Oldham County, Texas

County ranked by announced AI data-center load

205 MW Announced AI load

Campuses

Lead operator

Hut 8

Resi rate Δ (Xcel Energy SPS)

-0.1%

Home price Δ (3y)

n/a

Property tax Δ (3y)

-4.4%

Population (2024 ACS)

2,249

Median HH income (2024 ACS)

$79,900

Key takeaways

Oldham County has 2,097 residents, the smallest county in this batch. Hut 8's 205 MW Vega campus is roughly 98 kW of compute per resident, one of the highest per-capita ratios in the dataset.Source: Census ACS 2023 B01003 (Oldham County, TX) + app/county/tx-oldham.html
Vega sits on historic Route 66 and the surrounding county is wheat and wind. Oldham County hosts several utility-scale wind farms tied to the Xcel SPS grid, the same grid Hut 8 is now drawing 205 MW from.Source: sources[0] (Wikipedia: Oldham County, Texas)
Xcel SPS residential rates actually fell 0.1% from 2021 to 2023 and Oldham property tax assessments fell 4.4% over the same window. Hut 8's load has not yet flowed through to either bill.Source: data/cache/utility_rate_yoy.csv (Southwestern Public Service Co, TX) + data/cache/property_tax_yoy.csv (FIPS 48359)
Median household income in Oldham County is $76,402, the highest of the four West Texas counties in this batch. That income is propped up by a small population of ranch landowners rather than wage workers.Source: Census ACS 2023 B19013, B25077 (FIPS 48359)

Only 0.7% of Oldham County's labor force is officially unemployed, on a working population of fewer than 800 adults. The Hut 8 Vega campus is landing in the tightest labor market in batch 4 by raw numbers.Source: Census ACS 2023 B23025 (FIPS 48359)
11.3% of Oldham's workers are in manufacturing, second only to Nolan in West Texas batch 4. The Vega industrial corridor along I-40 has absorbed wind-tower and pipeline fabrication for two decades.Source: Census ACS 2023 C24050 (FIPS 48359)
24.5% of Oldham residents are Hispanic and 9.8% of adults are veterans, the highest vet share of any rural Texas county in batch 4. Amarillo Air Force Base separations and Pantex retirees feed the local civilian base.Source: Census ACS 2023 B03003, B21001 (FIPS 48359)
17.7% of Oldham residents live in poverty despite the $76,402 median income, the second highest poverty rate in batch 4. The ranching-landowner income concentration leaves the wage-worker third of the county exposed.Source: Census ACS 2023 B17001 (FIPS 48359)