Texas Facts -- National Geographic

Fast Facts

Population:: 22,118,509
Capital:: Austin; 671,873
Area:: 268,581 square miles (695,621 square kilometers)
Per Capita Income:: U.S. $28,401
Date Statehood Achieved:: December 29, 1845

Texas began as a vast frontier, where 19th-century settlers carved out cotton farms in the humid east and cattle ranches in the arid west. A century later, Texas fueled the automobile revolution with a booming oil industry. At the start of the 21st century, the economy has been transformed again. Predominantly urban, with some 22 million residents, the Lone Star State is an industrial giant. One in four Texans is Hispanic, and Texans generally embrace the cultural influences of Mexico. National parks in Big Bend country and the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas preserve the state's natural heritage.

ECONOMY

Industry: Chemicals, machinery, electronics and computers, food products, petroleum and natural gas, transportation equipment
Agriculture: Cattle, sheep, poultry, cotton, sorghum, wheat, rice, hay, peanuts, pecans

—Text From National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition

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