SAN ANTONIO (AP) – The average age of Texans is creeping up.
New figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the median age of Texas residents was 33.6 last year. That’s about a year older than the state’s median age in the 2000 census.
Nationwide, the median age for 2010 was about 37.
Baby boomers, as they are throughout the country, are making Texas older. But the median age isn’t climbing as fast in Texas because of the scores of working-age newcomers who’ve migrated here over the last decade, said Lloyd Potter, the state demographer.
The median age is the midpoint at which exactly half of the population is older and half is younger.
“The fact that we have a lot of immigrants that tend to be toward the younger ages, that helps mediate the potential jump in the median age,” Potter said.
The figures are part of the latest data released from the 2010 census. It comes after numbers released in February showed Hispanics accounting for two-thirds of the state’s growth since 2000, and now make up more than 38 percent of the state’s total population.
Texas had more than 25 million people counted in last year’s census, a nearly 21 percent jump in the past decade.
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