How Prepared is Texas for a Digital Economy Future?

DALLAS—The COVID-19 pandemic is changing working routines around the world, all while accelerating digital economies. But how easy is it to adapt to these changes?

Storage Cafe’s study assessed each state’s ability to cope with the demands of a ballooning digital world. After analyzing numbers across 10 metrics, the study determined that Texas ranks as the 16th most digitally prepared state to take an economy online.

Texas ranks fifth nationwide for its tech base with its net tech employment at about 1 million and its tech employment growth of more than 200,000 during the past 10 years. Tech is a major contributor to Texas’ GDP at $141.7 billion, a figure that’s second only to California’s.

As for its digital infrastructure, Texas boasts a decent 46.9 mbps Internet speed (surpassing the US average of 36.1 mbps and landing Texas in fifth place nationwide). However, it only has 86.9% broadband coverage, placing the state at number 30 for overall Internet connectivity.

“Texas certainly has well-developed cities and provides many tech sector jobs, but it also encompasses very rural regions which may not be profitable areas of business for high-speed Internet providers,” Francis Chantree, Storage Café analyst, tells GlobeSt.com. “This means that overall the Lone Star State does not offer such great Internet infrastructure as some other states which are more widely urbanized and have fewer sparsely populated regions.”

Close to 80% of Texan households have an Internet subscription and almost 90% own a computer, making the Lone Star State 27th in the country for personal tech availability. Out of the 10 most technologically prepared US metros, two of them are in Texas, namely Austin and Dallas.

The state had a 4.7% share of its population working from home prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Overall, the states that are well positioned to lead in terms of digital preparedness may be more able to adapt and more readily experience post-pandemic economic recovery.