Expert Alert: Population estimates show Texas has largest increase in growth

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Amy Hodges
713-348-6777
amy.hodges@rice.edu

Population estimates show Texas has largest increase in growth
Rice sociologist and former U.S. Census Director Steve Murdock available to discuss estimates

HOUSTON — (April 5, 2012) — Rice University sociologist and former director of the U.S. Census Bureau Steve Murdock is available to discuss the 2010-2011 Census population estimates released today showing that Texas has the largest increase in growth of any state in the nation.

“The data shows extensive population growth for Texas, with the largest increase in growth for any state in the nation,” Murdock said. “In addition, six of the 10 fastest-growing metropolitan areas are in Texas, as well as the county with the largest numerical increase in the country, Harris County.”

Murdock said that the report clearly demonstrates the continued, very rapid and dramatic growth of the state’s population.

Murdock served as director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census from 2007 to 2009. He was also the first official state demographer of Texas.

Prior to his appointment at Rice, he was the Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Demography and Organization Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and director of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research. Before UTSA, Murdock was a Regents Professor and head of the Department of Rural Sociology at Texas A&M University. Murdock earned his Ph.D. in demography and sociology from the University of Kentucky and is the author or editor of 13 books and more than 150 articles and technical reports on the implications of current and future demographic and socioeconomic change.

To schedule an interview with Murdock, contact David Ruth at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

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Related materials:

Steve Murdock bio: http://sociology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=130

U.S. Bureau of the Census: http://www.census.gov/

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