JEANNIE KEVER, HOUSTON CHRONICLE |
May 26, 2011

Kindergartner Alondra Landeros takes a sip of milk at Youens Elementary in Houston. The census shows that key urban areas in Texas are younger, mostly due to the Hispanic population.

Texas remains a strikingly youthful state, offering the potential of a large future workforce powered by a surging Latino population and a continued tide of Asian immigration, but also presenting challenges for the future.

The number of Asian Indians almost doubled over the past decade, surpassing the Vietnamese population to become the largest group of Asians in the state.

New Texas data from the 2010 Census will be released today, offering a few surprises and also confirming what demographers have predicted for years.

Texas is the second-youngest state in the nation, something that offers advantages andcaveats for the future. Only Utah has a lower median age.

But even Texans are growing older, a phenomenon most starkly illustrated in the Panhandle, the Hill Country and West Texas.

The state's median age — meaning half of residents are older, and half younger — is 33.6, substantially lower than the national median of 37.2.

It is even lower in Harris County, at 32.2, and drops to 28.3 in several counties along the Mexican border.

More than half of Texas counties have higher median ages than the national figure, he noted. The major urban areas are younger, thanks to their Latino populations.

The youth boom is a good thing, at least potentially.

"We are seen as a state of youth and vigor," said Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership.