City launches a new dashboard with 2020 population estimates for the City and Austin-Metro area

Staff Reports

Austin, TX – The City of Austin today launched a new demographics dashboard that depicts the City’s and Metro Area’s 2020 population estimates. The dashboard coincides with the release of the 2020 Population Estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau and adds to the release of estimates for states, counties, and metro areas made available earlier this year.

The 2020 population estimates use the 2010 census counts as their base and are not the official counts for 2020, however, these estimates provide a preview of what we can expect when the 2020 census counts are released in September.

“The release of the Census population estimates provides a look into the future in relation to Austin’s official 2020 census counts,” said Lila Valencia, Demographic Planner for the City of Austin. “These data offer a sneak peek of what we can expect in the official counts and can be helpful in evaluating that count.”

Additional key insights from the estimates include

• Austin just shy of the 1 million mark
  Austin remains the 11th largest city in the country. The 2020 population estimates show Austin added more than 78,000 people between 2010 and 2020, with 16,721 added just last year. Despite this growth, the city did not quite make it to the 1 million mark. Austin was the 4th fastest growing city between 2019 and 2020, among cities with populations of 500,000 or more. Other Central Texas cities with rapid population growth between 2019 and 2020 Leander, Wimberly, and Bastrop, which grew 7 to 2.5 times faster than Austin. 
   
• Texas count was lower than expected
  The 2020 population estimates show Texas added 4.2 million people between 2010 and 2020. However, the official 2020 census count for Texas released as part of the apportionment data file indicates Texas was short of 4 million, adding 3,999,944 people between the two censuses. 

  These differences can highlight the shortcomings of estimate methodologies but can also be a sign of a troubled census, given the count was undertaken during a global pandemic and was highly politicized. 
   

• Estimates for Austin could indicate strong census participation
  These estimates are promising and may be the result of 1) the city of Austin and Travis County’s joint funded effort to support 2020 census outreach, and 2) Austin-Travis County was the only large city and county pair in Texas to surpass its 2010 census count.

  Strong efforts by the city, the county, and countless community groups were critical in reaching that milestone.
   

• The Austin Metro Area was the fastest-growing area in the country for the last decade
  For the 10th consecutive year, the Austin metro area grew faster than any other large metro in the country. The Austin metro is the 29th most populous metro area in the country and saw the 4th largest numeric increase in population between 2019 and 2020. Austin continues to make up an increasingly smaller share of the Austin metro population change, making up 35.4% of the total population growth in the last decade. The bulk of the growth in the metro area took place in the surrounding areas of the city.

“These population estimates show a continued trend of strong and rapid population growth for the Austin Metro Area and the city,” said Valencia. “However, we’ll have to wait until the 2020 census counts are released in September to fully understand how close these estimates are to the official census count.”

For more information and to view the Austin Metro Area 2020 Population Estimates Dashboard, visit AustinTexas.gov/Demographics.