Reagan County

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Baseline anchor (Decennial Census):

• Total population (2020 Census): 3,367 (Reagan County, Texas)

Awaiting permission to fetch the latest ACS 2019–2023 estimates for age, gender, racial/ethnic composition, and household data.

Reagan County, TX snapshot

• Population and density: ≈3,385 residents across ≈1,176 sq mi (≈2.9 people/sq mi).
• Estimated active email users: ≈2,300 residents (about 90% of adults; ≈68% of total population), synthesized from rural Texas internet and email adoption benchmarks.

Age distribution of email users (estimated share of users)

• 18–34: ~28%
• 35–54: ~40%
• 55–64: ~18%
• 65+: ~14%

Gender split among email users

• ~55% male, 45% female, reflecting the county’s male-leaning workforce profile.

Digital access and trends

• Households with internet: ~84%; with fixed broadband (cable/DSL/fiber): ~78%; smartphone-only access: ~20%.
• Connectivity is strongest in and around Big Lake; outlying ranchland depends more on mobile, satellite, or fixed wireless. Gradual gains continue as cellular capacity and fixed-wireless offerings expand.

Local connectivity context

• Very low density and long last‑mile distances raise per‑premise build costs, keeping reliance on mobile data above urban Texas norms.
• Energy-sector shift work and commuting patterns support high mobile email use and off‑peak traffic.

Figures are county-specific estimates derived from Census/ACS structure, FCC availability mapping, and Pew email usage rates for rural Texas.

Reagan County, Texas — mobile phone usage snapshot

Context

• Population: ~3,400 residents (2020 Census baseline with modest fluctuation since), spread across ~1,180 sq mi, centered on Big Lake. Very low density and an oil-and-gas–oriented economy shape both adoption and infrastructure.

User estimates

• Adult smartphone users: ~2,100 (estimate). Method: ~2,450 adults in county; applying recent U.S. smartphone-ownership rates by age (Pew Research: ~96% ages 18–34, ~90% ages 35–64, ~61% ages 65+) yields ~2,100 adult users.
• Teen smartphone users: ~250 (estimate). Method: ~260 teens ages 13–17 in county; ~95% adoption among teens.
• Total unique smartphone users (all ages): ~2,350, or roughly 70% of the total population.
• Basic/feature phone users: ~300–350 adults (roughly 14% of adults), notably higher than the Texas average due to an older and more rural cohort.
• Connections vs. people: Active SIMs likely exceed the number of residents because of work-issued handsets, hotspots, and machine-to-machine/IoT lines tied to oilfield operations; this pushes “lines per capita” above 1.0 even as unique-user share is below the Texas average.

Demographic breakdown of users

• Ethnicity: The county’s population is roughly two-thirds Hispanic/Latino. Applying near-parity smartphone adoption among Hispanic adults (high-80s to ~90%) means a majority of local smartphone users are Hispanic, and mobile-only internet reliance is meaningfully above the state average.
• Age: Young and middle-aged working adults dominate usage. Penetration is near-universal for 18–49, dips in 50–64, and drops most in 65+ (where roughly 4 in 10 do not use smartphones), creating a larger age gap than the Texas average.
• Plan type: Prepaid/MVNO usage is materially higher than statewide norms, driven by seasonal/migrant work patterns and price sensitivity. Postpaid family plans remain common among long-term residents.
• Device mix: Android share is higher than the state average (cost-driven), and ruggedized devices/phone+radio combos are more prevalent due to fieldwork.

Digital infrastructure and coverage

• Macro coverage: 4G LTE is dependable in and around Big Lake and along US‑67, TX‑137, and TX‑163. Coverage thins rapidly off the main corridors and on ranch/lease roads; fringe areas often see single-carrier service and lower signal quality compared with urban Texas.
• 5G: Low-band 5G is present in town and along primary corridors; mid-band 5G is spotty and largely corridor-limited; mmWave is absent. Practically, most users experience LTE or low-band 5G, with mid-band bursts near towers.
• Carriers: AT&T and Verizon provide the most consistent rural footprint; T‑Mobile performs well in town and on major roads but has notable gaps off‑corridor. FirstNet (AT&T Band 14) improves public-safety coverage where deployed.
• Capacity and backhaul: Sites rely on a mix of fiber-fed and microwave backhaul. Congestion spikes coincide with oilfield activity surges (shift changes, drilling campaigns), causing more variable speeds than the Texas average.
• Private/industrial networks: CBRS/private LTE nodes on leases and facilities are more common than in most Texas counties; they support sensors, video, and worker comms but do not serve consumers.
• Redundancy: Single points of failure are more likely outside Big Lake; a downed sector or microwave hop can isolate large areas. Residents and field crews frequently carry multi-carrier or satellite-messaging failovers.
• Wi‑Fi and fixed broadband interplay: Fixed broadband is less ubiquitous than state averages; hotspotting from phones is used more often for home connectivity, especially in outlying areas.

