Maverick County Families Struggling With Low Federal Minimum Wage Rate Amid Legislative Proposal to Increase It to $15 Per Hour in 2027
An Exclusive Report by Eagle Pass Business Journal
By Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2026 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A proposal to raise the Texas minimum wage to $15 an hour could bring significant changes for working families in Eagle Pass and Maverick County, where low household incomes and persistent poverty have left many residents struggling to cover basic expenses.
State Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, a Democrat representing House District 102 in the Richardson area, filed House Bill 110 on November 9 for consideration during the 2027 legislative session. The proposal would require covered employers to pay at least $15 an hour or the federal minimum wage, whichever is higher, beginning September 1, 2027, if enacted.
Texas currently follows the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. That rate last increased on July 24, 2009, when it rose from $6.55, leaving the legal wage floor unchanged for more than 17 years.
For Maverick County, the debate extends beyond hourly pay. It involves whether employment provides enough income for families to afford housing, groceries, transportation and other necessities without continued public assistance.
U.S. Census Bureau figures listed the county’s poverty rate at 21.8 percent and median household income at $49,568 during the 2020 through 2024 reporting period. Median gross monthly rent during that period was $859. Household income can include earnings from more than one worker.
A person earning $7.25 an hour and working 40 hours every week would make $15,080 annually before taxes, or approximately $1,257 monthly. Compared with the county’s published median gross rent, that would leave approximately $398 before taxes for other expenses.
At $15 an hour, the same work schedule would generate $31,200 annually before taxes, an increase of $16,120. A worker currently earning $12 an hour would receive an additional $6,240 annually if hours remained unchanged.
Those calculations illustrate the potential effect on individual paychecks. They do not establish how many local employees would receive raises, and the available figures do not support a claim that most Eagle Pass workers earn below $15.
Food assistance provides another measure of the financial pressures facing households.
Census data published through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis recorded 14,691 SNAP participants in Maverick County in 2023. That historical figure included eligible household members, including children, rather than representing a count of unemployed adults.
National figures showed that employment and food assistance frequently overlapped. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 28 percent of SNAP households had earned income in fiscal year 2024. Among participating households with children, 54 percent had earnings. Those national percentages do not establish the employment status of Maverick County recipients.
Higher wages could reduce some families’ need for assistance, but a $15 hourly wage would not automatically end SNAP eligibility.
Eligibility depends on household size, total income, deductions and other requirements. Texas permits qualifying households meeting resource requirements to receive categorical eligibility with gross income up to 165 percent of the federal poverty level. A single wage earner supporting children could therefore remain eligible after receiving a raise.
SNAP benefits generally decline as countable net income rises. However, families can also encounter abrupt losses of assistance when earnings cross eligibility thresholds. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has documented how these benefit losses can sometimes leave households financially worse off despite higher pay.
The transition would also matter for local businesses facing higher payroll expenses.
Possible policy measures could include scheduled wage increases, temporary assistance tied to employee retention, workforce training and support for improvements that help businesses operate more efficiently. Benefits counseling and transitional assistance could help families understand how increased earnings would affect their household budgets.
Those measures are policy options rather than provisions currently included in HB 110, which proposes the $15 rate beginning September 1, 2027, without intermediate increases.
Keeping consumer prices unchanged cannot be guaranteed. Research examining McDonald’s restaurants found that employers passed some additional wage costs to customers through higher prices. That finding does not predict how every Eagle Pass business would respond.
For Eagle Pass families, the practical question would be how much additional income remained after taxes, changes in assistance and household expenses. For employers, it would be how to meet a higher wage requirement while sustaining operations and employment.
HB 110 is a proposal filed during the prefiling period ahead of the 2027 Texas legislative session and awaits legislative consideration. Its potential impact raises questions about whether the state’s longstanding minimum wage adequately supports working families in Eagle Pass and Maverick County.
