Daily Chisme: Valley Goes Beyond `Big 3'

If you grew up in the Rio Grande Valley before 1990, there were the big three - Brownsville, McAllen and Harlingen - but the 2010 Census will confirm the region has gone way beyond its signature cities to include an array of communities that have topped the 50,000-population mark.

Edinburg, Mission and Pharr have long since passed the 50,000-mark. One, if not all three cities may eclipse Harlingen in total population when 2010 Cenus numbers are released. By 2000, the three Hidalgo County cities had generally gotten within 10,000 residents of Harlingen’s population. By 2005, the margin in population totals between Harlingen and the three cities to the west had narrowed further.

Harlingen’s population in 2010 will likely be somewhere around 67,000 residents if trend lines through the decade continue. Going into 2009, at population trends seen throughout the decade, Edinburg, Mission and Pharr were each up around the 65,000 mark, making it easy to see how one, if not all three of these cities may pass Harlingen by in the 2010 Census.

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