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Texas’ metro areas—primarily the Austin, DFW, and Houston areas, which comprise the Texas Triangle—have seen massive population booms for years. But here in Houston, that growth seems to be slowing down, and there’s a good reason why.
According to the Houston Chronicle, there was a sharp slowdown in Houston’s growth in 2025, with the Houston area adding just 127,000 new residents. That’s reportedly one-third lower than the growth seen in 2024. The Chronicle blamed this slowdown on President Trump’s immigration enforcement.
If they’re right, that confirms something many immigration hawks have suspected for some time: Illegal aliens are flooding the Houston area. Chris Russo with Texans for Strong Borders says he believes some illegal aliens made it to the Houston area within just a few days of illegally entering the United States. “People would come in at the southern border, and they’d quickly make their way into the Houston area. We saw a huge influx of foreign nationals,” he said.
Russo went on to point out that the rapid population growth we’ve seen has been somewhat unmanageable, and its slowing could be the relief Houston needs. “Leadership in Harris County has talked about for years the strain that this rapid growth has put on our infrastructure,” he said.
He also pointed out that population growth has caused an increase in the supply of labor, which suppresses wages, and an increase in demand in Houston, which drives housing costs higher. He says slowing that growth down could help alleviate that as well.