Profile: Industry Trends
Please note, most of these updates are for the time period of 2009-2019. Therefore, the effects of the COVID pandemic and economic recession are not generally addressed. Trends specific to 2020 will be addressed in the next profile update.
Rural Capital Area (RCA) currently employs over 322,000 people in a diverse range of industries.
The Largest Industries in the RCA are:
- § Trade, Transportation, & Utilities – 23% of employment
- § Government – 16%
- § Leisure & Hospitality – 13%
- § Health Services & Private Education – 12%
- § Professional & Business Services – 10%
All industry sectors grew in the Rural Capital Area between 2009 and 2019. The fastest growing sectors during this period were Health Services & Private Education (+83% growth), Construction(+76%), Manufacturing (+75%), and Leisure and Hospitality (+61%). These four sectors all grew much faster than the national rates, which were 26%, 25%, 8% and 26% growth respectively.
Employment is spread roughly proportional to residency across the Rural Capital Area. Williamson County hosts the greatest number of jobs with 181,000 and 56% of regional employment. The next largest employment counties are Hays County with 23% of regional jobs and Bastrop County with 6%. Employment has grown in all counties between 2008 and 2018, but growth was greatest in Hays County (+50% growth), Williamson County (+50%), Lee County (+50%), Bastrop County (+32%) and Caldwell County (+32%).
