This area chart depicts the changes in the urban population of Texas from 1850 to 2000. Since statehood, urban Texans - broadly, those living in cities or towns of 2,500 or more - make up an ever-growing share of the population. The urban population of Texas in 1850 was a mere 3.6 percent of the total. By 1950 a majority of the state's population was classified as urban as post-World War II population growth produced several decades of rapid urbanization in Texas. Today, nearly 83 percent of the Texas population is urban.