was always a conservative state, voters switched to the GOP, which now more closely reflected their beliefs.^[440][441] Commentators have also attributed the shift to Republican political consultant Karl Rove, who managed numerous political campaigns in Texas in the 1980s and 1990s.^[441] Other stated reasons included court-ordered redistricting and the demographic shift in relation to the Sun Belt that favored the Republican Party and conservatism.^[136]

The 2003 Texas redistricting of Congressional districts led by Republican Tom DeLay, was called by The New York Times "an extreme case of partisan gerrymandering".^[442] A group of Democratic legislators, the "Texas Eleven", fled the state in a quorum-busting effort to prevent the legislature from acting, but was unsuccessful.^[443] The state had already redistricted following the 2000 census. Despite these efforts, the legislature passed a map heavily in favor of Republicans, based on 2000 data and ignoring the estimated nearly one million new residents in the state since then. Career attorneys and analysts at the Department of Justice objected to the plan as diluting the votes of African American and Hispanic voters, but political appointees overrode them and approved it.^[442] Legal challenges to the redistricting reached the national Supreme Court in the case League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (2006), but the court ruled in favor of the state (and Republicans).^[444]

In the 2014 Texas elections, the Tea Party movement made large gains, with numerous Tea Party favorites being elected into office, including Dan Patrick as lieutenant governor,^[445][446] Ken Paxton as attorney general,^[445][447] in addition to numerous other candidates^[447] including conservative Republican Greg Abbott as governor.^[448]

Texas voters lean toward fiscal conservatism, while enjoying the benefits of huge federal investment in the state in military and other facilities achieved by the power of the Solid South in the 20th century. They also tend to have socially conservative values.^[272][449]

Since 1980, most Texas voters have supported Republican presidential candidates. In 2000 and 2004, Republican George W. Bush won Texas with respectively 59.3 and 60.1 percent of the vote, partly due to his "favorite son" status as a former governor of the state. John McCain won the state in 2008, but with a smaller margin of victory compared to Bush at 55 percent of the vote. Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio consistently lean Democratic in both local and statewide elections.^[138]

The state's changing demographics may result in a change in its overall political alignment, as a majority population of Black and Hispanic/Latino voters support the Democratic Party.^[450] Residents of counties along the Rio Grande closer to the Mexico–United States border, where there are many Latino residents, generally vote for Democratic Party candidates, while most other rural and suburban areas of Texas have shifted to voting for Republican Party candidates.^[451][452]

As of the midterm elections of 2022, a large majority of the members of Texas's U.S. House delegation are Republican, along with both U.S. Senators. In the 118th United States Congress, of the 38 Congressional districts in Texas, 25 are held by Republicans and 13 by Democrats. Texas's Senators are John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Since 1994, Texans have not elected a Democrat to a statewide office. The state's Democratic voters are made up primarily by liberal and minority groups in Austin, Beaumont, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio as well as minority voters in East and South Texas.^{[453][454][455]}

Criminal law

Texas has a reputation of very harsh criminal punishment for criminal offenses. It is one of the 32 states that practice capital punishment, and since the US Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, 40% of all U.S. executions have taken place in Texas.^[457] As of 2018, Texas had the 8th highest incarceration rate in the U.S.^[458] Texas also has strong right of self-defense and self defense laws, allowing citizens to use lethal force to defend themselves, their families, or their property.^[459]

Discover more about Government and politics related topics

State constitution (United States)

State constitution (United States)

In the United States, each state has its own written constitution.

Government of Texas

Government of Texas

The government of Texas operates under the Constitution of Texas and consists of a unitary democratic state government operating under a presidential system that uses the Dillon Rule, as well as governments at the county and municipal levels.

List of Texas state agencies

List of Texas state agencies

The following is a list of Texas state agencies.

Secretary of State of Texas

Secretary of State of Texas

The Secretary of State of Texas is one of the six members of the executive department of the State of Texas in the United States. Under the Constitution of Texas, the appointment is made by the governor of Texas, with confirmation by the Texas Senate.

Republican Party (United States)

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. It has been the main political rival of the Democratic Party since the mid-1850s. Like them, the Republican Party is a big tent of competing and often opposing ideologies. Presently, the Republican Party contains prominent conservative, centrist, populist, and right-libertarian factions.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American retired politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party and the Bush family, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

Democratic Party (United States)

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main political rival has been the Republican Party since the 1850s, with both parties being big tents of competing and often opposing viewpoints. Modern American liberalism — a variant of social liberalism — is the party's majority ideology. The party also has notable centrist, social democratic, and left-libertarian factions.

Bob Bullock

Bob Bullock

Robert Douglas Bullock, was an American Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991, to January 19, 1999, during the term of Governor Ann Richards and the first term of Governor George W. Bush.

Lieutenant Governor of Texas

Lieutenant Governor of Texas

The lieutenant governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the Legislative Budget Board.

Bicameralism

Bicameralism

Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single group. As of 2022, roughly 40% of world's national legislatures are bicameral, while unicameralism represents 60% nationally, and much more at the subnational level.

