How Big Is Texas?

Mar 26, 2024

Let’s set the context with an overview of some of the areas in which Texas is BIG!

red and white polka dot rain boots — Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Size

Texas is the second largest U.S. state, behind only Alaska and ahead of… California (that won’t be the last time we beat California 😉), with 261,194 square miles of land.

Texas is slightly larger than my native country, France (which covers about 213,000 square miles).

Courtesy of MAPfrappe and Google Maps (more info here).

You’ve probably seen on social media those maps where Texas overlaps several other states or even countries... sometimes not without a little touch of humor teasing Texans’ bragging rights.

Population

In terms of population, Texas had 30,503,301 inhabitants as of 2023, which represents a little more than 9% of the U.S. population. It is second only to California and is followed by Florida and New York.

Texas’ population is younger than the average for the U.S. (35.6 vs. 39). Interestingly, 17.2% of the Lone Star State’s population is foreign born, with 43.4% of that subset being naturalized citizens 🇺🇸 (like me!).

History

Texas was once its own country. On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico, and finally won it on April 21 of that year. On September 1, the Republic of Texas elected its first president, Sam Houston.

In 1846, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state of the Union.

Economy

We will look into Texas’ economy more closely in a separate article, but here are just a few data points:

Texas’ $2.4 trillion economy is larger than the economy of Italy or Canada—and would be the 8th largest economy in the world if it were its own country again.
Texas is actually getting closer to surpass the French economy, according to a recent speech by Governor Abbott (Yeehaw!).
Texas is the state with the most Fortune 500 companies—55 (and dare I say, and counting).
Texas accounts for 22% of U.S. exports.
Around 68% of trade between the U.S. and Mexico goes through the Texas-Mexico border.
Texas exports more than any other state.
Texas has more airports, miles of public roadways, state highways, freight railways and foreign trade zones than any other state.
As of February 2024, the unemployment rate was 3.9%.