Texas energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Texas

As of Aug 2026, industrial electricity in Texas runs 7.21 cents per kWh. That is 25.2% cheaper than the U.S. average and places the state 4 of 51 nationally.

Current prices in Texas

  • Industrial electricity: 7.21 cents per kWh (Aug 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Texas typically pays: 8.96 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: $2.98 per Mcf (Aug 2026), 31.3% below the national average.
  • Just below Texas on the price ladder: New Mexico at 5.08, Louisiana at 6.1, Tennessee at 6.92 cents. Just above: Kentucky at 7.37, Washington at 7.43, Mississippi at 7.57 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about $2,884 in electricity at Texas rates versus $3,856 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is $14,420 versus $19,280, and at 200 kW it is $57,680 versus $77,120.
  • Energy is a genuine competitive advantage here: energy-intensive steps like heat treating, melting, and drying carry meaningfully lower unit cost in Texas than in most of the country, which strengthens make-versus-buy cases for keeping those operations in-house.

Cost to manufacture in Texas

  • Texas scores 91.2 on the MFG Calcs State Cost-to-Manufacture Index, where the U.S. is 100: the 6th lowest of 51 (Aug 2026).
  • Its labor factor (manufacturing wages) is 96.7 and its energy factor (industrial electricity) 74.8; the index weighs wages at 75% and electricity at 25% and leaves out taxes, land and incentives.

What factory labor pays in Texas

  • Industrial production managers: $62.93/hr median in Texas versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $50.27/hr median in Texas versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $33.72/hr median in Texas versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $29.78/hr median in Texas versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $28.45/hr median in Texas versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Tool and die makers: $26.67/hr median in Texas versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).

Manufacturing jobs in Texas

  • Texas had 993,300 manufacturing jobs in Sep 2026, the 2nd most of 51 (BLS State and Metro Area Employment, not seasonally adjusted).
  • That is up 1.3% from Sep 2025.

Manufacturing base in Texas

  • Texas has 21,034 manufacturing establishments employing about 869,062 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Average pay per manufacturing employee is $77,487, 6% above the U.S. average of $73,202.
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (4,368), food manufacturing (2,276), printing and related support (1,669), machinery manufacturing (1,633), machine shops (1,312).

Manufacturing economy in Texas

  • Manufacturing added $332B to Texas's economy in 2025, 11.3% of the state's GDP, the 2nd largest of the 50 states and DC (BEA).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, establishments and payroll from the Census Bureau and GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; each refreshes automatically when the agency publishes, and this page archives every month and year it shows so the Texas history keeps deepening.

Last reviewed 2026-11-13.