LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Hub City’s reputation as an affordable place to live is now drawing businesses alongside families, according to the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance.
LEDA CEO John Osborne said companies are increasingly asking about what living in Lubbock would look like for their employees. He said they are no longer making decisions solely based on operating costs or taxes.
“What they’re coming to us with is, tell me what’s happening with your community. Is it growing? And is there a workforce that is wanting to remain here?” Osborne said.
Osborne said prices have risen, but often at lower rates than other areas.
“I know prices have gone up in lots of ways for everyone, but they are sometimes going up higher in other places than they are here,” Osborne said. “And we’re seeing that the cost of living and doing business in Lubbock is so much better that people are moving back and they’re moving their companies here and establishing operations here as a result.”
The Council for Community and Economic Research reports Lubbock’s overall cost of living index is 90.4 percent. The Economic Research Institute shows the cost of living is 18 percent lower than the national average and 10 percent lower than the state average.
“We’ve actually worked with some Californian companies that have said this being in Texas is so much better for our employees,” Osborne said. “And they want to actually allow their California employees to move here, but they’re also opening up those jobs to locals as well.”
Osborne said larger cities may have bigger workforces, but those employees are limited by traffic and travel times, but that’s not the case here.
“You start looking at those drive times and you can get pretty far out and allow for even some of our smaller cities around our area to have people that will want to come in for these jobs,” Osborne said. “And yet you’re not affecting in a negative way that cost of living.”
Osborne said LEDA takes company leaders around town to show them what their employees could be paying for a home. As the population grows, he said, so do the amenities.
“The fact that we can continue to grow our restaurants, our retail, and our attractions is really a direct result of the fact that we continue to have more operations, more businesses here, therefore employing people and more citizens that want to live here, and at the same time increasing the number of visitors that are wanting to come in,” Osborne said. “That combination of factors makes it to where a business can be successful. And then we as citizens really get to benefit from that growth.”
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.