Understanding Texas County Diversity: Comparing Black and White

The Lone Star State spans over 268,000 square miles and has a population of over 29 million people. Texas is home to a diverse variety of cultures, traditions, and landscapes. From the fast paced cities of Houston and Dallas to the beautiful landscapes of the Hill Country, Texas contains a unique blend of urban cities and rural towns However, observing racial data brings to light a troubling reality of disparities in equality between black and white citizens.

The data highlights a significant difference between the percentages of black and white populations in Texas counties. Across the state there is a notable contrast with a lower percentage of black individuals compared to their white counterparts. This disparity becomes evident when observing the extremes of the distribution in the histograms. While only one county in the entire state has a black population exceeding 30%, there are no counties with less than a 37% white population share. This wide margin seems to indicate significant issues in racial demographic patterns, with white people maintaining a significant portion of the population in just about every county in the state.

Plotting this data on a scatter plot reveals insights into patterns between black and white percentages. Higher percentages of black people are typically found in counties with larger populations such as Austin, Dallas, and Houston. However, as the population decreases we tend to see a higher percentage of white people.

Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States with a population of over 4.7 million people. Houston is located in Harris county and black people make up approximately 19% of the population while white people make up roughly 46%. Even in the largest city in Texas, black people do not account for even a quarter of the population.

The largest percentage of black people are found in Jefferson County, located along the southeastern border of the state. Wedged between the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana, Jefferson county contains a population of 254,942. Of that population white people make up 47% with black people making up 33%.

Observing the graph we can infer that counties with a higher percentage of white people tend to be smaller and more rural. Th e top 5 counties in Texas with a high percentage of white people all contain populations less than 10,000. The lowest percentage of white people are found within Hudspeth County. Hudspeth County is found in the western part of the state along the border of Mexico and contains a population of 3,329. The percentage of white people in this county is 37% and the black population is almost non-existent at 0.007%. Further emphasizing the dominance white people have in rural counties.

OLS Regression Results                            
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Dep. Variable:       Black Percentage   R-squared:                       0.112
Model:                            OLS   Adj. R-squared:                  0.109
Method:                 Least Squares   F-statistic:                     31.80
Date:                Fri, 26 Apr 2024   Prob (F-statistic):           4.56e-08
Time:                        18:44:02   Log-Likelihood:                 354.78
No. Observations:                 254   AIC:                            -705.6
Df Residuals:                     252   BIC:                            -698.5
Df Model:                           1                                         
Covariance Type:            nonrobust                                         
====================================================================================
                       coef    std err          t      P>|t|      [0.025      0.975]
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White Percentage    -0.1834      0.033     -5.640      0.000      -0.247      -0.119
const                0.1947      0.024      8.141      0.000       0.148       0.242
==============================================================================
Omnibus:                       33.132   Durbin-Watson:                   1.930
Prob(Omnibus):                  0.000   Jarque-Bera (JB):               42.593
Skew:                           0.899   Prob(JB):                     5.64e-10
Kurtosis:                       3.889   Cond. No.                         13.2
==============================================================================

While These disparities are most likely attributed to historical and regional factors, the relationship between these two variables does not explain the variation. Running a regression analysis we receive an r squared of 0.112 and a coefficient of -0.1834. Therefore we can determine that 11.2% of the variation in the black percentage is explained by changes in the white percentage. This indicates that there are other significant factors influencing this relationship.

Socioeconomic factors could play a significant role in these racial disparities. Access to quality education, healthcare, housing, and employment opportunities are often unequal, with black communities disproportionately affected by poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to resources. However more research would need to be conducted to come to a definitive answer.

In conclusion, this data highlights significant differences between black and white populations across all Texas counties. White individuals maintain a significant portion of the population in almost every county. Larger cities like Houston tend to have higher percentages of black residents, but even then they still remain a minority. Jefferson County stands out for its relatively high percentage of black residents, while Hudspeth County has a very low percentage of white and black residents. These disparities could reflect deep historical and socioeconomic factors, like systemic racism and unequal access to resources however more research would need to be done to fully understand the complexities.