Permian Basin Regional Planning CommissionPERMIAN BASINRegional Planning Commission

Exhibit H — Human Capital

Education & Workforce Development Capacity

Secondary completion, postsecondary enrollment and program output, and the regional workforce development system. Defaults to the full 17-county region; select a county to localize the data and the development list below.

Narrative

The regional talent pipeline

The region's public schools enrolled 93,741 students in fall 2023, concentrated in Ector and Midland counties, which together account for roughly two-thirds of regional enrollment. The class of 2024 graduated at 87.7%, compared with 90.7% statewide, with a dropout rate of 8.6% and a graduation rate of 84.7% among economically disadvantaged students.

Postsecondary capacity is entirely public: UT Permian Basin, Odessa College, Midland College, Howard College and the Southwest College for the Deaf enrolled a combined 24,009 students in fall 2023 and conferred 5,091 awards in 2023-24. Health professions, business, liberal arts, mechanic and repair technologies, and precision production account for the largest share of credentials.

Workforce Solutions Permian Basin serves the same 17 counties through five career centers, directing training investment toward the occupations on its annual Targeted Occupations List — truck drivers, industrial mechanics, electricians, nurses and allied health technicians chief among them.

Public school enrollment (fall 2023)

93,741

34 districts and charters

Four-year graduation rate (class of 2024)

87.7%

Texas 90.7%

Dropout rate (class of 2024)

8.6%

Cohort of 6,419 students

Postsecondary fall enrollment (2023)

24,009

5 institutions in Permian Basin Region

Figure 1

Four-year graduation and dropout rates, classes of 2020–2024

TEA four-year longitudinal county totals. Texas comparison computed from all county records.

Figure 2

Public school enrollment, fall 2019–fall 2023

NCES Common Core of Data district directory, aggregated by county of district headquarters.

Table 1

Secondary education by county, class of 2024

Click a column heading to sort. Loving County has no school district and does not appear.

Andrews1 district4,26993.8%2.9%91.5%
Borden1 district242100.0%0.0%100.0%
Crane1 district1,21195.2%1.2%93.9%
Dawson4 districts2,15195.7%1.9%93.9%
Ector3 districts34,87485.8%9.1%83.4%
Gaines3 districts3,64197.4%1.5%97.2%
Glasscock1 district292100.0%0.0%—
Howard3 districts5,29891.5%6.6%89.2%
Loving0 districts————
Martin2 districts1,29098.8%0.0%96.3%
Midland3 districts32,41187.3%10.2%83.6%
Pecos3 districts—70.6%20.2%65.9%
Reeves2 districts3,02797.3%2.7%98.0%
Terrell1 district117100.0%0.0%—
Upton2 districts79392.5%7.5%91.7%
Ward2 districts2,33896.4%2.9%95.8%
Winkler2 districts1,78799.1%0.9%98.1%
  • · Graduation, dropout and economically disadvantaged figures are TEA four-year longitudinal county totals for the classes of 2020 through 2024.
  • · Loving County has no independent school district; resident students are served primarily by Wink-Loving ISD in Winkler County, so no separate Loving County figures are published.
  • · Pecos County fall 2023 enrollment is withheld because the federal Common Core of Data record for Fort Stockton ISD that year is inconsistent with prior and neighboring reporting.
  • · Counties with very small cohorts (Borden, Glasscock, Loving, Terrell, Upton) show large year-to-year swings; rates for subgroups are masked by TEA when cohorts are small.
  • · Texas statewide graduation rates shown for comparison are computed by summing all 252 county records in each TEA county workbook.

Postsecondary capacity

Colleges and universities

All five federally reporting institutions in the service region, with fall enrollment, completion rates and awards by program area.

Figure 3

Fall headcount enrollment, 2020 and 2023

IPEDS Fall Enrollment surveys. Light bar: 2020. Dark bar: 2023.

Table 2

Awards conferred by program area, 2023-24

Liberal arts and general studiesOdessa College424
Business, management and marketingThe University of Texas Permian Basin368
Business, management and marketingOdessa College343
Liberal arts and general studiesMidland College295
Health professionsMidland College291
Health professionsHoward College242
Mechanic and repair technologiesOdessa College226
Health professionsOdessa College201
EducationThe University of Texas Permian Basin181
Personal and culinary servicesOdessa College154
PsychologyThe University of Texas Permian Basin124
Business, management and marketingMidland College118
Engineering technologiesMidland College110
Mechanic and repair technologiesMidland College105
Computer and information sciencesThe University of Texas Permian Basin80
Health professionsThe University of Texas Permian Basin78
Business, management and marketingHoward College74
EducationHoward College68

IPEDS Completions survey, first major, two-digit CIP grouping.

The University of Texas Permian Basin ↗

Odessa, Ector County

Public four-year university

Fall 2023 enrollment
5,899
Change since fall 2020
+369
Awards conferred, 2023-24
1,365
Completion rate (150% of time)
43.0%

Bachelor's-seeking cohort, six-year completion

Largest programs: Business, management and marketing (368); Education (181); Psychology (124).

