Childress County, Texas

County ranked by announced AI data-center load

750 MW Announced AI load

Campuses

Lead operator

IREN

Resi rate Δ (AEP Texas)

n/a

Home price Δ (3y)

n/a

Property tax Δ (3y)

-18.2%

Population (2024 ACS)

6,743

Median HH income (2024 ACS)

$58,654

Key takeaways

Childress County has 6,743 residents and the city of Childress has 5,737. IREN's 576-acre Childress campus is announced at 750 MW, more than 110 kW of AI compute capacity per Childress County resident.Source: Census ACS 2024 B01003 + sources[0] (IREN Childress) + sources[1] (Wikipedia: Childress, TX)
The IREN site connects directly to ERCOT via on-site substations IREN owns, with both air and liquid cooling. AEP Texas serves the county but ERCOT's deregulated retail market means EIA cannot report a 3-year residential rate delta.Source: sources[0] (IREN Childress) + data/cache/utility_rate_yoy.csv (no AEP Texas residential row)
Property tax assessments fell 18.2% over three years, the steepest drop in any batch-4 county. Median household income is $58,654 and the median home value is $125,400, both below state averages.Source: data/cache/property_tax_yoy.csv (FIPS 48075) + Census ACS 2024 B19013, B25077
Childress is the only batch-4 county with a Bitcoin-miner-turned-AI operator anchoring its grid load, IREN built the original site as a mining facility before pivoting to AI compute. Only 11.8% of residents over 25 hold a bachelor's degree, the lowest in batch 4.Source: data/sites/data_centers.csv (IREN) + Census ACS 2024 B15003

Hispanic residents make up 34.0% of Childress County's 6,772 people. Combined with 6.7% Black residents, more than 40% of the county is non-white, atypical for the eastern Panhandle.Source: Census ACS 2023 B03003, B02001 (FIPS 48075)
Only 0.5% of the Childress labor force is officially unemployed, the lowest unemployment of any Texas county in batch 4. The Childress Regional Medical Center and the state prison unit anchor a labor market with almost no slack for IREN's 750 MW expansion.Source: Census ACS 2023 B23025 (FIPS 48075)
Just 80.8% of Childress households have broadband at home, the second lowest connectivity in batch 4 after Mitchell. About 1,300 residents face a digital-divide gap as a 750 MW AI campus connects to ERCOT in their county.Source: Census ACS 2023 B28002 (FIPS 48075)
Only 2.9% of Childress adults are veterans, the lowest veteran share in batch 4. Manufacturing employs 6.5% of workers, with no large industrial anchor in the county before IREN.Source: Census ACS 2023 B21001, C24050 (FIPS 48075)