Texas energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Texas

As of May 2026, industrial electricity in Texas runs 6.33 cents per kWh. That is 27.3% cheaper than the U.S. average and places the state 3 of 51 nationally.

Current prices in Texas

  • Industrial electricity: 6.33 cents per kWh (May 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Texas typically pays: 8.26 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: 2.84 per Mcf (May 2026), 33.5% below the national average.
  • Just below Texas on the price ladder: New Mexico at 4.45, Oklahoma at 6.17 cents. Just above: Tennessee at 6.45, Iowa at 6.62, Arkansas at 6.69 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 2,532 in electricity at Texas rates versus 3,484 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 12,660 versus 17,420, and at 200 kW it is 50,640 versus 69,680.
  • 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.

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).
  • Texas employs about 981,000 manufacturing workers as of Jun 2026 (BLS).

Manufacturing base in Texas

  • Texas has 21,034 manufacturing establishments employing about 869,062 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • 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).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and refresh automatically when the agency publishes; this page also archives each month's Texas observation so the local price history deepens over time.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.