It’s raining jobs and money in the RGV, Census data shows

By Jose Martinez

The federal government released new information last month that gives an insight into the economic and social status of local areas across the country, including the Rio Grande Valley.

The good news: Folks in the Valley are getting richer. The better news: They’re getting richer faster than any other area in Texas.

For example, houses in the Brownsville and Harlingen metro area typically made about $38,700 from 2015 to 2019. The new data show that from 2020 to 2024, the household median income jumped to $52,600. That’s a 10% increase when considering inflation.

For the metro area comprising McAllen, Edinburg and Mission, the typical household income for the same time period went from $40,000 to $54,300, also a 10% increase.

While 10% might not sound like big money moves, it really comes into perspective when realizing that it’s higher than any other metro area in the state. The Austin metro area only increased 6%, while Dallas increased 4%. Other areas saw a decrease, such as Houston or College Station. Laredo, too, increased its typical household income by 10%.

And when looking at micropolitan areas, which are smaller than metro areas based on population size, the RGV still held the crown.

The Raymondville micro area in Willacy County went from $35,500 to $54,100, a 24% increase. That’s the fastest increase in the state among areas of similar sizes and the eighth fastest in the country.

In Starr County, the micro area that makes up Rio Grande City and Roma went from $30,300 to $37,600. It’s less than a 1% increase, but a worthwhile increase nonetheless when taking into account that other micro areas in Texas saw decreases that went as far as 22%.

With the fast growth pushing the Valley into higher rankings, it no longer ranks at the bottom of the income list.

From 2015 to 2019, the Brownsville and McAllen metro areas placed in the bottom two in the entire country when ranking typical household incomes. The new data, however, pushed them up into third and fourth lowest. Below them now are a metro area in Louisiana and one comprising Eagle Pass in Texas.

The income data above includes money made from people’s nine-to-five jobs, money from government benefits and money from investments. Each of those types of income can be isolated in the new data.

A closer look at investment income — or money made from dividends, interest, and rental properties — shows how many households make money while they sleep.

In the Brownsville metro area, 7.7% of households had investment income from 2020 to 2024. In the McAllen metro, it was 6.8%. The Rio Grande City-Roma and Raymondville micro areas had shares less than 6%. Larger metro areas had shares reaching as high as 17%.

Another measure of economic progress examines how many residents fall below federal poverty standards. 

Although the two Rio Grande Valley metro areas recorded the highest poverty rates in the country from 2015 to 2019 and from 2020 to 2024, the share of residents living in poverty declined.

The poverty rate in the Brownsville and Harlingen metro area dropped more than four points from a 28.9% to 24.8%. The McAllen, Edinburg and Mission metro area dropped from 29.7% to 26.7%.

The Rio Grande City-Roma micro area dropped one percentage point to 33.5%, while the Raymondville area dropped three percentage points to 24%.

All the numbers discussed so far are greatly dependent on the types of jobs in the area, which the new government data also examines. 

The most common jobs in both the Brownsville and McAllen metro areas are those in social assistance, including those in education and health care. In Brownsville, there were more than 50,000 of those jobs from 2020 to 2024, while in McAllen it reached past 95,000. In both areas, the industry grew by no more than 4%.

Retail jobs were the second most popular for both metro areas in the Valley, but notably, the number of people with those jobs decreased from the last recorded time period.

The government data examines a total of 11 industries. In the Valley, a few stand out because of how fast they grew.

In McAllen, the construction industry grew by nearly 8,000 new jobs, a 28% increase. Jobs in transportation, warehousing and utilities grew by 7,100 jobs, but since the industry was smaller than others to begin with, the percent increase shot up to 44%.

In Brownsville, jobs considered professional, scientific, managerial, administrative or in waste management had the largest increase at roughly 3,200 jobs, which accounted for a 24% increase. Jobs in transportation, warehousing and utilities increased by 31%.