Top 10 High Demand Jobs in America's Cheapest Place to Live: Graceland of Texas

Having lived in Galveston at one time, friends from the Midwest moved back to Texas to the San Antonio area a few years ago. They chose the San Antonio area for its job market and its not-too-distant location from the Gulf of Mexico. Rather to fear hurricanes that had destroyed some relatives homes in the Galveston area, they preferred to live inland and rive to the Gulf in good weather.

Brownsville, Texas is located at the southernmost point in South Texas, south of both San Antonio and Galveston. It is also fun place to travel and not too far distant by automobile. It is also the Cheapest (Good) Places to Live in America, according to Kiplinger Magazine in 2010 and still in the Top 10 Cheapest a year later. Kiplinger is one of the oldest and most accurate financial and economic resources in the country. I added the word Good myself, because Kiplinger would not recommend cheaper-though-rundown towns.

Brownsville continues to grow quickly in Texas, having a 175,023 population in 2010 according to US Census2010 records and 179,000+ in 2011. Over 4,000 people have moved into the city or been born into it in just a single year.

At the same time, the local cost of living is figured to be nearly 24% lower than the average in the USA. Local jobs increased slightly during 2011, with a government prediction of a 28% increase through 2020. Home prices occur at a median of about $75,000, with an appreciation of about 1% in 2011 over 2010.

The Brownsville-Harlingen Metro area that combines the two cities is across the border from the Mexican city of Matamoros and restaurants that visitors report give top notch service, even if they are a little rundown. Just 15 minutes away from Brownsville in Texas is the city of Los Fresnos. This smaller city holds a yearly Elvis Presley Festival at "Little Graceland."

Mr. Simon Vega is the happy owner of Little Graceland in Los Fresnos TX, filled with memorabilia from as far back as the 1950s. Mr. Vega served in Germany with Elvis Presley in the US Army and inhabited the same barracks as The King.

The City of Los Fernos and the Chamber of Commerce help Mr. Vega hold two different Elvis Festivals each year. One of these is held in the birth month of The King - January. The other is held in the month of his death - August. Elvis Tribute Artists appear at both festivals and compete for prizes, but Mr. Vega also knew the legendary Freddie Fender. Fender is also honored at the festivals with tribute artists.

• The historic district of Brownsville is located downtown, under ongoing development sponsored by the City of Brownsville, the Chamber of Commerce, the local Economic Development entity, and local businesses. This sector of the city is home to many shops, museums, and historic buildings, some of which become horror mansions and Halloween sleepover events in October. One interesting event is sponsored by Briownsville art galleries - showings of Mexican Cinema Horror Posters.

From October 2011 to July 2012, a stable 2,200 - 2,500 job listings appeared for Brownsville, up to a radius of 25 miles away, including Los Fesnos TX and Matamoros. The most jobs offered fell into the range of $40 - $59K per year, the second highest pay range being $20 - $39K.

Four separate bridges connect Brownsville, Texas with its Mexican counterpart across the Rio Grande River. Heavy foot traffic from Mexico adds to the economic wealth of Brownsville with increasing retail sales. Highest Demand Jobs include retail salespeople:

1. Physical Therapists
2. Occupational Therapists
3. Registered Nurses (RNs) - Climbed to #3 since 2011
4. Physicians
5. Trucking - Drivers and Mechanics
6. Engineers - Up from #8 in 2011
7. Managers
8. Event Specialists
9. Salespeople - Lots of openings in Insurance Sales
10. Public Health Jobs

Matamoros Top Employers (250 jobs July 2012)

1. RH Enlace Global
2. .Proyeccion Laboral
3. La cosmopolitana S.A. de C.V. - City Jobs
4. Corecomposites de Mexico S de R.L de C.V
5. Tridonex, S de R.L. de C.V.
6. Operadora de Personal OPIX
7. CTS Electro de Matamoros
8. Superación Empresarial en Recursos Humanos, S.C.
9. Manpower
10. Bright Finishing S. de R.L. de C.V.
11. Lineage Power Matamoros'
12. DISH Mexico

The Brownsville-Harlingen Metro Area is rated as a top metro are for development among the Top 100 Locations named by Area Development in Third QTR 2011. Reasons for this include the following:

In Harlingen, the company Tire Recycling & Processing began construction of a facililty that processes used tires into carbon black, granules, and bio fuels and will offer new jobs in a factory covering 42,777 square feet. The University of Texas is in the process of developing a new Medical Center in the area. Several other large ventures are under construction and the area is ranked high for warehousing and distribution of goods as well. Related to this, the North Brownsville Industrial Park is to be built in 2011 - 2012. A Michigan Company, CK Technologies, is moving to Brownsville in 2012 as well. In addition, research into algae-based fuels is increasingly successful in Brownsville companies.