LONGVIEW/GREGG COUNTY (KYTX) - A U.S. Commerce Department study released this week says that, for every $100 the average person in or near Longview earned in 2009, they earned nearly an extra $7 last year.
It's the 12th highest increase for average personal income in the nation and fourth in Texas.
But the Longview metro area includes three counties, and with analysts crediting the good times to the energy industry, perhaps no city exhibits that growth more than Kilgore.
Last year was also significant because it was the first time since 1949 that the U.S. exported more refined petroleum products than it imported.
At $38,756 a year, the average person in Longview now earns more annually than in other cities like Tyler, Beaumont and Odessa.
But no city could catch Midland, where average income rose nearly 20 percent to a staggering $65,173.
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Metro area 2009 PCI 2011 PCI Inflation-adjusted change National Rank
Midland $51,947 $65,173 19.66% 1
Odessa $32,233 $38,385 13.58% 2
Hanford-Corcoran, CA $24,872 $29,407 12.88% 3
Casper, WY $46,261 $54,108 11.55% 4
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA $52,489 $61,028 8.82% 5
Victoria $35,476 $39,808 7.02% 11
Longview $34,582 $38,756 6.89% 12
Corpus Christi $34,456 $38,609 6.87% 13
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown $43,065 $47,612 5.45% 25
Laredo $22,639 $24,985 5.26% 29
El Paso $27,272 $30,088 5.22% 31
Beaumont-Port Arthur $35,023 $38,620 5.17% 32
Shreveport-Bossier City $35,511 $38,899 4.48% 47
San Angelo $34m318 $37,532 4.31% 52
Abilene $32,750 $35,571 3.59% 78
Wichita Falls $33,777 $36,671 85
Amarillo $34,105 $36,968 3.38% 92
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington $40,326 $43,708 3.37% 93
College Station-Bryan $27,766 $29,928 2.80% 129
Brownsville-Harlingen $21,570 $23,236 2.74% 135
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos $37,560 $40,455 2.73% 137
Tyler $35,790 $38,515 2.64% 150
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis
