Lubbock County

Key demographics — Lubbock County, Texas (latest available, primarily 2023 U.S. Census Bureau ACS 1-year estimates; 2020 Census where noted)

Population size

• Total population: ~325,000

Age

• Median age: ~31.0 years
• Age distribution: under 18: 24.8%; 18–24: 16.0%; 25–44: 28.2%; 45–64: 19.1%; 65+: 11.8%

Gender

• Female: 50.6%; Male: 49.4%

Racial/ethnic composition (mutually exclusive; Hispanic can be of any race, shown separately)

• Hispanic/Latino: 39.6%
• White, non-Hispanic: 47.5%
• Black/African American, non-Hispanic: 7.2%
• Asian, non-Hispanic: 2.9%
• Two or more races, non-Hispanic: 2.3%
• Other (AIAN, NHPI), non-Hispanic: 0.5%

Households

• Total households: ~123,000
• Average household size: ~2.63
• Family households: ~62% (married-couple families: ~43%)
• Households with children under 18: ~31%
• One-person households: ~29%
• Homeownership rate: ~55%
• Median household income: ~$62,000
• Poverty rate: ~17%

Insights

• Younger-than-national age profile, influenced by Texas Tech University and student population.
• Rapid, continuing growth with a rising Hispanic share (about 2 in 5 residents).
• Household structure is mixed: slight majority family households and moderate homeownership.

• Scope: Lubbock County, Texas (pop. ~317,000; 2023 est.); adults ~245,000.
• Estimated email users: ~203,000 adults (method: ~90% adult internet adoption × ~92% of online adults use email).
• Age distribution of email users (share of users):
  • 18–24: ~20%
  • 25–44: ~36%
  • 45–64: ~27%
  • 65+: ~17%
• Gender split among email users: mirrors population, ~50.8% female and ~49.2% male.
• Digital access and usage:
  • ~94% of households have a computer/device.
  • ~88% of households maintain a broadband subscription.
  • ~18% are smartphone‑only internet households, indicating mobile‑centric email access for a notable minority.
  • College presence (Texas Tech and others) skews usage younger and increases multi‑account and daily access rates.
• Local density/connectivity facts:
  • Population density ~350 residents per square mile; roughly 80–85% of residents live within the City of Lubbock, concentrating network infrastructure and yielding stronger fixed broadband and 5G coverage in the urban core.
  • Rural fringe areas show lower provider choice and greater reliance on mobile broadband, but overall county connectivity supports near‑universal email access among connected adults.

Insights: Email is effectively ubiquitous among connected adults, with the 25–44 cohort largest by volume; gaps primarily track rural location and older age.

Mobile phone usage in Lubbock County, Texas: key figures and how they differ from statewide patterns

Size of the user base (2023–2024)

• Population base: ≈322,000 residents and ≈120,000 households in Lubbock County (2023 Census/ACS).
• Adult smartphone users (estimate): ≈225,000–235,000 adults use smartphones, based on Texas/Pew-reported adult ownership near 90% and Lubbock’s younger-than-average age profile.
• Total mobile connections (estimate): ≈500,000–560,000 active SIMs across consumer, M2M/IoT, and business lines, using Texas’ high connections-per-capita ratio applied to county population.
• Wireless-only dependency (estimate): A majority of households are mobile-only for voice (no landline), and a sizable share are smartphone-dependent for internet access; given Lubbock’s student-heavy demographics, this share is higher than the Texas average.

Demographic breakdown and usage patterns

• Age:
  • Lubbock County skews younger than Texas overall (driven by Texas Tech University and a large 18–34 cohort).
  • 18–29: near-universal smartphone ownership and heavy 5G/data usage; very high reliance on mobile hotspots/off-campus connections during academic year.
  • 30–64: near-state-average smartphone and multi-line adoption; above-average family plan penetration.
  • 65+: smaller share of the population than statewide; smartphone adoption trails younger cohorts but is rising. Senior smartphone user count in the county is measured in the tens of thousands, with increasing telehealth/video use anchored by the local medical district.
• Income and plan mix:
  • Median household income is below the Texas median; prepaid and value MVNO plans have above-average share compared with large Texas metros.
  • The sunset of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in 2024 disproportionately affected low-income and student users; local carriers and campuses report noticeable shifts to lower-cost plans and greater Wi‑Fi offload.
• Race/ethnicity:
  • Hispanic share is slightly below the Texas average; Black share is lower than the state average; White, non-Hispanic share is higher than the state average.
  • Smartphone ownership is broadly high across groups, but smartphone-only internet use is more common among lower-income households and students than statewide, reflecting housing churn and affordability dynamics.

Digital infrastructure and performance

• 5G/LTE coverage:
  • All three national carriers (AT&T, T‑Mobile, Verizon) provide countywide LTE and broad 5G in and around the city of Lubbock (Lubbock, Wolfforth, Shallowater, Slaton, Idalou).
  • Mid-band 5G (C‑band/n41) is widely deployed within the urban core, medical district, shopping corridors, and the Texas Tech campus; mmWave is limited to event or hotspot locations when used.
  • Rural edges and agricultural zones see LTE fallbacks and sparser sectorization; coverage remains serviceable along major highways (US‑62/82, US‑84, US‑87/US‑27) but with lower uplink and higher variability than urban Lubbock.
• Capacity and speeds:
  • Typical urban 5G downlink speeds are triple-digit Mbps with strong mid-band backhaul; LTE ranges from tens to low hundreds of Mbps in town and drops to 10–50 Mbps at the county periphery.
  • Event-driven load is prominent (college football, concerts, graduation). Carriers regularly deploy COWs/COLTs and add temporary spectrum/carrier aggregation near Jones AT&T Stadium and the campus core.
• Backhaul and fiber:
  • Lubbock is a regional fiber node in West Texas (notably Vexus Fiber, plus AT&T and Optimum), which underpins strong mobile backhaul and facilitates rapid 5G upgrades.
  • Ongoing fiber buildouts to neighborhoods feed both residential offload (Wi‑Fi calling) and denser small-cell siting; small-cell clusters are observable near Texas Tech, downtown, and medical complexes.
• Public Wi‑Fi and offload:
  • Texas Tech University and health systems provide extensive Wi‑Fi that materially offloads mobile data during weekdays; this offload is higher than the state average because of the concentrated campus environment.

