U.S. Population at 308.8M, up 9% from 2000.

Louisiana population up slightly from the 2000 census (1.4% to 4.533M). Texas population up 20.6% to 25M (growing twice as fast as the nation). This means 4 new congressional districts and hence 4 more seats in the House for TX. (New York and Ohio each lost two seats.)

This growth has given Houston a robust economy. And who do we have to thank? Immigrants. Latinos have accounted for most of the growth. So which is it? Is immigration the problem or the solution? Studies continue to show the crime rate among immigrants much lower than native-born citizens, as much as 5 times lower. They also show that undocumented workers are paying into Social Security, which they will never collect. They are paying property tax, Federal income tax and sales tax. Immigrants are floating Houston. Could we maybe cut them some slack, these hard-working visitors fleeing poverty, crime, violence and political persecution? Perhaps a little kindness to the stranger as Jesus taught?

I’ve not yet seen population by city. New Orleans will be interesting, having lost 300,000 after Katrina in 2005 and 2006, then rebuilding aggressively the last four years. Houston population has looked like the chart below, not including the burbs. This puts Houston close to bumping Chicago as the third-largest city in the U.S.

2009 2000 1990
Houston Population 2,257,926 1,953,631 1,630,553

Chicago is estimated to be 2,851,268 in ’09. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009 Population Estimates, Census 2000, 1990 Census