Texas’s Economy Benefits from Engineering
Engineering has long played a vital role in the lives of Texans. They design and build the structures used for homes and businesses and create and maintain the roads, electricity, water and waste systems and other types of infrastructure this huge state requires. In addition to that, ever since the discovery of oil in Big Lake in West Texas’ Permian Basin in 1923, engineers have been essential to the success of the state’s multi-billion dollars oil and gas industry. They have helped countless oil fields yield vast quantities of oil and designed, built, run and maintained refineries that have made Texas and Texans very wealthy.
The Value of Engineering to Texas’s Economy
The value that engineering has to the economy of Texas is so large it’s impossible to measure it in dollars and cents. Engineering has helped to transform the abundant natural resources in Texas into sources of wealth and prosperity that has enabled Texans to enjoy a quality of life that’s the envy of people worldwide. The state’s economy is large and diverse and engineers play a wide variety of roles in its continued development and expansion. The beautiful homes, cutting-edge commercial and industrial buildings and enterprises, amazing roads and bridges and wide range of products and devices that are made, sold, used and maintained and help to build the rich, vibrant Texas lifestyle and economy are a direct result of the work of engineers.
The economic value of engineering to Texas is beyond calculation.
Annual State Revenue/GDP
The gross domestic product of Texas is over $1.8 trillion. The GDP of Texas is the second highest nationwide and higher than that of Spain, Russia, Canada, South Korea. The average household income in Texas was $80,879 in 2019. Texas was ranked as the nation’s most business-friendly state and is tied with California for having the most Fortune 500 companies headquartered there. Over 350,000 millionaires live in Texas.
A Rich, Diverse Economy
The Texas economy received almost $14 billion in total agricultural revenue. Of that, $7.4 billion came from beef cattle production alone. Cotton also contributed significant amounts. The state’s large commercial fishing industry and mineral resources also added a great deal of money to the economy. As the world’s sixth largest oil producer, the Texas oil and gas industry paid over $20 billion in taxes and royalties and hundreds of billions in salaries in 2019. Income from mining surface coal and uranium, electricity production, renewable energy commercialization, the aeronautics, construction and high-tech industries, along with the strong commercial sector, all had the Texas economy booming in 2019.
The Number of Engineering Jobs in Texas
There are hundreds of thousands of engineering jobs in Texas. Companies like ExxonMobil, Tesoro, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Western Refining, Occidental Petroleum, Valero Energy, Halliburton and hundreds of other working in the state’s huge and varied oil and gas industry hire tens of thousands of engineers each year.
Technology companies including AT&T, Dell, Inc., Texas Instruments, Rackspace, Perot Systems and others headquartered in Texas’ “Silicon Hills” and “Silicon Prairie” regions and throughout the state also have many thousands of engineers of all types on their staff.
Skilled Engineers Essential State Wide
NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and the many other companies like Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter Textron that make up Texas’s aeronautics industry hire thousands of engineers with expertise in a variety of engineering specialties. Engineers also play important roles in the banking, construction, insurance, retail, wholesale and many other parts of the strong commercial sector in Texas. At companies like Tenet Healthcare, Kimberly-Clark, Whole Foods Market, J. C. Penney and others, engineers play pivotal roles. Schools and local and state governments also hire engineers for a number of important positions.
Watch this video about a day in the life of a manufacturing engineer at Texas Instruments.
Engineer Salaries in Texas
In Texas, the average annual salary for engineers is $83,682. On the low end of the pay scales are general engineering technicians who earn between $32,976 and $55,130, engineering assistants with salaries from $36,976 to $64,449 and offshore methods engineers who are paid $40,000 to $60,000. The highest salaries go to senior petroleum engineers whose annual salaries are between $113,000 to $138,000, senior civil engineers who earn $80,000 to $130,000 a year, structural engineers who can command $75,000 to $125,000 a year and engineering technologists earning $80,000 to $110,000 a year. In between are entry level civil engineers, construction engineers, professional infrastructure plan review engineers, transportation engineers and CAD technicians earning from $60,000 to $97,700 a year.
Type of Engineering Work in Texas
There is a wide range of types of engineering work in Texas. They include standard jobs in chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. However, organizations like the United States Army and Army Reserve, the Air Force, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and many cities throughout Texas and companies like Aerodyne Industries, Natural Gas Services Group and others also regularly hire transportation engineers, hydraulic and hydrologic engineers, water resources engineers, operations engineers, field engineers, design and manufacturing engineers and engineering technologists.
Texas Engineering Colleges and Universities
There are more than 144 institutions of higher learning in Texas that offer certifications and degrees in engineering. A recent survey concluded the 10 best college engineering programs in Texas are offered at the following schools. They are:
- Rice University
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Southern Methodist University
- The University of Texas at Dallas
- Texas A & M University-College Station
- Baylor University
- LeTourneau University
- Texas Tech University
- University of Houston
- University of North Texas
These small, medium and large, private and public colleges and universities have outstanding engineering programs and offer certificates and associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and PhD. degrees in a wide variety of engineering specialties.
An Engineer’s Dream
Texas is an engineer’s dream. There are lucrative employment opportunities available every year for well-qualified, talented, innovative, engineers who want to work for state and local governments, the military, private industry or in the commercial sector.
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