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Latinos are making their mark in Houston and across the nation economically, according to the latest Metro Latino GDP Report. As of 2021, the Houston metro area is the second largest metropolitan statistical area in Texas. It’s also the fourth largest MSA in the nation by Latino population.

$581 billion - The Texas Latino GDP for 2021 matches the economic output of Michigan.

2.7 times - The Texas Latino GDP grew 2.7 times faster than the Non-Latino GDP from 2018 to 2021.

28.7 percent - Texas’ Latino population saw a growth of 28.7 percent from 2010 to 2021, compared to 12.9 percent for non-Latinos. READ MORE AT CLICK2HOUSTON

Hispanics are now confirmed as the largest demographic group in Texas with more than 12 million residents, while non-Hispanic white population is estimated to be 11.9 million, according to new data from the Census Bureau.

Texas added 262,000 new white residents, as well as about 223,000 Hispanic residents from July 2021 to July 2022, but overall Hispanic population outnumbered white population by 128,938 people. READ MORE AT THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

For the better part of a decade, Vamos Marketing was everything Frank Garza hoped it would be.

He'd started small, in 2003, launching his fledgling promotional products firm shortly after completing a dual undergraduate-graduate degree program at the University of Texas. As he cobbled together an increasingly diverse list of clients around Central Texas, his business started rolling. He brought on a full-time employee, freeing him up to focus on clients.

He started to think about building a sales force, too, but ultimately decided against it.

"I was content with where I was at," Garza said.

But that changed last year. With Vamos approaching its 10th year in business — and now generating about a half-million dollars in annual sales — Garza has started to think about what the company could become. He wants to add a new division or two, bring on more employees and put processes in place that would help build the value of his business in case he ever decides to sell it.

"I'm hitting 10 years (and) I have a good reputation in town," he said from his office in Southeast Austin. "So if there's a good opportunity to try to grow it, it's now."

As the Texas and Austin populations skew increasingly Hispanic during the next several decades, the growth of Vamos Marketing and the thousands of other Hispanic-owned businesses here and around the state could become an increasingly vital source of new jobs and income — both for the Hispanic community and for the economy at large. READ MORE

Hispanic children now for the first time make up the majority of Texas public school students, the Associated Press is reporting. The story notes that Texas Education Agency officials say Latinos make up 50.2% of Texas' 4.9 million public school students. This trend is only expected to continue. White students are expected to continue following a trend of declining numbers. Two of every three public school students students are now minorities--a funny word to use nowadays and really a misnomer.

So Irving ISD is not alone and certainly has been leading in this trend for quite some time. Currently, about 73% of the district's elementary students are Latino.

In recent years other suburban districts, including Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, have tipped to become majority Hispanic as well.

The El Paso Times also has a story on this.

Steve Murdoch, the state's former demographer, said the future of Texas depends on improving performance of minority students--otherwise the state will face a poorer population and a decline in college-educated residents. READ MORE