Amarillo Texas: Encyclopedia II - Amarillo Texas - Economy

Amarillo Texas - Economy

Amarillo is considered the regional economical center for the Texas Panhandle as well as eastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma Panhandle. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industry with the largest contribution to personal income in the city was the services industry with 23.52 percent in 2000. The government industry contributed 16.37 percent while retail trade category contributed 10.16 percent.

The city's largest employer in 2005 is Tyson Foods with 3,700 employees. The Amarillo Independent School District is next with 3,659 employees followed by BWXT Pantex, Baptist St. Anthony’s Health Care System, City of Amarillo, Northwest Texas Healthcare System, Amarillo College, and United Supermarkets. Other major employers include Bell Helicopter Textron, Owens Corning, and ASARCO. Amarillo National Bank is the largest financial institution serving the city.^[6] As the dairy industry flees California, the Amarillo region particularly in Hereford, Texas, serves as a fast growing milk producing area as several multi-million dollar state of the art dairies were built in early 2000s. ^[7]

The Amarillo Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) is funded by a city sales tax, and it provides aggressive incentive packages to existing and prospective employers. In the mid-to-late 1990s, the AEDC gained notoriety by sending mock checks to businesses across the country, placing full-page advertisements in The Wall Street Journal, and paying an annual $1 million USD subsidy to American Airlines to retain jet service.^[8][9] The AEDC is largely responsible for bringing Bell Helicopter Textron's development of the V-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft and the future site of Marine One assembly in Amarillo.^[10]

Amarillo is also home to medical facilities including Baptist St. Anthony’s and Northwest Texas Hospitals, the Harrington Cancer Center, and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech School of Pharmacy. All are located in the Harrington Regional Medical Center, the first specifically designated city hospital district in Texas.^[11] Baptist St. Anthony's, known locally as BSA, had some of its services listed on the U.S. News & World Report's "Top 50 Hospitals" from 2002 to 2005.^[12]

The city is also surrounded by farmers with wheat and irrigated corn as the main crops.

Corporate presence

Amarillo is home to a few corporate headquarters. Additionally, several companies have a large presence in the city.

• Affiliated Foods, Inc., grocery cooperative
• Anderson Merchandisers, distributor of DVD movies and music CDs to retailers such as Wal-Mart.
• Corporate Systems, medical claims administration software developer
• Hastings Entertainment, books and music retailer
• Pantex, nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly
• Tech Spray, chemical cleaners producer
• Toot 'n Totum, convenience store chain

Major companies in Amarillo

• Bell Helicopter Textron, helicopter and tiltrotor manufacturer
• BNSF Railway, railroad
• Tyson Foods, beef processor
• Xcel Energy, electric provider
• Owens Corning, fiberglass

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Economy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki