Census Numbers Show Population Drop Here
This month the Census Bureau has started releasing some of the mountain of data it collected last year.
One surprise is that Fayette County actually lost population over the past 10 years.
The census estimate for Fayette County in 2020 is 24,435 down 109 folks from the 24,544 estimate in the 2010 census.
Of the counties that surround Fayette all but two increased in population in the last decade. Only Colorado and Gonzales joined Fayette in declining slightly.
Bastrop County, meanwhile grew by 31.1% to 97,216.
Hays and Comal counties, between Austin and San Antonio, each essentially doubled their population over the past decade, making them the two fastest growing counties in the entire nation.
Lee and Lavaca County each grew in population by about 5% over the last decade.
The story of decline was even steeper inside Fayette County city limits.
Among the cities in Fayette County, all shed population.
La Grange’s new population is 4,391, down from 4,641 in the census 10 years ago.
It might be easy to equate that loss to the effect of Hurricane Harvey, which destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses here.
But the losses were felt elsewhere too.
Schulenburg’s new population is 2,633 down from 2,852 in 2010.
Flatonia’s population is down to 1,308 from 1,383 in 2010.
Fayetteville’s population fell to 246 from 258 10 years ago.
Even Round Top’s population declined to 87 after hitting 90 in the 2010 census.
The decline in the cities here doesn’t equal the small decline county-wide, meaning more folks are moving to the countryside in Fayette, and away from the cities.
Some more interesting tidbits from the census data released so far, is that the racial makeup of Fayette County is changing.
The population here is now 21.3% Hispanic, up from 18.7% 10 years ago.
Statewide, Hispanic Texans now make up 39.3% of the population.
The white population in Fayette County is 69.7%, down from 73.5% 10 years ago.
The population here is now 5.7% Black, down from 6.5% 10 years ago.
The Asian population has grown to 3% of the population in Fayette County compared to just 1.1% 10 years ago.