NUECES COUNTY, Texas — Disappointing -- that's the theme from experts regarding our 2020 census data.
Some key takeaways from that report show that Nueces County grew by nearly 13,000 people. That's only a 3% increase over the last decade, which has County leaders wondering if our population was under counted.
Holden Hopkins is the Deputy Director of the Nueces County Development Commission. He said that while the county's 2020 census numbers are disappointing, there are some bright spots.
"I don't think it's any secret that there's definitely concerns with under counting which would be a serious problem because that would impact our funding and we would have people who weren't counted who are going to require funding and that would be a serious problem if we have a serious mismatch between funds available and people," Hopkins said.
County leaders urged all folks to fill out the census because it determines how much federal funding our area would get for roads, schools, housing and social programs.
Hopkins believes that the Nueces County Development Commission will take a look at the census during its next meeting in September.
"The overall story for Nueces County is slow growth but it's not necessarily across-the-board," he said. "I mean there definitely were areas that had higher growth in the county average in those areas we're mostly clustered in the western Nueces County."
Hopkins added that the commission will be working with other agencies and local officials to see what they can do to improve on our economic growth numbers for the next 10 years.