Odessa College ↗

Odessa, Ector County

Public community college

Fall 2023 enrollment
8,708
Change since fall 2020
+1,689
Awards conferred, 2023-24
1,907
Completion rate (150% of time)
27.9%

Largest programs: Liberal arts and general studies (424); Business, management and marketing (343); Mechanic and repair technologies (226).

Midland College ↗

Midland, Midland County

Public community college (with limited bachelor's programs)

Fall 2023 enrollment
5,219
Change since fall 2020
+482
Awards conferred, 2023-24
1,157
Completion rate (150% of time)
17.1%

Largest programs: Liberal arts and general studies (295); Health professions (291); Business, management and marketing (118).

Howard College ↗

Big Spring, Howard County

Public community college (Big Spring, Lamesa and San Angelo campuses)

Fall 2023 enrollment
4,136
Change since fall 2020
+462
Awards conferred, 2023-24
651
Completion rate (150% of time)
35.7%

Largest programs: Health professions (242); Business, management and marketing (74); Education (68).

Southwest College for the Deaf ↗

Big Spring, Howard County

Public two-year division of Howard College serving Deaf and hard-of-hearing students

Fall 2023 enrollment
47
Change since fall 2020
-1
Awards conferred, 2023-24
11
Completion rate (150% of time)
80.0%

Cohort of five students; rate is not statistically meaningful

Largest programs: Engineering technologies (3); Health professions (3); Business, management and marketing (2).

  • · Enrollment is the IPEDS fall headcount for all students; twelve-month unduplicated headcounts reported elsewhere are substantially higher because they include dual-credit and continuing-education students.
  • · Completion rates are the IPEDS 150%-of-normal-time rate for first-time, full-time degree- or certificate-seeking students and understate outcomes at colleges serving mostly part-time and working adults.
  • · Awards are counted by first major for the 2023-24 award year and grouped by two-digit CIP program area.
  • · No private or for-profit degree-granting institution in the 17-county service region reports to IPEDS; the region's postsecondary capacity is entirely public. Private barbering and cosmetology schools operate in Midland and Odessa but are not federal Title IV reporters.
  • · Western Texas College (Snyder) and Southeast New Mexico College (Carlsbad) serve Permian Basin employers but sit outside the 17-county service region.

Regional workforce system

Workforce Solutions Permian Basin

The Permian Basin Workforce Development Board is the local board designated under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for the same 17 counties served by the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission. Operating as Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, it administers WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth services, Wagner-Peyser employment services, subsidized child care, and employer services through five career centers. The board seats 30 members, a majority of them employers, with required representation from organized labor, adult education, vocational rehabilitation, economic development and child care, and it publishes an annual Targeted Occupations List that governs which training programs may be purchased with public funds.

“Investing in the future through jobs and training.”

Permian Basin Workforce Development Board Plan, Program Years 2025-2028 ↗

Core programs

  • · WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth training and employment services
  • · Wagner-Peyser labor exchange, job matching and hiring events
  • · Subsidized child care with Texas Rising Star quality providers
  • · Employer services, customized training and layoff aversion
  • · Skills Development Fund partnerships with regional community colleges
  • · Annual Targeted Occupations List guiding training investments

Targeted occupations, selected

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck driversIndustrial machinery mechanicsElectricians and electrical power-line installersLicensed practical and vocational nursesDiagnostic medical sonographers and health technologistsHeating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanicsWelders and machinists (precision production)Elementary school teachersMedical and health services managersFirst-line supervisors of construction and extraction workers

Full Targeted Occupations List ↗

Table 3

Workforce area labor market

Workforce area civilian labor force, August 2025
264,494
Employed, August 2025
254,395
Unemployment rate, August 2025
3.8%
Unemployment rate, August 2024
3.5%

Workforce area report ↗

Permian Basin Workforce Development Area monthly report, Texas Workforce Commission data.

Career centers

  • · Administrative Office - 2911 LaForce Boulevard, Midland
  • · Odessa - 2626 JBS Parkway, Building D
  • · Midland - 3600 N. Garfield, Midland College Technology Center
  • · Big Spring - 1001 Birdwell Lane, Howard College Warren Center
  • · Fort Stockton - 461 South Highway 285
  • · Pecos - 1000 South Eddy Street

Locations ↗

  • · The board's public Regional Metrics dashboard was under construction at the time of compilation, so current quarterly customer, employer and training counts are not published.
  • · Child care participation by board area is published by the Texas Workforce Commission only through an interactive dashboard.
  • · WIOA performance measures for the local board are published by the U.S. Department of Labor as a downloadable dataset rather than a static report.

Recent activity

Education and workforce developments

New programs, facilities, funding awards, partnerships, milestones and setbacks across the region over the past two years. One entry per event, each linked to its source.

21 items

Developments cover the period from mid-2024 forward. Items marked Regional affect more than one county or an institution serving the whole workforce area, and they appear under every county filter.

Sources and methodology