Best Cities In North Texas

North Texas Workforce Region and commercial market is made up of 11 counties on the northern border. The Greater Wichita Falls Area is the metro hub of this region and covers three counties itself.

Considering a greater land mass of the northern portions of Texas, seven Texas cities ranked throughout the list of the Top 25 Best Places to Move in America by Forbes.com. These are not far from Wichita Falls and speak to the growing economies northern parts of the state.

The leading Texas cities include Flower Mound at #6; Frisco, 7; McKinney, 9; Carrollton, 12; The Woodlands, 14; Allen, 19, and Plano at Number 25 in the Top 25 Best Places to Move.

Compared to the rest of the United States,the cost of living in Wichita Falls is almost 25% cheaper than in the rest of America, with about 104,000 residents. Residents posting on Internet bulletin boards say that Wichita Falls shows a lot of potential for the near future, especially west of I-44. Areas east of I-44 are subjects for revitalization plans in the further future. Mid-Careerists and workers with families find the Greater Wichita Falls Area a good place to raise families and pursue career advancement.

Native Americans lives in North Texas for quite a while and several nations passed through this area on their way eastward and back to the west as they were pushed back by white settlements, particularly around the Civil War. The Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Apache nations were sojouners back and forth.

Wichita Nation is the longest situated nation in the North Texas and Texoma areas. They likey came through the Red River from Oklahoma and Kansas thousands of years ago. The French developed good relations with the Wichita in the 1700's and the Wichita helped the French trade with Comanche Nation.

Wichita likely comes from a Choctaw word that means "big arbor", which is a grass-thatched arbor in native villages of northern Texas and into Oklahoma. Wichita Nation called itself simple First People. They stayed put and did not roam the plains, living interment villages in their tall cone-shaped straw huts. Arbors joined the huts and served as roofing for group work and meal preparation.

In the late 1860s - 1870s, cattle ranchers appeared in the Wichita Falls area and Native Americans were eventually removed to reservation lands in Oklahoma. By 1882, the Texas railroads had come through and farmers appeared on the scene as well.

In 1907, the city was the hub for North Texas and South Oklahoma in cotton, followed by food and livestock-feed crops. Oil was found a few years later.

Sheppard Air Force Base was built during WWII and boosted the local economy even further.

The major industries in the 21st Century are

1. Trade/Transportation/ Utilities,
2. Government, and
3. Manufacturing.

The job titles in both columns listed directly below and in bold type indicate occupations that are forecasted by the federal and state government to produce the greatest increase in openings by 1) percentage increase and 2) actual numbers of jobs. In the case of the greater Wichita Falls Area and North Texas, seven out of the 15, or about half of the listings appear in both columns.

Among actual job listings "Registered Nurses" also appears, matching both forecasts. In addition, "Retail Sales Consultants" matches the forecast for Retail Salespersons. Healthcare shows as the clear leader in job openings during the examined time.

1. Personal, Home Care, and Home Health Aides
2. Farmers & Ranchers
3. Registered Nurses (RNs)
4. Retail Salespersons
5. All Food Prep and Service jobs 
6. Mainstream Elementary School Teachers
7. Farm Workers & Laborers - Plant crops and plants.
8. Customer Service Reps
9. Child Care Workers
10. Waitstaff - Dining.
11. Nurse's Aides and Orderlies
12. General Office Clerks
13. Janitors and Cleaners, except Housekeepers
14. Exec. Secretaries/Admin. Assts
15. Heavy Truck Drivers

1. Personal, Home Care, and Home Health Aides
2. Mainstream Elementary School Teachers
3. Restaurant Cooks
4. Registered Nurses (RNs)
5. Mainstream Middle School Teachers - not Voc-Ed
6. Customer Service Representatives
7. Child Care Workers
8. Teacher's Assistants
9. Clergypersons
10. Welders, Solderers & related
11. Mainstream Secondary School Teachers - not Voc-Ed
12. Waitstaff - Dining
13. Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
14. Receptionists
15. All Food Prep and Service jobs

1. Sheppard United States Air Force Base
2. Wichita Falls Public School System
3. North Texas State Hospital
4. United Regional Healthcare System
5. City of Wichita Falls - City Government
6. Midwestern State University
7. Howmet Corp WF Casting Division - Gas turbines and engine parts.
8. Prisons: James V. Allred Unit - State Maximum Security Prison
9. AT&T & AT&T Wireless
10. Cryovac Division, Sealed Air Corp - Two locations for flexible packaging.

Bold entries represent those also forecasted to increase most.

1. Healthcare Support (Patient Techs, etc.) and IT Jobs
2. Sales Associates and Sales Representatives
3. IT Engineers at Texas Instruments, Zodiac Aerospace, Delphi, Randstad Engineering Placement,
4. Retail Sales Consultants, Big Ticket
5. Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists
6. Registered Nurses (RNs)
7. Truck Drivers
8. Medical laboratory jobs - PhD, MS, BA/BS.
9. Occupational Therapy Assistants
10. Restaurant and Food Service Shift Supervisors - front line supervisors and managers.

The Top 10 Leading Job Listings in this metro area are included in any of three industries: 1) Healthcare, 2) Sales, 3) IT and 4) Food Service/Dining.

• Wichita State University in Kansas near Northern Texas - The National Science Foundation (NSF) ranked WSU as Number 3 of all American universities in money invested in aeronautical engineering research and development two years in a row.Johns Hopkins was Number One and and Georgia Institute of Technology was Number Two. WSU's stading is very important to the emerging Private Space Transportation industries arising in Texas and New Mexico (Spaceport America in Las Cruces).
• Embry-Riddle University - Includes branches in Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Dyess AFB, Randolph AFB, and Sheppard AFB inTexas
• University of Oklahoma - Located in south central Oklahoma, not far form Northern Texas.
• Midwestern State University at Wichita Falls
• Vernon College
• Wayland Baptist University at Sheppard Air Force Base (2nd location in town).