Texas is the 2nd most populous state and one of the most diverse in the county. Texas has 5 major metro areas and a dozen other large population centers - including East Texas, the Rio Grande border region, West Texas, and the Panhandle. Texas has large Mexican, European, and African American populations with sizable pockets of South Asian, Southeast Asian, Central American, and even Sub-Saharan African communities in some of the major metros.

South Texas, anchored by the McAllen-Brownsville Metro, is dominated by Mexican ancestry. The ancestry is so prevalent there is only a single tract located outside of Corpus Christi below 50%. Following the Rio Grande River north, Mexican ancestry is dominate along the entire border reaching up to Odessa and Midland in West Texas. While still significant, the areas around El Paso and West Texas are less Mexican than the areas in the southern border region.

Unlike the dominance of Mexican ancestry in South Texas, San Antonio is slightly more diverse with many areas in northern San Antonio that are predominately European and a small area of African American ancestry in eastern San Antonio.

Just 80 miles up I-35 from San Antonio is Austin, the capital of the Lone Star State. Austin has been one of the most rapidly growing cities in the country. This rapid population growth is in part due to the Mexican growth in eastern Austina and growing South and East Asian communities in western Austin and Round Rock.

The next area of interest is the Dallas-Fort-Worth Metro. Mainly comprised of Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, and Collin counties, this metro is the largest in the state and fourth largest in the country, only behind the New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago Metros. Dallas is also incredibly diverse with large Mexican, African American, and South Asian communities. The large south Asian community is based near northern Irving and stretches into portions of Frisco & Plano. Meanwhile, Garland has growing Southeast Asian and Sub-Saharan African communities. Another group that is rapidly growing in Dallas County is the Central American ancestry primarily found throughout Dallas, Irving, Garland, and Grand Prairie.

While Dallas may be the largest Metro in Texas, Houston is the most diverse. Houston and the surrounding areas are home to some of the largest Asian populations in the South. Sugarland located south of Houston is a plurality Asian city with large South, East, and Southeast Asian communities. This growing Asian community has also started to bleed into the Alief neighborhood of Houston. Alief is also home to a rapidly growing Central American community.

Houston is also home to one of the few concentrations of Central Asians in the country; specifically, this is a recently growing Afghan refugee area. Along with the other Asian communities, a diverse Latino community with Central American, Cuban, and Mexican ancestries; Sub-Saharan African; African American; Middle Eastern/ North African; and European ancestries are interspersed throughout the Houston Metro to form one of the most diverse regions throughout the entire country.

Continue to explore the interesting trends seen throughout the state looking at the 2nd group or Group Percentages to go beyond the surface level 1st largest groups.

The image below depicts the countries classified within each regional group per the Census Bureau. There are two groups, Alaskan Native/American Indian Group and the African American, that are not shown on the map, despite their classification as "regional groups" in the interactive map.