McAllen Texas - Jewel in the Valley Crown

McAllen is indeed the "Jewel in the Valley Crown." This is not to imply the other Valley communities are not doing well. It is just apparent that McAllen, economically, is running like a finely tuned engine. Consider these facts: The McAllen, Mission, Edinburg MSA and Reynosa, Mexico comprise a dynamic community with a combined population of 1.7 million. During the past two decades, this area has made bold advances, with unprecedented growth in both population and industrial attraction. The McAllen MSA is rated:

•One of the Fastest Growing Metros in the State of Texas
•Forbes listed McAllen as one of the top ten best cities for recession recovery in a 2009 article.
•The McAllen MSA ranked 7th overall out of the 200 best performing U.S. metropolitan areas in the nation, and 1st in high technology sector growth in 2008 •3rd Lowest Cost of Living •CNNMoney recognized McAllen among its Best Places to Launch a Small Business in 2009. McAllen was ranked 16th among Mid-Size Cities and 23rd overall for Small Business Growth. •McAllen’s total population is 15th among Texas cities, yet it ranked 12th in overall Retail Sales, and 3rd in the State in total Retail Sales per household and per capita. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2008, Milken Best Performing Cities Index 2008

The Texas Comptroller tracks the Top 20 Cities in Texas on a regular basis. Retail sales tax collections provide the clearest illustration of McAllen’s retail sales phenomenon.

While McAllen is 19th in Per capita Income, 15th in the number of Households, 14th in Population, and 11th in Sales Tax Collections, among the top 20 cities on the Comptrollers list, McAllen is ranked:

• 6th in total Retail Sales Per Household ($ 82,819)
• 5th in Retails Sales Per Capita ($ 27,496)
• 3rd in Per Capita Sales Tax Collections ($349)

• In 2008 the City of McAllen achieved over $3.57 Billion in total retail sales.
• According to the US Census Bureau, in 2008 McAllen had only 17.9% of Hidalgo County population, 

McAllen is the retail center of South Texas and Northern Mexico, drawing from a consumer base of over 8.2 million people. This sector has become the driving force in McAllen’s economy, growing a staggering 138% over the last 10 years, to over $ 3.58 billion and employing 27% of the workforce.

The McAllen area has also been successful in attracting a number of call centers as a result of a young and trainable workforce. A few of the call centers are Converges, T-Mobile, Merkafon, Hotel.com and Ticketmaster.

In Hidalgo County, cross-border cargo and vehicular traffic have increased 345% and 36.4% respectively since the beginning of 1990’s, from 228,133 to 1,015,554 cargo trucks in 2008 and from 10.92 million to 14.9 million automobiles. US/Mexico trade crossing the international bridge in Hidalgo County increased from $5.0 billion in 1994, pre-NAFTA, to $12.56 billion in 2000 and $19.9 billion in 2006. From 1995-2006 the Rio Grande Valley share of NAFTA trade increased 168% from $11.1 billion to $31.6 billion.

Single-family home sales by McAllen MLS Realtors in 2008 were 1,438. The average selling price for these new homes was $122,584. In 2009, it is $122,577. Total single-family permits in McAllen reached 1,270 in 2008. On the basis of permit value, the average new home cost is $122,584.  Building permit values in the Rio Grande Valley cities rose from $264 million in 1990, over $825 million in 2000, to almost $8.93 billion in 2008.  McAllen MSA’s share of total building permits was $161 million and $474 for 1990 and 2008 respectively. The city of McAllen leads the Valley with $84 million and $ 159 million respectively.