by JENNIFER BIUNDO
Over the course of the last decade the landscape of Buda and Kyle has changed dramatically, with three-bedroom starter homes with two-car garages springing up on former farmland along the interstate corridor.
Recently released results from the 2010 Census reveal striking demographic shifts that accompany those physical changes. Among the most notable, the non-Latino white population in Hays County is aging, while the Hispanic population is getting younger.
Across Hays County, 75.3 percent of residents have celebrated their 18th birthday – but that breakdown looks different for Latino and non-Latino white residents. Closely mirroring statewide trends, just 19 percent of non-Latino residents are legal minors, compared to nearly 34 percent of Hispanic residents.
Whites still hold a strong majority of 58.6 percent in Hays County, down from 64.5 percent in the last census. However, of the 15,000 minors that the county added in the last decade, more than 9,300 were Latino.
Young families have flocked to buy their first homes in Buda and Kyle, attracted by low housing prices and a strong school district that has scrambled to build new campuses fast enough to accommodate the influx. As a result, the two cities have some of the highest percent of underage residents in the county.
In Buda, more than 30 percent of residents are minors, up about a percentage point from the last census. And in Kyle, almost 34 percent of residents haven’t reached their 18th birthday, a gain of about 2.5 points from 2000.
But not every city is on the same trajectory. In the last decade, with the build-out of predominantly white subdivisions such as Plum Creek, Kyle has bucked the statewide trend by actually losing its Hispanic majority. In Kyle, whites make up 45.4 percent of the total population, while Latinos also miss a majority with 46.3 percent of the population, down from 52.3 percent in the last census.
But among the under-18 set, the 5,114 Hispanic children hold a 54 percent majority, while whites comprise just 37.6 percent of the minor population. Still, that represents a shift from 2000, when Hispanic children represented 62 percent of the under-18 population.
While Kyle’s Hispanic population shrinks proportionally, Buda’s is growing. Historically wealthier and whiter, the 2010 census found that white residents in Buda held nearly a 60 percent majority, down from 68.6 percent in 2000. However, whites represented just 51 percent of Buda residents under the age of 18, down from 63 percent in 2000.
