Permian Basin Regional Planning CommissionPERMIAN BASINRegional Planning Commission

Exhibit E — Summary Background

Economic Profile

The evidence base for the CEDS. Defaults to the full 17-county region; select a county to localize every indicator below. Trends run five to six years where the underlying series allows.

Narrative

The regional economy

The Permian Basin Economic Development District is home to 486,906 residents across 17 counties, a decline of 0.6% since 2019. The civilian labor force stands at 253,374 with unemployment averaging 3.3% in 2024.

Median household income was $77,019 in 2023 and 12.3% of residents lived below the poverty line. The largest employment sector is education & health care at 18.3% of employed residents, followed by mining, oil & gas (14.9%) and trade (13.5%).

79.8% of adults 25 and over hold a high school diploma or higher and 21.6% hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The median age is 32.7, median home value is $231,580, median gross rent is $1,240, and the mean commute runs 25 minutes.

Population (2024)

486,906

-0.6% since 2019

Labor force (2024)

253,374

3.3% unemployment

Employed residents (2024)

245,167

+5.6% since 2019

Median household income (2023)

$77,019

12.3% in poverty

Figure 1

Population, 2019–2024

U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program (vintage 2024).

Figure 2

Labor force and employment, 2019–2024

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, annual averages.

Figure 3

Unemployment rate, 2019–2024

Bureau of Labor Statistics, LAUS. The 2020 spike reflects the pandemic and the simultaneous collapse in crude prices.

Figure 4

Median household income and poverty, 2019–2023

U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates. Regional values are population-weighted.

Figure 5

Employment by industry sector

American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020–2024 release (table C24030), civilian employed population 16 and over by industry of residence.

Figure 6

Race and ethnicity

  • Hispanic or Latino54.4%
  • White, non-Hispanic36.8%
  • Black, non-Hispanic4.8%
  • Asian, non-Hispanic1.5%
  • Other / two or more2.6%

ACS 2020–2024, table B03002.

Figure 7

Age distribution

  • Under 1829.3%
  • 18 to 6459.8%
  • 65 and over10.9%

ACS 2020–2024, table B01001.

Table 1

Education and workforce

High school diploma or higher
79.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
21.6%
Per capita income
$40,484
Median age
32.7

ACS 2020–2024, tables B15003 and B19301.

Table 2

Housing

Total housing units
197,551
Owner-occupied share
68.6%
Median home value
$231,580
Median gross rent
$1,240

ACS 2020–2024, tables B25001, B25003, B25064 and B25077.

Table 3

Commuting and resilience

Mean travel time to work
25 min
Employed residents (ACS)
220,190
Largest sector
Education & health care
Sector concentration
18.3%

ACS 2020–2024, table B08303. Sector concentration is the share of employed residents in the single largest industry sector.

Exhibit F — Infrastructure and Drilling Activity

Rig activity, broadband and transportation capacity

Drilling activity remains the region's clearest cyclical signal. The region averaged 139.0 active rigs in 2026 against 296.9 in 2019, and carried 161 rigs in the week of 2026-09-18. Household broadband subscription reached 86.2% of households, up from 79.7% five years earlier, while 10.9% of households still report no internet access at all. The area is served by 13,335 centerline miles of state-maintained highway and 552.9 miles of rail line.

Figure 9

Active drilling rigs, annual average

Baker Hughes North America Rotary Rig Count, county detail. Annual figures are averages of published weekly counts; 2026 is a partial year through 2026-09-18.

Figure 10

Household internet subscription

Light bar: 2019. Dark bar: 2023.

ACS 5-Year Estimates, table B28002 (2015–2019 and 2019–2023). Measures household subscription, not the service capacity available at an address.

Table 4

Roadway inventory

Centerline miles, 2025
13,335
Lane miles, 2025
28,883
Centerline miles, 2019
13,063
Change in lane miles since 2019
+579

TxDOT Roadway Inventory, certified 2019 and 2025 year-end tables. Covers TxDOT-maintained (on-system) highways only; county and city roads are not included.

Table 5

Rail and drilling capacity

Total rail miles
552.9
Main line rail miles
435.4
Active rigs, most recent week
161
Peak annual rig average, 2019–present
296.9 (2019)

Rail: BTS/FRA North American Rail Network Lines, National Transportation Atlas, summed within county boundaries. Counties showing zero have no mapped rail line. Rigs: Baker Hughes, week of 2026-09-18.

Note on coverage: no authoritative source publishes service-capacity broadband (100/20 Mbps or gigabit availability) on a basis that can be cleanly attributed to these 17 counties for a five-year trend, so subscription rates are shown instead. Dallas Fed Permian Basin rig figures cover a broader 55-county geography including southeast New Mexico; the county-level Baker Hughes detail used here is limited to the PBRPC service region.

Exhibit G — Recent Activity

Recent economic developments

Openings, closings, relocations, expansions and announced projects that have not come to fruition across the region, from the last two years. One entry per event, each linked to its source.

35 events

Sources and methodology

Population figures are U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program values for 2019–2024. Labor force, employment and unemployment are Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics annual averages. Median household income and poverty are Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates for 2019–2023, the most recent year published.

Demographic, education, housing, industry and commuting indicators come from the American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020–2024 release, and are period estimates rather than single-year values. Regional figures are sums for counts and population-weighted averages for rates. Small-county ACS estimates carry wide margins of error and should be read as indicative. Rig activity is the Baker Hughes North America Rotary Rig Count county detail; broadband is ACS table B28002; roadway mileage is the TxDOT Roadway Inventory; rail mileage is the BTS/FRA North American Rail Network from the National Transportation Atlas.