Texas House of Representatives

Texas House of Representatives

The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents about 167,637 people. There are no term limits. The House meets at the State Capitol in Austin.

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives

The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Texas House of Representatives. The Speaker's main duties are to conduct meetings of the House, appoint committees, and enforce the Rules of the House. The current speaker is Dade Phelan, a Republican from Beaumont, who was elected Speaker on January 12, 2021.

AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys

Playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007

While American football has long been considered "king" in the state, Texans enjoy a wide variety of sports.^[460]

Texans can cheer for a plethora of professional sports teams. Within the "Big Four" professional leagues, Texas has two NFL teams (the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans), two Major League Baseball teams (the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers), three NBA teams (the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets, and the Dallas Mavericks), and one NHL team (the Dallas Stars). The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex is one of only twelve American metropolitan areas that host sports teams from all the "Big Four" professional leagues. Outside the "Big Four", Texas also has a WNBA team, (the Dallas Wings) and three Major League Soccer teams (Austin FC, Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas), and one NWSL team, (the Houston Dash).

Collegiate athletics have deep significance in Texas culture, especially football. The state has twelve Division I-FBS schools, the most in the nation. Four of the state's universities, the Baylor Bears, Texas Longhorns, TCU Horned Frogs, and Texas Tech Red Raiders, compete in the Big 12 Conference. The Texas A&M Aggies left the Big 12 and joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012, which led the Big 12 to invite TCU to join; TCU was previously in the Mountain West Conference. The Houston Cougars and the SMU Mustangs compete in the American Athletic Conference. The Texas State Bobcats and the UT Arlington Mavericks compete in the Sun Belt Conference. Four of the state's schools claim at least one national championship in football: the Texas Longhorns, the Texas A&M Aggies, the TCU Horned Frogs, and the SMU Mustangs.^{[461][462][463][464]}

According to a survey of Division I-A coaches the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas at Austin, the Red River Shootout, ranks the third-best in the nation.^[465] The TCU Horned Frogs and SMU Mustangs also share a rivalry and compete annually in the Battle for the Iron Skillet. A fierce rivalry, the Lone Star Showdown, also exists between the state's two largest universities, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. The athletics portion of the Lone Star Showdown rivalry has been put on hold after the Texas A&M Aggies joined the Southeastern Conference.^[466]

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) organizes most primary and secondary school competitions. Events organized by UIL include contests in athletics (the most popular being high school football) as well as artistic and academic subjects.^[467]

Texans also enjoy the rodeo. The world's first rodeo was hosted in Pecos, Texas.^[468] The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest rodeo in the world. It begins with trail rides from several points throughout the state that convene at Reliant Park.^[469] The Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth is the oldest continuously running rodeo incorporating many of the state's most historic traditions into its annual events. Dallas hosts the State Fair of Texas each year at Fair Park.^[470]

Texas Motor Speedway hosts annual NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar Series auto races since 1997. Since 2012, Austin's Circuit of the Americas plays host to a round of the Formula 1 World Championship—^[471] the first at a permanent road circuit in the United States since the 1980 Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International—, as well as Grand Prix motorcycle racing, FIA World Endurance Championship and United SportsCar Championship races.

Discover more about Sports related topics

List of University Interscholastic League events

List of University Interscholastic League events

The University Interscholastic League, the main governing body for academic, athletic, and music competition among public schools in the U.S. state of Texas, sanctions many events for students in grades 2 to 12.

AT&T Stadium

AT&T Stadium

AT&T Stadium is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic and the Big 12 Championship Game. The stadium is one of eleven US venues set to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The facility, owned by the city of Arlington, can also be used for a variety of other activities, such as concerts, basketball games, soccer, college and high-school football contests, rodeos, motocross, Spartan Races, and professional wrestling. It replaced the partially covered Texas Stadium, which served as the Cowboys' home from 1971 through the 2008 season.

Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and has been played its home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, since its opening in 2009. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season. In January 2020, Mike McCarthy was hired as head coach of the Cowboys. He is the ninth in the team’s history. McCarthy follows Jason Garrett, who coached the team from 2010–2019.

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, an arena shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 17 NBA championships, tied with the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history.

American football

American football

American football, also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada

Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada

The major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada commonly refer to the highest men's professional competitions of team sports in those countries. The four leagues traditionally included in the definition are Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Other prominent leagues include Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Houston Texans

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NRG Stadium.

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901 respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. It is considered one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

Houston Astros

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League (NL).

Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center, located in Downtown Houston. Throughout its history, Houston has won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles. It was established in 1967 as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego. In 1971, the Rockets relocated to Houston.

Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home games at the American Airlines Center, which it shares with the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars.

Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. Before the 1978–79 NHL season, the team merged with the Cleveland Barons after the league granted them permission due to each team's respective financial struggles. Ultimately, the franchise relocated to Dallas for the 1993–94 NHL season. The Stars played out of Reunion Arena from their relocation until 2001, when the team moved less than 1.5 miles (2.4 km) into the American Airlines Center.