2. Borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.

3. The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 4,368,969; the Southern Baptist Convention with 3,519,459; and the United Methodist Church with 1,022,342. Known as the buckle of the Bible Belt, East Texas is socially conservative. Dallas-Fort Worth is home to three major evangelical seminaries and a host of monasteries. Lakewood Church in Houston, boasts the largest attendance in the nation averaging more than 43,000 weekly. Lubbock, according to local lore, has the most churches per capita in the nation. Adherents of many non-Christian religions reside predominantly in the urban centers of Texas. In 1990, the Islamic population stood at approximately 140,000 with more recent figures putting the current population of Muslims between 350,000 to 400,000. The Jewish population stands at around 128,000. Approximately 146,000 adherents of non-Abrahamic religions such as Hinduism and Sikhism live in Texas.

4. Agriculture and mining Texas has the most farms and the highest acreage in the United States. Texas leads the nation in livestock production. Cattle is the state's most valuable agricultural product, and the state leads nationally in production of sheep and goat products. Texas leads the nation in production of cotton. The state grows significant amounts of cereal crops and produce. Texas has a large commercial fishing industry. With mineral resources leads in creating cement, crushed stone, lime, salt, sand and gravel