From 1970 to 1980 nonadjacent counties in Texas experienced an increase in net migration of 9.4 percent, significantly different from the 11.8 percent decrease experienced the previous decade. This study utilized the ecological perspective to study this redistribution pattern in Texas' nonadjacent counties between 1970 and 1980. Sustenance organization, defined as sustenance differentiation (the functional organization of sustenance activities and the dispersion of workers across these functional categories) and the mode of sustenance organization (the combinations of various sustenance activities) was identified as the primary independent variable. In addition, three secondary independent variables were included in the analysis (population per square mile, metropolitan dominance, and the percent who work outside the county of residence).

The primary purpose of this thesis is a description of some of the major changes which the population of Texas has undergone, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. Other approaches are possible. For example, it is both possible and important to develop the relationship of population change to social problems. However, it is not the purpose of this thesis to investigate these relationships. It is the purpose here to view the population problem in almost entirely a factual sense, basing observations and interpretations on strictly demographic data.