The Texas State Population Estimates and Projections Program's projections of the population of Texas and of each county in Texas were prepared by personnel from the Department of Rural Sociology in the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in the Texas A&M University System. These projections, like all projections, involve the use of certain assumptions about future events that may or may not occur. Users of these projections should be aware that although the projections have been prepared with the use of complex and detailed state-of-the-art methodologies and with extensive attempts being made to account for existing demographic patterns, they may not accurately project the future population of the State or of particular counties in the State. These projections should be used only with full awareness of the inherent limitations of population projections in general and with particular and detailed knowledge of the procedures and assumptions delineated below which characterize the projections presented in this report.

The Texas State Population Estimates and Projections Program's projections are of the population of the State and of all counties in the State for each year from 1990 through 2030. They are thus similar in form to those released by the program in 1989, 1992, 1994 and 1996 (Texas Population Estimates and Projections Program, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996) but have been substantially revised using post-1990 data and other enhanced data bases. They are by single years of age for ages 0 through 75 years of age and older for males and females in each of four racial/ethnic groups--Anglos, Blacks, Hispanics, and persons from Other racial/ethnic groups (the terms Hispanic and Spanish origin are used interchangeably throughout this report). These four groups have been configured so that the total population is the sum of Anglos, Blacks, Hispanics, and persons of Other racial/ethnic groups.

This summary provides a relatively detailed description of the projection methodology and then discusses the bases for, and the assumptions used in, creating the alternative projection scenarios. It concludes with a description of the products available from the projection process.