ABJ: Texas Relative Economic Community Health Index 2015

TEXAS – The Austin Business Journal has released the Texas Relative Economic Community Health Index (TRECH), which ranks the 254 Texas counties based on an analysis of socio-economic benchmarks.

The TRECH survey is based on the following measurements:

•  Total estimated 2013 population; estimated population change between 2010 and 2013
•  Estimated 2013 annual median household income
•  Estimated annual median household income change between 2010 and 2013
•  Estimated percentage of population paying more than 30 percent of monthly income to housing costs in 2013
•  The change in the estimated percentage of population paying more than 30 percent of monthly income to housing costs between 2010 and 2013.

Counties that landed in the top 25 percent of the TRECH Index had populations that were, on average, 60 percent larger in 2013 than the statewide county average. They also grew 53 percent faster than the statewide per-county average between 2010 and 2013, and had estimated median incomes 17.8 percent higher than the statewide per-county average.

Topping it off, they also shrank their percentage of residents who pay more than 30 percent or more of their income on housing by 2.9 percent.

Andrews County took the number one ranking on the index, while Menard County was 254th.