Midland ranks 15th nationally (Dallas, Odessa: best cities, oil, best)

[Lucidus]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

No, Bush was never very successful in the oil business....and sold out sometime in the very late 70s, and left Midland at that time. He played his short-term Midland roots to the hilt in both elections, though.

Midland is booming once again, and there are those who did not learn the hard lessons from the boom-bust earlier. Many seem to be repeating the same mistakes once again, and are going to find themselves overextended once again if the bust is severe. The largest bank in town went under in 1984, so you KNEW it was bad!!

Wasn't that one of the largest bank failures in the world at that time?

Many people have learned though. I talk to business owners all the time that are careful not to get into big spending mode even though their cash flow is great. And many of the oil companies are still paying in 90+ days sometimes 120+ days. They are trying to hold on the money as long as possible.

[Muhnay]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

I know how you feel about Midland, so I can see why you would question this.

If they said that about a place you liked, you wouldn't even raise all this.

Thats not true at all. I would still want to know how anyone comes up with the results. The reason I wonder is because a competeing poll may say the opposit. Polls to me prove nothing.

I dont dislike Midland.. I find it to be a bit isolated and dull.. but I have not lived there for any length of time to hate it or dislike it.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Lucidus

Wasn't that one of the largest bank failures in the world at that time?

Many people have learned though. I talk to business owners all the time that are careful not to get into big spending mode even though their cash flow is great. And many of the oil companies are still paying in 90+ days sometimes 120+ days. They are trying to hold on the money as long as possible.

Yes. First National went under one afternoon. I was working for The Ortloff Corporation at the time, on location in Seminole. I went to the main trailer at the site to drop off a report.

It was so QUIET. I asked what in the world was wrong...and someone said that First National had just gone under. It was a major catastrophe...and yes, it was one of the largest failures at the time.

If some have learned their lessons, more power to them.

The bust of 1984 was just really, really bad.

[tgannaway89]

I think everyone knows there is going to be another bust, when we run out of oil. The petroplex is really trying to diversify. Most cities in the region offer incentives to businesses that are not oil-field related to move in. For such a small population (only a quarter of a million) there really has been some nice work done to ensure a future for the region.

[Drilco]

hello,does anyone remember drilco oil tools inc? thanks.

[cheekymonkey]

Technically speaking, those Commerce Dept. statistics may be somewhat accurate.

However, taking "reality" into account, the stats are seriously skewed. Here's what I mean: I live in Tyler, which is fifth from the top of the list. Quite a prosperous place, you would have to agree. Right?

What appears to be the case is that a minority of people here ARE very wealthy. In fact, so much so that they cause the average income to go way up.

This is an inherent problem with measures of central tendency, i.e., "average income", "mean income", etc. The stats only tell part of the story.

The reality in Tyler is that anybody who isn't big oil money, employed in the better hospital/medical jobs, or working as an executive/professional is relegated to the never-never land of low-paying service jobs.

I'm talking about $6-8/hr., wages that are pitiful, even for teenagers still living at home with mom & dad. The sad reality is many ADULTS here are unable to find higher paying jobs. Go into any Wal-Mart (or Brookshires, which pays even less), and see how many people over 40 are working for wages they can't even barely get by on!

Clerical work is no better. If you want to make double-digits an hour (over $10/hr.), you've already entered the "high stress" zone, and will need solid administrative/managerial skills, know a zillion different software programs, etc.

I hope the economy is better elsewhere in Texas, but the thing to keep in mind is that the government bureaucrats who feed us the stats have a vested interest in making everything look good on paper.

Maybe we should quit paying THEM the big bucks, and force them to look for work in the local job market here in Tyler. That would fix their wagons for sure! Maybe they would like one of those door-to-door sales jobs like selling Kirby vacuum cleaners, Rainbows, or Hylas at $2,000 a pop?

[Lucidus]

I understand what you are saying cheekymonkey but I don't understand why you say that the stats are skewed. An average per capita income is just that, an average. I don't think the Dept. of Commerce has any reason to "cook the books" to make any area look good or bad, they just add up reported incomes then divide by the number of people in the area.

I would say though that the situation that you report in Tyler does look very different from Midland. Midland has it share of oil millionaires but also the people working at the low paying jobs also seem to be making more than they have historically. The low unemployment rate means that anyone who wants a job can probably find one, and people who do have a job can often move to a higher paying one. The overall effect is upward pressure on the average per capita income, which is what we see in the report.

[lisact67]

I recently flew to Austin and was asked by another passenger about the attitude in Midland. Her question took me back so I asked her to clarify what she meant. She stated that she had read that everyone in Midland was wealthy and are very unaccepting of "outsiders." I pondered if I agreed or disagreed. I finally told her and I quote "A friend of mine, who was born in Midland and has lived here over 40 years, told me once "Midland is full of $24,000 a year Millionaires." This sums up Midland. Midlander's tend to play games over prosperity & are experts in keeping up with the Jones'. My husband & I earn under $100,000 per year. We are very conservative with our money and have no debt. When you drive around Midland you will see lots of Hummers and other SUV's but then these drivers might be using a Lone Star Card. The majority of people in Midland like to act like they are "rich" when they aren't. It is an attitude. I think there are people in Midland that are very wealthy (I have not ever seen any of them on the Fortune 500 list, which is what I think of when I think of wealthy). The median income in Midland is in around $40,000 per household. I think the people with the biggest "uppity attitudes" are the ones that make $40,000. I know a couple that are from the Kellogg cereal family and they are sweethearts. The doctors/other income earners I know that make over $200,000 per year are also very nice. Midland is a generous community. My middle daughter is in private school and the parents there are kind and down to earth, but my son and youngest daughter are in public school and the majority of these parents seem to snub their noses at me. Hard to say what the attitude is, but then you can live here and not play that game. I go about my business and really do not care what they think. My children love their friends and are growing up in safe community."
She seemed puzzled by my answer and said "but doesn't everyone in Midland live in a mansion and have a private plane?" I laughed and said "only when they are playing who wants to pretend they are a Midlandaire!"

[JamesAbilene]

Originally Posted by Lucidus

I hate it when there is no link to the source data, so I went and found it. Here it is:

Personal Income for Metropolitan Areas, 2006

Here are all the metros of Texas in order from highest to lowest.

Midland, TX
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Austin-Round Rock, TX
Tyler, TX
Wichita Falls, TX
Longview, TX
San Antonio, TX
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
Victoria, TX
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX
Corpus Christi, TX
Amarillo, TX
San Angelo, TX
Abilene, TX
Lubbock, TX
Odessa, TX
Waco, TX
Sherman-Denison, TX
College Station-Bryan, TX
El Paso, TX
Laredo, TX
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX

Wow, I expected Abilene to be lower than Lubbock or Odessa. It is nice to know that we are not at the bottom but more toward the middle.

[JamesAbilene]

Looking a little more carefully at the chart, Odessa is really low. I think of MIdland-Odessa as one area. I wonder where they would rank if combined or if there is a chart that lists the consolidated metro areas by wealth.