Brownsville Achieves Progress in Education and Unemployment

Micheal “Mike” Hernandez III is a respected presence in the Dallas business community who has guided D & M Leasing for more than three decades. Having grown up in Brownsville, Mike Hernandez III has a longtime commitment to South Texas and leads a nonprofit focused on revitalizing Brownsville's economy, which is one of the poorest performing nationwide.

Despite the region’s economic struggles, Cameron County does have much potential, as it features a port city situated on the Mexican border. A recent article in the Brownsville Herald drew attention to a RentCafe report, which analyzed census numbers from more than 300 cities across the United States. 

With Odessa, Texas, ranked first, Brownsville achieved ranking at number nine in the “Most Prosperous Cities in the United States” list. Midland achieved a 10th place ranking, while major Texas cities such as Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston did not even appear on the list.

One reason for Brownsville’s high ranking is that the list does not rely on conventional wealth metrics, but rather progress achieved in a half dozen “prosperity indicators.” As well as home value, these include income, population, poverty rate, higher education, and unemployment.

The city has witnessed a 30 percent population expansion since the last census, with the unemployment rate dropping 28 percent and the poverty rate by 9 percent. At the same time, that percentage of the population holding at least an undergraduate degree has increased by 35 percent.

Unfortunately, despite tech-driven inroads in diversifying the local economy, the median household income stands stubbornly at less than $35,000 in a state where the median household income is more than $56,000.