Midland, Texas Population 2024

Midland is located in Midland County, Texas and in the Southern Plains region of West Texas with a small section of the city in neighboring Martin County. Midland is located in the middle of El Paso, Dallas, and San Antonio, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico or about 330 miles west of Dallas and 305 miles east of El Paso.

Diversity

Midland, Texas is almost an Hispanic-majority city. According to the state demographer, more migrants than ever moving into Texas are from an Asian country and have lived somewhere in the U.S. first.

Population Growth

In 1910, four years after Midland’s incorporation, the population stood at 2,192. After a brief drop of 18.1% over the following decade, the population skyrocketed with the discovery of oil, and the 1920s saw an increase of over 200%, bringing the population to almost 5,500. This slowed to only a 70% rise over the 1930s, but the 1950s and 1960s each saw an increase of more than 132%.

The last United States census in 2010 saw the population standing at 111,147, a percentage increase just shy of 5,000% since the first available record in 1910. Forbes magazine in 2014 ranked Midland as the 2nd fastest growing small city in the United States. Since 2010, Midland has experienced an impressive population growth of 26%, making it once again one of the fastest growing areas of the United States surpassed only by Austin, Texas and Myrtle Beach and The Villages in Florida.

In spite of already being established on the Texas and Pacific Railway as Midway Station in June of 1881 (due to its central location between El Paso and Fort Worth) the granting of the town’s first Post Office in 1884 saw Midland having to change its name, due to other Texan Midways, and thus Midland was officially born. When Midland County was first organized and separated from Tom Green County a year later in 1885, Midland became the county seat.

By 1890, Midland had become one of the premier cattle shipping centers in all of Texas. In 1906, the city was incorporated, and by 1910 the city had established its first fire department.

The discovery of oil in the Permian Basin in 1923 changed the area significantly. Soon, Midland had been transformed into the administrative center of the West Texas oil fields. The Second World War saw Midland becoming the largest bombardier training base in the United States, and post-war Midland saw its second boom period beginning with the discovery of what is still ranked today as the third largest oil field in the United States by way of total reserves. The 1970s saw another boom period, and today, the Permian Basin, comprised of Midland and other surrounding areas in West Texas and south eastern New Mexico, produces one-fifth of the nation's total natural gas and petroleum output.

While the city’s economy is still heavily reliant on petroleum, it has also diversified and become a major regional telecommunications and distribution center.

Midland serves as the hometown of former First Lady Laura Bush, and the one-time home of former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.