Midland County broke majority-minority barrier in 2013
Published 1:27 pm, Wednesday, April 15, 2015
The county became majority-minority as Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and blacks grew to 50.6 percent of the county's population, eclipsing whites for the first time in Midland’s history. The Midland Development Corp. estimates that in 2015 Hispanics, or Latinos, will make up at least 58 percent of the population demographics.
The switch happened decades sooner than previous estimates. Texas demographer Karl Eschbach said in a presentation that Midland County would become majority-minority by 2040, according to a 2009 Reporter-Telegram article.
The census numbers show that the Tall City was still majority white in 2010, the most recent figures available. Minorities made up 47.6 percent of city residents but a rapid increase in Midland's population since 2010 may have changed that balance.
Despite Hispanics’ growing numbers in Texas, those numbers have not turned into a political advantage. While more than 50 percent of Hispanics in Texas are registered to vote, fewer than 40 percent turned out to vote in 2012. This compares to the more than 60 percent voting rates for both whites and blacks in the Lone Star State in the same year.
In 2011, for every one non-Hispanic white child in Midland County there 1.44 Hispanic children, according to a Texas Tribune article from 2012. When all minorities were considered, that number grew to 1.72 minority children for every non-Hispanic white child. The Census Bureau estimated that Texas became a majority-minority state around 2011 when its minority population reached 55.2 percent.