Latest census estimates show Dallas County population is older, more diverse than 2010

Dallas County’s senior population increased by nearly 40% between 2010-19, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population estimates released by the bureau June 24 show there were 292,117 people over age 65 living in the county last year. Seniors made up more than 11% of county residents as of July 1, 2019. In 2010, seniors accounted for just under 9% of all residents.

“The first Baby Boomers reached 65 years old in 2011,” said Luke Rogers, chief of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch, in a press release. “Since then, there’s been a rapid increase in the size of the 65-and-older population, which grew by over a third [throughout the country] since 2010. No other age group saw such a fast increase.”

The aging population trend is consistent across Dallas, Collin, Tarrant and Denton counties, all of which saw an uptick in residents age 65 and older between 2010-19. The county’s Hispanic population saw the most growth since 2010. It increased to 1.1 million residents in 2019, up by nearly 18% since 2010.

That group’s percentage of the total population increased from about 38% in 2010 to almost 41% in 2019.

There are fewer non-Hispanic white residents living in Dallas County now than before. In 2010, there were 745,508 non-Hispanic residents in the county. The bureau estimated that in 2019, the number decreased by 5% to 745,508.

The numbers of Black and Asian residents also increased between 2010-19, albeit less rapidly than the Hispanic population. Black residents now account for roughly 24% of the county’s population, while Asian residents make up about 7%.

The county’s overall population grew in this time frame from 2.4 million to 2.6 million, an increase of more than 8%.