West Texas | |
|---|---|
 West ofNotrees | |
 West Texas counties in red; counties sometimes included in West Texas in pink | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| Largest city | El Paso |
West Texas is a loosely definedregion in theU.S. state ofTexas, generally encompassing thearid andsemiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities ofWichita Falls,Abilene, andDel Rio.
No consensus exists on the boundary betweenEast Texas and West Texas.[1] While most Texans understand these terms, no boundaries are officially recognized and any two people are likely to describe the boundaries of these regions differently. The historian and geographerWalter Prescott Webb has suggested that the98th meridian separates East and West Texas;[2] writer A.C. Greene proposed that West Texas extends west of theBrazos River.[3] Use of a single line, though, seems to preclude the use of other separators, such as an area—Central Texas. Texas is part of theSouth and the American Southwest at the same time, while the semiarid and desert climates of West Texas are clearly characteristic of theSouthwest.
West Texas is often subdivided according to distinct physiographic features. The portion of West Texas that lies west of thePecos River is often called "Far West Texas" or the "Trans-Pecos", a term introduced in 1887 by geologistRobert T. Hill.[4] The Trans-Pecos lies within theChihuahuan Desert and is the aridest part of the state. Another part of West Texas is theLlano Estacado, a vast region of high, level plains extending intoEastern New Mexico and theTexas Panhandle. East of the Llano Estacado lies the "redbed country" of theRolling Plains, and south of the Llano Estacado lies theEdwards Plateau. The Rolling Plains and Edwards Plateau subregions act as transitional zones between eastern and western Texas.
West Texas receives much less rainfall than the rest of Texas and has an arid or semiarid climate, requiring most of its scant agriculture to depend heavily on irrigation.[5] Northern portions of the area are irrigated with water from underground sources, such as theOgallala Aquifer. Irrigation withdrawal, and water taken out farther north for the needs of El Paso andJuarez, Mexico, have reduced theRio Grande to a stream in some places, even dry at times.
Parts of West Texas have rugged terrain, including many small mountain ranges, while most parts of the state are closer to sea level. The northern parts of West Texas and the higher elevations of the mountain ranges of the Trans-Pecos region are prone to occasional heavy snowfall during winter, whereas snow is less common in other areas of West Texas.
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The 72 counties of West Texas areAndrews,Bailey,Borden,Brewster,Brown,Callahan,Castro,Cochran,Coke,Coleman,Comanche,Concho,Crane,Crockett,Crosby,Culberson,Dawson,Deaf Smith,Dickens,Eastland,Ector,El Paso,Fisher,Floyd,Gaines,Garza,Glasscock,Hale,Haskell,Hockley,Howard,Hudspeth,Irion,Jeff Davis,Jones,Kent,Kimble,King,Knox,Lamb,Loving,Lubbock,Lynn,Martin,Mason,McCulloch,Menard,Midland,Mitchell,Motley,Nolan,Pecos,Presidio,Reagan,Reeves,Runnels,Schleicher,Scurry,Shackelford,Stephens,Sterling,Stonewall,Sutton,Taylor,Terrell,Terry,Throckmorton,Tom Green,Upton,Ward,Winkler, andYoakum.[6]
| Rank | Image | City | County(ies) | Population (2023 Estimate)[7] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | State | ||||
| 1 | 6 |  | El Paso | El Paso | 678,958 |
| 2 | 10 |  | Lubbock | Lubbock | 266,878 |
| 3 | 25 |  | Midland | Midland,Martin | 138,397 |
| 4 | 29 |  | Abilene | Taylor,Jones | 129,043 |
| 5 | 34 |  | Odessa | Ector,Midland | 115,743 |
| 6 | 43 |  | San Angelo | Tom Green | 99,262 |
| 7 | 95 |  | Socorro | El Paso | 38,238 |
| 8 | 133 |  | Horizon City | El Paso | 24,168 |
| 9 | 140 |  | Big Spring | Howard | 22,373 |
| 10 | 155 |  | Plainview | Hale | 19,420 |
Smaller West Texas cities and towns includeAlpine,Andrews,Anthony,Brownfield,Canutillo,Coyanosa,Crane,Fabens,Fort Davis,Fort Stockton,Hale Center,Horizon City,Iraan,Kermit,Lamesa,Levelland,Littlefield,Marathon,Marfa,McCamey,Mertzon,Monahans,Ozona,Pecos,Post,Rankin,Ransom Canyon,San Elizario,Seminole,Slaton,Snyder,Sweetwater, andVan Horn.
