Key City Growth: The Top 3 Employment Fields in Abilene
According to the latest numbers from Data USA, the three most common sectors of employment in Abilene are health care/health services assistance, retail, and educational services. While Dyess Air Force Base is a major employer, the fact remains that health care, retail, and education are the top three employers in the Key City.
The latest numbers according to DataUSA.com state that Abilene's healthcare employs just under 10,000, while the retail trade sector employs just over 7000, and the education sector has nearly 6000 employees. Dyess has a population of just over 13,000 and employs just over 5,500. It is expected to grow with the addition of a new aircraft that is coming to the base.
The fact that Dyess is the first base in the nation getting the new bomber is an indicator that our employment sector will be growing even more than what the latest Data USA numbers are showing. Not only will Dyess grow, we will now have a city that needs to accommodate all the new families moving in to support the new aircraft.
City, county, and state government offices and other businesses are also hiring thousands of people in Abilene. Because of the civilian job market and the new aircraft coming to Dyess, both are working hard toward growing the employment numbers in the Big Country, thus making Abilene a leader in employment in the state.
Finally, all of Abilene's businesses produced just over $8 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021 and the numbers keep going up. All thanks are due to the various employers in Abilene. Sources included Data USA, Develop Abilene.com, Fred Economic Data, and the Employment chart on Wikipedia.