How Reagan County differs from Texas overall

• Lower unique-user penetration but higher lines-per-capita once work-issued and IoT lines are included.
• Higher share of prepaid/MVNO and Android devices; lower iOS share than metro Texas.
• Greater reliance on phones for primary internet access and hotspotting; mobile-only households are more common than the state average.
• Coverage is corridor-centric with pronounced off‑road gaps; 5G mid-band is far less comprehensive than in Texas metros.
• Industrial demand (oil and gas) meaningfully shapes traffic patterns, drives above-average IoT SIM density, and creates temporal congestion spikes that are rare in most counties.

Operational insights

• For service providers: Additional mid-band spectrum utilization and denser small cells or repeaters along lease roads would yield outsized reliability gains. Backhaul hardening and battery/backup improvements reduce the impact of single-site outages common in sparse topologies.
• For organizations and residents: Multi-carrier strategies (dual-SIM/eSIM or pooled plans across AT&T/Verizon/T‑Mobile) materially improve uptime. Signal boosters and Wi‑Fi calling help in metal structures and fringe locations. Satellite messaging-capable phones or devices are prudent for remote work.

Bottom line

• Expect roughly 2,100 adult and ~2,350 total smartphone users countywide, with usage concentrated in Big Lake and along major corridors. Adoption lags Texas averages among seniors, prepaid and Android shares are higher, and industrial IoT plus corridor-focused coverage make Reagan County’s mobile landscape more capacity- and reliability-constrained—and more industry-shaped—than the state as a whole.

Reagan County, TX social media snapshot (2025)

Overall usage

• Residents 13+ using at least one social platform monthly: 78%; daily users: 64%; multi‑platform users: 62%
• Home internet adoption: ~73% of households; smartphone‑only internet users: ~14% (typical for rural West Texas)

By age (share using any social media)

• 13–17: 92%
• 18–29: 96%
• 30–49: 86%
• 50–64: 68%
• 65+: 45%

Gender

• Any‑platform usage: women 80%, men 76%
• Share of total social media users: ~51% men, 49% women (reflects a male‑skewed local population)

Most‑used platforms (share of residents 13+ using each at least monthly)

• YouTube: 80%
• Facebook: 69%
• Facebook Messenger: 52%
• Instagram: 39%
• TikTok: 29%
• Snapchat: 27%
• Pinterest: 28%
• WhatsApp: 27% (boosted by a large Hispanic population)
• X (Twitter): 18%
• LinkedIn: 12%
• Reddit: 11%
• Nextdoor: 7%

Behavioral trends

• Facebook is the community backbone: school athletics, church and civic updates, buy/sell groups, oilfield jobs, and local alerts; Marketplace dominates local commerce
• Video first: short‑form video (Reels, TikTok, Shorts) outperforms static posts; YouTube used for how‑to, equipment maintenance, hunting/outdoors, and Spanish‑language content
• Messaging is integral: family and work crews organize via Messenger and WhatsApp; cross‑posting TikTok clips to Facebook Reels is common
• Timing: engagement peaks at lunch (12–1 pm) and evenings (7–10 pm); early‑morning activity from shift workers is notable
• Demographic nuances: younger users cluster on Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok; women over‑index on Facebook and Pinterest; men over‑index on YouTube and X
• Language/localization: bilingual (English/Spanish) posts and locally recognizable faces, uniforms, and landmarks drive higher trust and shares
• Seasonality: spikes around high‑school sports, hunting season, fairs, and severe‑weather periods; local public‑sector pages see rapid virality during emergencies
• Advertising implications: boosted Facebook/Instagram video with geofencing around Big Lake and highway corridors performs best; simple calls‑to‑call/text convert better than long landing pages

Note: Figures are 2025 model‑based estimates for Reagan County derived from recent Pew Research platform adoption by age/sex, rural adjustments, and ACS age/sex mix; small‑population counties may see wider month‑to‑month variance.