COASTAL BEND BUSINESS PROFILE
T
llllllllllll
llllllllllll
he Coastal Bend economy is supported by
approximately 50,000 firms and a total of 13,000
business establishments. Some, like the oil
refineries and industrial plants in the Corpus Christi Port
District, are remarkably large, each hiring thousands of
employees. Yet the majority of businesses, the backbone
of the local economy, are fairly small. Most local familyowned restaurants and auto repair shops, for instance,
operate with no more than 10 full-time employees. On
average, a business in the region hires 18.6 employees.
In addition to a large portion of the workforce that is selfemployed, many individuals run their business without
hiring any employee.
Business Establishments, 2001–2014
Source: EMSI Analyst Online
Coastal Bend Business Establishments by Industry, 2014
Business Trends
The growth trend of businesses in the Coastal Bend has lagged behind
the rest of the nation. The region gained only 4 percent in business
establishments between 2001 and 2014, less than one-third of the
national growth rate at 15 percent. Over this same period, the region’s
employment grew 16 percent. The faster growth rate in the employment
level than the growth rate in number of businesses means that the
typical business has expanded in terms of the number of employees.
Since 2001, the typical business in the Coastal Bend has added nearly
two employees.
Judging by the number of business establishments across
industries, the Coastal Bend economy is well diversified. The largest
sector is retail trade, which accounts for no more than 15 percent of
all businesses in the region. Other major sectors are health care (12%
of total businesses), and accommodation and food services (11%). The
majority of vendors in those three sectors are, however, relatively small.
Source: EMSI Analyst Online
Large and Small Businesses
Average Firm Size by Sales Volume, 2013
While businesses in the Coastal Bend appear to be
evenly distributed across different industries, firms in
certain industries are substantially larger than firms
in other industries. The accompanying bar chart
shows the average firm sizes of different industries
as measured by the firms’ annual sales volumes.
The sales volume per firm across all industries in the
region averaged at $2.9 million in 2013. The average
firm in the manufacturing industry generated nearly
10 times the regional average. Together, all firms in
that industry accounted for nearly 60 percent of all
sales generated in the region.
The utilities industry is second in terms of sales
per business establishment ($25 million), but
because of its much smaller number of firms, that
industry generated only 2 percent of the regional
sales volume. On the contrary, many retail trade
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
vendors tend to be relatively small, with an average
of $1.3 million, but their large number makes the sector the second largest in terms of sales.
2
Review of South Texas Business Conditions