East Texas - Economy

Economy

In the decades leading to 2009, crude oil production in the East Texas Oil Field, the largest oil field in the United States, decreased. In turn, the number of high-paying jobs for uneducated workers also decreased. Many small towns had closed cafés and gas stations, some of which were replaced with cash loan shops and pawn shops.

Paul Knight of the Houston Press in a 2009 article that "some say has surpassed crude as king in East Texas."