Texas

Culture

Estonian: Texas is home to a small Estonian community, with roughly 300 to 400 Estonians living across the state, concentrated mainly in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. The Estonian Association of Houston (Houstoni Eesti Selts) hosts cultural gatherings, and the local community also connects through the Eestlased Texases Facebook group. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the Dallas Estonian Society organizes meetups around holidays and traditions. Austin has a close-knit group of expats and Estonia enthusiasts who gather informally and connect through Facebook groups.

San Antonio is home to a real estate subdivision built between 2009 and 2014 named ‘Estonia,’ whose streets carry Estonian-themed names such as Tallinn Trace and Viljandi Moon.

Latvian: The Latvian presence in Texas is light. Houston will host an official polling station for Latvia's parliamentary elections this coming October; eight years ago, the same station saw far fewer voters than anticipated to come this year, reflecting a growth in civic engagement. 

A notable Latvian figure has passed through the state: Kārlis Ulmanis, who would later serve as Prime Minister of Latvia, studied agriculture at the University of Nebraska and later owned a dairy business in Houston for several years before returning to Latvia.

Lithuanian: The oldest Lithuanian American community in Texas is in Yorktown, in DeWitt County, where the first Lithuanian immigrants arrived in 1852 and assimilated into local German immigrant communities, helping establish Southern Texas communities in the mid-19th century. Today, the Dallas–Fort Worth area has a very active Lithuanian community, with organizations such as the Dallas Lithuanian Community; “Baltija” Lithuanian Saturday School; and “Sietuva” Lithuanian Folk Dance Group, a women's folk dance ensemble. Other cities, such as Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, also have Lithuanian communities that organize their own activities and events. 

The Dallas Lithuanian Community organizes numerous cultural and social events throughout the year and is one of the most active Lithuanian communities in the United States. Its signature annual events include the Cepelinų Balius (Cepelinai Ball) and a Fall Ball. Other annual events include a Lithuanian Independence Day celebration, community picnics, a 5K Run for Lithuania, a community Kūčios (Christmas Eve celebration), Mother's Day celebrations, Easter events, and Christmas wreath and ornament workshops, along with other family-oriented cultural activities.

Diplomacy

All three Baltic states maintain a diplomatic presence in Texas: all three countries have an honorary consul in Houston, and Estonia additionally hosts an honorary consul in Dallas. The University of Texas supports the Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI), a summer language workshop covering Baltic languages, along with other participating schools; UT Austin also offers “Summer Beyond Borders: Baltic Perspectives,” which takes student cohorts through the history and strategic landscape of the Baltic countries. Texas A&M and the University of Texas participate in broader educational exchanges with the Baltic states. Around 20 University of Texas students and researchers are currently in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania researching a variety of topics. The Baltic Exchange's Baltic Academy also offers professional training courses in Texas focused on freight derivatives and shipping risk management, covering all three Baltic states.

Latvian dignitaries have visited Texas in recent years, including Jānis Grasbergs and Viktors Valainis, Ambassador Andris Teikmanis, and President Andris Berzins. Delegations occasionally travel to Texas for trade shows and the South by Southwest conference. Texas has also sponsored visiting Latvian musicians, including violinist Baiba Skride, the Māris Briezkalns Jazz Quintet, and opera singer Evita Teterovska, with performances in Houston. In addition, Riga, Latvia maintains a sister-city relationship with Dallas, Texas. Representatives from the Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, D.C., the Honorary Consulate of Lithuania in Houston, and the Consulate General of Lithuania in Chicago have attended community events in Texas.

Economics

Texas plays a notable role in the Baltic states' economies. Lithuania actively purchases liquefied natural gas from Texas-based companies, and in fall 2024, Latvia sent its largest trade mission to Texas, during which a memorandum of understanding was signed between Texas-based company KBR and Latvian company NorSAF for KBR to provide proprietary engineering solutions and equipment for a new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility. Printify, a Latvian-founded print-on-demand company, operates a printing and fulfillment center in Dallas, and Aerones, a Latvian wind turbine maintenance company, also has a facility in Dallas. Teltonika, one of Lithuania's largest technology companies, has a presence in Texas; and NordVPN, the global online privacy and security company founded in Lithuania in 2012, operates servers in 14 U.S. states, including Texas.

Military

In 2017, Texas Army National Guard soldiers took part in a multinational training exercise spanning four countries, including Latvia and Lithuania, bringing together 11,000 soldiers from 20 nations.