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Pumpjacks operate near a drilling rig in July 2022 along Texas 191 between Midland and Odessa.<\/p>\n
Jon Shapley\/Houston Chronicle file photo<\/p>\n
Texas is celebrating a new bragging-rights number: $2.9 trillion.<\/p>\n
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That figure, highlighted in a Friday announcement from Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>, is the state\u2019s preliminary 2025 current-dollar gross domestic product, based on estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWith the Best Business Climate in America and unmatched pro-growth policies, Texas is the premier destination for job creators from across the country and world,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cWe will keep attracting world-class investment, create jobs, and expand opportunity for Texans for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a primary election night event hosted by the Young Conservatives of Texas and the Texas Young Republicans at Cedar Door Patio Bar & Grill in Austin on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Abbott is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n So what is Texas really claiming here?\u00a0<\/p>\n What the $2.9 trillion number means<\/p>\n The state produced about $2.9 trillion worth of goods and services in 2025, and its economy grew faster than the nation as a whole in real, inflation-adjusted terms, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n GDP is the broadest scoreboard for the size of an economy. It tries to capture the value created across industries, from oilfields and chip plants to hospitals, law firms, warehouses and restaurants. When the governor\u2019s office says Texas hit $2.9 trillion, it is pointing to the BEA\u2019s estimate for the value of all that activity in 2025.<\/p>\n The \u201ccurrent-dollar\u201d part means the number is not scrubbed of inflation. Prices rising can help push the total up, even when the economy is not booming in the way everyday people might imagine. Abbott\u2019s office paired the headline with another figure meant to answer that: Texas, it said, grew 2.5% in real terms in 2025, meaning after adjusting for inflation, compared with 2.1% for the U.S. overall.<\/p>\n How did Texas get here<\/p>\n Part of this story is time and scale. Abbott\u2019s office says the Texas economy stood at about $1.59 trillion when he took office in January 2015 and had grown to $2.9 trillion by the end of 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Texas is not running on one engine. It has a massive energy complex, one of the country\u2019s biggest trade corridors, a large and growing manufacturing base, a huge real estate and construction footprint, and a service economy that now includes everything from finance and logistics to legal work, engineering and corporate management.<\/p>\n Oil and gas still matter\u00a0<\/p>\n Energy is still one of the clearest answers to how Texas got this big.<\/p>\n The map indicates that the U.S. will not halt oil product imports but will instead see changes or disruptions in the refined product markets, and will continue to experience higher prices for consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jeff R Clow\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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