The oil towns are booming. I grew up in Big Lake and it is 3 to 4 times more populated than it was during the oil boom in the 1970s. However, the new population is somewhat transient. Guys come in during the week but go "home" on the weekends. So the population has exploded but few true families have moved in. So bad for the town.

I think most in this area are either getting smaller, or struggling to hold their own. We are just a little too far east for the oil boom, wind turbines are being put up, but most of those folks don't move here. They have allowed some to be able to stay here and have decent jobs. Farming does not require nearly as many people as it used to, same thing applies to the other industries such as gypsum plants that make wallboard, etc. Automation has cut the number of jobs by about 2/3 over the years.

I would move back to far West Texas today if I could find a way to make a decent living. What can you do out there that's not oil field related? I'm talking west of the Pecos River

Outside of the auxiliary oilfield towns, most in west Texas are dying unless your town is a county seat of some sort or has some other industrial or educational draw to it, and then it's basically holding steady on the short term.

Most barely have enough tax revenues to keep the water plants running. It's a sad state of affairs for a lot of them.

Oil field trash come in droves and swamp the infrastructure of small west Texas towns. Try to visit in-laws in Monahans and hotels are nearly $300 per night due to price gouging, trashy people are hauling ass everywhere in town, and crime is way up.