Major industries includelivestock,petroleum andnatural gas production,textiles such ascotton,grain, and because of very large military installations such asFort Bliss, thedefense industry.West Texas has become notable for its numerouswind turbines producingclean and alternative electricity.
As of 2018, the West Texan economy was in a prosperouseconomic period, which has been described as the "West Texas oil boom".[8][9]
While there are no major league teams in the West Texas region, sports fans are faithful to their local high school and college teams.NCAA Division I college teams include theTexas Tech Red Raiders, and theUTEP Miners.NCAA Division II teams include theWest Texas A&M Buffaloes, theTexas–Permian Basin Falcons, and theLubbock Christian Chaparrals and Lady Chaps.
El Paso hosts theEl Paso Chihuahuas, a AAA baseball team, and theEl Paso Locomotive FC which plays in theUSL Championship, the second tier of theAmerican soccer pyramid. TheMidland RockHounds andAmarillo Sod Poodles represent the region in double-A baseball. Junior hockey is also present in the region, with theOdessa Jackalopes of the Tier II North American Hockey League.
In January 2025, an outbreak of measles began spreading in West Texas, and later in February in neighboring New Mexico. The cause of the outbreak was attributed to declining vaccination rates among infants.[10]
Except for the Trans-Pecos region, West Texas has become well known as a stronghold forconservative politics. Some of the most heavilyRepublican counties in the United States are in the region. Former U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush spent most of his childhood in West Texas.[11] The region is somewhat more conservative than neighboringEastern New Mexico.
The region includes much of thePermian Basin, the highest producingoil field in the United States.[12] This likely inclines the region to support the Republican Party over theDemocratic Party, as the latter supportsenvironmentalism and action onclimate change.[13][14]
Several counties in the Midland-Odessa area were some of the first parts of Texas to abandon the state's "Solid South"Democratic roots; two counties[a] have not supported a Democrat for president since1948. The Rolling Plains to the east remained Democratic substantially longer: althoughWalter Mondale's1984 campaign lost Texas by 27.50%, he won three counties in this region.[b] Since 2000, this region swung very rapidly toward the Republican Party due to its population's intransigent opposition to the liberal social policies of the Democratic Party,[15] and by 2016, it had nearly the sameCook PVI as the Panhandle.
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Third parties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 33.1%271,756 | 65.8%539,383 | 1.1%9,090 |
| 2020 | 38.2%319,565' | 60.3%504,487 | 1.5%12,180 |
| 2016 | 37.3%260,775 | 58.1%406,359 | 4.6%32,248 |
| 2012 | 36.0%222,761 | 64.0%396,008 | 0%0 |
"West of the Pecos" has become a metaphor for the universe ofWesterns. "Fastestdraw west of the Pecos" and similar superlatives are a cliche, and the title character ofChisum observed "There’s no law west of Dodge, and no God west of the Pecos”.
Cormac McCarthy's novelNo Country for Old Men and its subsequentfilm adaptation take place in West Texas, and much of the movie was filmed there.
As large as the cities are and how Democratic that they are, Texas Democrats still don't have a way to get past that red wall of rural West Texas, [Drew Landry] said. Rural Texas still rules the day. I was seeing some very, very close numbers before a lot of the rural counties reported [election returns], and once they did, it just blew the door open for Abbott.