How Lubbock County differs from Texas overall

• Younger, more student-heavy user base:
  • Higher smartphone penetration among 18–34 and greater mobile-only reliance for both voice and broadband access than the Texas average.
• Plan mix tilts toward value:
  • Above-average prepaid/MVNO share and multi-line family/student plans; sensitivity to ACP changes more visible in usage and offload behavior than in large, higher-income metros.
• Network experience is “wide but not dense”:
  • In-city 5G mid-band performs consistently well thanks to ample backhaul and moderate spectrum contention; ultra-dense mmWave and indoor DAS seen in Houston/Dallas are less common.
  • Rural edges reveal spacing-driven coverage gaps and lower uplink compared with denser Texas metros; however, corridor coverage on primary highways is strong.
• Event-driven capacity management is a bigger factor:
  • Traffic spikes tied to university athletics and campus events require temporary capacity augments more frequently (per capita) than in many Texas counties.
• Higher Wi‑Fi offload rates:
  • University and hospital systems’ robust Wi‑Fi ecosystems shift more traffic off cellular during work/school hours than the statewide norm.

Bottom-line insights

• Expect roughly 225k+ adult smartphone users and around half a million total mobile connections in Lubbock County, with usage concentrated in and around the city of Lubbock and the Texas Tech campus.
• The county’s youth skew, strong fiber backhaul, and broad mid-band 5G create a solid everyday experience, but rural fringes and event surges define the main pain points.
• Compared with Texas overall, Lubbock’s mobile market is more price-sensitive, more reliant on wireless-only and smartphone-only access, and more dependent on campus/public Wi‑Fi offload, with fewer ultra-dense urban 5G deployments but steadier mid-band performance in daily use.

Social media usage in Lubbock County, TX (best-available 2023–2024 estimates)

Headline user stats

• Population context: ≈317,000 residents; large student presence from Texas Tech University skews the county younger than the U.S. average.
• Adults (18+): ≈240,000. Based on Pew Research’s national benchmarks, about 70–75% of adults use at least one social platform ⇒ ≈170,000–185,000 adult users.
• Teens (13–17): ~95% use at least one social platform (Pew benchmark). Combined 13+ social users in the county are on the order of ≈215,000–235,000.

Age-group usage (likelihood of using at least one platform; local usage mirrors U.S. but is boosted among 18–24 due to the university)

• 13–17: ~95%
• 18–24: ~90–95%
• 25–34: ~84–88%
• 35–54: ~80–85%
• 55+: ~50–60%

Gender breakdown

• County population is approximately even (about 51% female, 49% male), and overall social media users follow a similar split.
• Platform skews (U.S.-based patterns that also show locally): Pinterest is predominantly female; Facebook and Instagram lean slightly female; LinkedIn leans slightly male; X (Twitter) and Reddit skew male; Snapchat has a slight female tilt among younger users.

Most-used platforms (share of adults who use each platform; Lubbock County usage closely tracks U.S. rates, with higher Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok among ages 18–24)

• YouTube: ~83%
• Facebook: ~68%
• Instagram: ~47%
• Pinterest: ~35%
• LinkedIn: ~30%
• TikTok: ~33%
• Snapchat: ~30%
• WhatsApp: ~29%
• X (Twitter): ~22%
• Reddit: ~22% Notes: Among ages 18–29, usage rises to roughly YouTube ~95%, Instagram ~70–80%, Snapchat ~60–70%, TikTok ~60% (Pew benchmarks), which aligns with observed student-driven activity in Lubbock.

Behavioral trends in Lubbock County

• Student-driven platforms: Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok dominate among Texas Tech students; short-form vertical video (Reels/TikTok) is the primary format for event promotion, nightlife, sports, and campus life.
• Community and commerce on Facebook: Heavy use of Facebook Groups (neighborhoods, churches, K–12/booster clubs, buy/sell/Marketplace). Local SMBs rely on Facebook/Instagram for reach; Marketplace is a key channel for secondhand goods and rentals.
• Local news and weather: High engagement with local media pages (especially during storm season and university sports). Facebook remains the top channel for local news discovery; YouTube for longer local content and sports recaps.
• Messaging and private sharing: Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp see strong use for family/community coordination; WhatsApp usage is higher among Hispanic and international communities.
• Neighborhood platforms: Nextdoor has meaningful penetration in suburban neighborhoods (south and southwest Lubbock), used for safety alerts, services, and HOA matters.
• Professional networking: LinkedIn is most active among healthcare, education, and public-sector professionals; used for recruitment and graduate job pipelines tied to Texas Tech and major medical employers.
• Temporal patterns: Evenings see the highest engagement; student activity spikes Thurs–Sat and during fall football season and back-to-school periods; weather events drive short, real-time video updates across platforms.

Sources and methods

• User and platform percentages are derived primarily from Pew Research Center’s 2023–2024 U.S. adult social media usage benchmarks, applied to Lubbock County’s population structure (U.S. Census Bureau/ACS). Local behavioral insights reflect the county’s younger age mix and institutional anchors (Texas Tech University), which consistently increase usage of Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok relative to older-skewing counties.