Upton County, Texas

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Elevated poverty: At 16%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 27.0 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest sector: Construction employs 2,105 workers (71.9% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $87,117.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $7.6B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction averages $143,568 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $16,246, a 8.8x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Oil and Gas Extraction concentrates at 104.49x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 3 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, suggesting an interconnected industrial base rather than reliance on a single employer or sector.

• Affordable market: Home value to income ratio of 2.2x is well below the ~4.1x national average; supports talent attraction and family settlement narratives.
• High home ownership: 77.2% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 19.2% vacancy rate. In resort, rural, and seasonal markets much of this is recreational/seasonal (second homes), not available supply; confirm the vacancy-by-reason split before treating it as a redevelopment opportunity.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom tiers sit below the 30%-of-median-income affordability threshold (~$1,229/mo).

• Low participation: 52.3% labor force participation suggests untapped capacity; workforce development programs may unlock supply.
• Talent pipeline: 6 regional institutions feed the workforce; the top three combined produce 48,998 annual credentials.

Upton County shows strong potential for oil and gas extraction attraction, with a 104.49x concentration and 306 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally.

The interconnected base across oil and gas extraction, , and gasoline stations and fuel dealers creates supply-chain attraction leverage rather than single-employer risk, a structural advantage for industrial recruitment.