|
 Population
Characteristics
An important
demographic
variable
influencing
economic
conditions
of a region
is
population.
•From 1990
to 2000 the
population
of RGV has
grown from
701,888 to
978,369, a
39.4%
increase.
•In this
same time
period
between 1990
and 2000:
o Cameron
County grew
by 28.9%,
from 260,120
to 335,227
people,
o Hidalgo
County grew
by 48.5%,
from 383,545
to 569,463
people,
o Starr
County grew
by 32.3%,
from 40,518
to 53,597
people, and
o Willacy
county grew
by 13.4%,
17,705 to
20,082
people.
The
population
in the RGV
is growing
at a
tremendous
pace.
Looking at
the
population
percent
change
between 1990
and 2000, we
see that
both of
RGV’s
metropolitan
statistical
areas (MSAs)
are in the
top thirty
fastest
growing
regions in
the nation.
These
include the
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission
MSA (ranked
4th) and
Brownsville-Harlingen-San
Benito MSA
(ranked
28th).
Historical
Population
Historical
population
figures for
the past few
decades have
shown
tremendous
growth in
the Rio
Grande
Valley (Figure 2).
The one time
decrease in
population
of -3.8%
occurred
between 1960
and 1970 and
the greatest
increase in
population
of 105.5%
occurred
between 1920
and 1930.
The greatest
numerical
increase of
276,481
people was
between 1990
and 2000.
Population
Density
Population
density in
the Rio
Grande
Valley
varies
greatly from
south to the
north. In
Cameron
County,
Brownsville,
Harlingen
and San
Benito are
densely
populated
(1,737.8,
1,688.1, and
2,131.3,
persons/sq.
mile,
respectively).
In Hidalgo
County, most
of the
population
is
concentrated
on the south
side of the
county in
towns along
Highway 83,
with a
population
density of
562.4
persons/sq.
mile. There
are very few
population
pockets in
the north
side of
Hidalgo
County.
Starr and
Willacy
Counties as
a whole are
sparsely
populated
(43.82
persons/sq.
mile in
Starr
County, and
25.6
persons/sq.
mile in
Willacy
County).
Table 5
shows the
population
density in
the four
county area
of the Rio
Grande
Valley.
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