Pasadena is a city located in Harris County Texas. With a 2023 population of 152,823, it is the 21st largest city in Texas and the 184th largest city in the United States.Pasadena is currently growing at a rate of 0.19% annually and its population has increased by 0.57% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 151,950 in 2020. Spanning over 45 miles, Pasadena has a population density of 3,506 people per square mile.
The average household income in Pasadena is $71,809 with a poverty rate of 23.98%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to - per month, and the median house value is -. The median age in Pasadena is 31.2 years, 30.6 years for males, and 31.8 years for females.
Pasadena is located in Harris County, Texas as part of the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area. Named for Pasadena, California, it's the second largest city in Harris County, and the seventeenth most populous overall in the state of Texas.
Diversity
Pasadena is a Hispanic-majority city. According to a new Pew Research study (https://patch.com/texas/houstonheights/houstons-undocumented-immigrant-population-tops-575-000-pew-research), it's estimated that there are 1 million undocumented immigrants in Texas with almost 600,000 of them in the Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area, including Pasadena.
Population Growth
Post World War II, Pasadena saw a huge growth in population of just over 20%, from 3,436 in 1940 to 22,483. 1960 saw this rise to 58,737, and this only continued to rise. 50 years later, in 1990, Pasadena saw a more than 3,000% increase from 3,436 to 119,363. After another boom of over 22,000 people in the 2000s, growth has started to slow, and since 2014 has had a year on year decline.
Prior to Europeans settling on the area near Galveston Bay, various native tribes like the Akokisa had inhabited it. Following the declaration of Mexican independence from Spain, Mexico offered land grants to settlers from both Mexico and the United States in order to colonize Texas, its northernmost territory. This brought in a rapid wave of settlement around the Galveston Bay area.
After a coup in the Mexican government in 1835, Texas revolted against Mexico. The last battle of the Texas Revolution took place in 1836, near modern-day Pasadena. Due to this being the final conflict leading to the Mexican surrender, Pasadena has adopted the nickname the “Birthplace of Texas.”
The year 1900 saw The Great Galveston hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in United States history at the time, bring heavy damage to Pasadena, and destroying Galveston completely. Many Galveston refugees moved to Pasadena, and amongst the vast donations from the newly created Red Cross were millions of strawberry plants, leading to Pasadena becoming a major producer of fruit.
The following year saw the beginning of the Texas Oil Boom, and the discovery of an oil field in nearby Goose Creek. This lead to ever petroleum exploration around the area, and by 1917 to 1920, refinery operations had made their way to Pasadena. The onset of World Wars I and II helped spur increased industrial development in the region, and Pasadena surpassed even Houston in terms of growth rate.
Pasadena voted in 1923 to incorporate, however in the following year residents decided to cancel the process. It was not until 5 years later in 1928 that Pasadena finally did incorporate, and as a result of this was not incorporated into Houston when it annexed surrounded unincorporated areas.