Top 10 Counties with Best and Worst Oil, Gas & Mining Economies of 2014: Midland County TX Creates Most Oil & Gas Jobs, Harris County TX in Houston Loses Most

29 Jul 2015 Top 10 Counties with Best and Worst Oil, Gas & Mining Economies of 2014: Midland County TX Creates Most Oil & Gas Jobs, Harris County TX in Houston Loses Most

Recently released data show that oil, gas, and mining job creation in 2014 across counties in the US varied from a high of 3,200 in Midland County, TX (Midland) to a loss of 1,100 jobs in Harris County, TX (Houston).

Out of more than 1,100 counties with oil, gas and mining economies, 5 of the Top 10 were in Texas:  Midland County, Bexar County, Frio County, Ector County, and Tarrant County. Two counties were in Colorado:  Weld County and Denver County.  Williams County-ND, with a population of just 32,000 people, created 1,800 Oil & Gas jobs.  Frio County-TX, with just 18,500 people, created 1,100 new oil & gas jobs.

The largest oil, gas & mining job losses occurred across many parts of the US, for varying reasons. Large job losses in Harris County-TX (Houston), Collin County-TX (north Dallas), and Pinal County-AZ (Phoenix) are due to the loss of energy headquarters jobs, possibly to other parts of the metro. Elko County-NV’s job losses are in gold mining, and Charleston-WV’s job losses are in coal mining.

Job creation in the Oil, Gas & Mining sector has been strong in the US. In the last 5 years, the sector grew 31% and created 200,000 new jobs. The sector currently employs 842,000 people in the US.

Click here to download a spreadsheet of data for all counties.

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