Maverick County Poverty Rate Shows Limited Progress During Past Decade

By Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2026 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

Maverick County experienced only a modest reduction in poverty over the past decade, with more than one out of every five residents continuing to live below the federal poverty level, according to annual estimates from the United States Census Bureau.

Data from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program showed that Maverick County’s poverty rate decreased from 23.9 percent in 2015 to 21.8 percent in 2024.

The reduction represented a decline of only 2.1 percentage points over ten years.
In 2015, an estimated 13,514 Maverick County residents lived in poverty. By 2024, that number had declined to approximately 12,700 residents, a reduction of 814 people.

The county’s poverty rate increased to 24.3 percent in 2016 before reaching 27 percent in 2017. It decreased to 25.9 percent in 2018 and rose again to 26.9 percent in 2019.

The number of residents living in poverty reached its highest point during the period in 2019, when approximately 15,491 people were estimated to have incomes below the federal poverty level.

A significant decline occurred in 2020, when the poverty rate fell to 20 percent and the estimated number of residents in poverty dropped to 11,439.

The improvement did not continue during the following years.

The rate increased to 20.5 percent in 2021, 21.9 percent in 2022 and 22.8 percent in 2023. It then declined by one percentage point to 21.8 percent in 2024.

Maverick County’s poverty rate averaged approximately 23.5 percent during the ten-year period.

The limited reduction raised questions about whether local economic growth had created enough stable and well-paying employment opportunities to provide meaningful economic mobility for local families.

However, poverty statistics alone do not establish that insufficient job creation was the sole cause. Wages, workforce participation, educational attainment, housing expenses, childcare, transportation, healthcare costs and household composition can also influence the poverty rate.

The figures also showed that growth in taxable property values and economic development did not necessarily translate into a comparable reduction in the number of residents struggling financially.

The latest annual county estimate available was for 2024. Maverick County’s official 2025 poverty numbers are expected to be released by the Census Bureau later this year.

The annual figures came from the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program, which produces poverty and income estimates for states, counties and school districts.

The data showed that while Maverick County made some progress over the decade, poverty remained a significant economic and community challenge, affecting approximately one out of every five local residents.

The data reflects the hard economic situation facing the United States-Mexico border county. Despite Maverick County’s population growth and the doubling of the appraised property tax roll during the past decade, the border county requires economic development and visionary leadership to pull it out of the poorest counties in the United States.