Wichita County Local Demographic Profile
Key demographics — Wichita County, Texas (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019–2023 ACS 5-year estimates unless noted)
Population
- Total population: ~130,300
- Median age: ~34.6 years
- Age structure: Under 18: 24.8%; 18–64: 60.9%; 65+: 14.3%
Gender
- Female: 50.3%
- Male: 49.7%
Race/ethnicity (mutually exclusive; Hispanic is of any race)
- Non-Hispanic White: 59.3%
- Hispanic/Latino: 20.5%
- Black/African American (non-Hispanic): 12.4%
- Asian (non-Hispanic): 2.6%
- American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic): 1.1%
- Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic): 0.2%
- Two or more races (non-Hispanic): 3.9%
Households and housing
- Total households: ~51,600
- Average household size: 2.47; average family size: 3.08
- Family households: ~61% of households; married-couple families: ~43%
- Households with children under 18: ~30%
- Housing tenure: Owner-occupied ~59%; renter-occupied ~41%
Insights
- Population is stable around 130k with a relatively young median age in the mid‑30s.
- Racial/ethnic makeup is majority non-Hispanic White with a sizable Hispanic community (1 in 5) and notable Black population (1 in 8).
- Household structure skews toward family households with moderate household sizes and a balanced owner/renter split.
Email Usage in Wichita County
Wichita County, TX overview (estimates derived from recent Census ACS and U.S. adult email adoption benchmarks):
- Population and density: ≈130,000 residents (2023) over ~628 sq mi land area → ≈207 people/sq mi.
- Digital access: ~92% of households have a computer; ~86% have a broadband subscription; ~18% are smartphone‑only internet households.
- Email users: ≈91,000 adults use email (about 90% of ~101,000 residents aged 18+), equal to ~70% of total residents.
- Age profile (email adoption among each group): 18–34 ≈97%; 35–54 ≈95%; 55–64 ≈90%; 65+ ≈80%.
- Share of local email users by age: 18–34 ≈32%; 35–54 ≈36%; 55–64 ≈16%; 65+ ≈16%.
- Gender split: effectively even among email users (≈50% female, ≈50% male).
- Trends and connectivity: Email is near‑universal among working‑age adults, with continued gains among 65+. Most fixed-broadband subscriptions and higher speeds concentrate in the Wichita Falls urban core; rural edges show more mobile‑reliant access and lower subscription intensity. Smartphone‑only households have grown modestly, but home broadband remains the primary access path.
Bottom line: High device ownership and broadband availability make email the default channel for the county’s adults and roughly 7 in 10 residents overall.
Mobile Phone Usage in Wichita County
Mobile phone usage in Wichita County, Texas — 2024 snapshot
Population base
- Total population: ~130,000
- Adults (18+): ~98,000
- Households: ~53,000
User estimates
- Smartphone users: 88,000–93,000 total (roughly 70–72% of the population), comprising:
- Adults: 82,000–86,000 (84–88% of adults)
- Teens (13–17): 6,500–7,500 (90–95% of teens)
- Wireless-only voice households (no landline): 77–81% of households, slightly above the Texas average (~74–78%)
- Households relying on mobile service as primary home internet (smartphone hotspot or mobile hotspot device): 10–13% locally vs ~8–10% statewide
- Prepaid share of mobile lines (Cricket, Metro, Boost, etc.): 38–42% in Wichita County vs ~30–34% statewide
Demographic breakdown (smartphone adoption and dependency)
- By age
- 18–34: 96–98% adoption; high streaming/social use, heavy app-based payments and ride-share despite limited local ride-share supply
- 35–64: 90–93% adoption; high work messaging and navigation usage
- 65+: 70–78% adoption; higher use of voice/SMS, telehealth steadily increasing
- By income
- < $35k: 82–86% adoption; higher likelihood of prepaid and mobile-only home internet
- $35–$74k: 88–92% adoption
- ≥ $75k: 95–98% adoption; more multi-line family plans and add-on wearables
- By race/ethnicity (adoption / mobile-only internet reliance)
- Hispanic: 88–91% adoption; 16–20% mobile-only internet
- Black: 87–90% adoption; 14–18% mobile-only internet
- Non-Hispanic White: 85–88% adoption; 9–12% mobile-only internet
- Military and renters
- Sheppard AFB and a sizable renter population push prepaid share and wireless-only rates higher than the Texas average, and increase seasonal line churn
Usage patterns
- Average smartphone data use: 18–24 GB per line per month locally (vs 22–28 GB in Texas’ large metros)
- Mobile-only households: 45–65 GB+ per month via phone tethering or hotspots, reflecting substitution for fixed broadband
- Voice and messaging: Higher-than-state-average use of SMS and OTT messaging among prepaid users; Wi‑Fi calling common due to metal buildings and indoor attenuation
Digital infrastructure
- 5G availability
- Carriers: AT&T, T‑Mobile, Verizon all provide countywide coverage; 5G low-band covers ~97–99% of the population
- Mid-band 5G (C‑Band for AT&T/Verizon; 2.5 GHz n41 for T‑Mobile): ~70–80% of the population, concentrated in Wichita Falls, along I‑44/US‑287, and main arterials
- Typical speeds (city): 150–300 Mbps down, 10–30 Mbps up; (rural fringes): 10–40 Mbps down, 2–10 Mbps up with fallbacks to LTE/low-band 5G
- Fixed broadband context (drives mobile substitution)
- Cable: Spectrum serves most of Wichita Falls at 300–1000 Mbps
- Fiber: AT&T Fiber present in select neighborhoods; limited outside the core city
- Rural coverage: Large gaps outside Wichita Falls; fixed wireless (e.g., Nextlink/Rise) and satellite (Starlink) adoption higher than state average in rural tracts
- Reliability and indoor coverage
- Metal-roof/light-industrial buildings and older housing stock produce noticeable indoor attenuation; residents frequently rely on Wi‑Fi calling and signal boosters in fringe areas
- Severe weather alerting via WEA is broadly supported and widely received
How Wichita County differs from Texas overall
- Slightly lower overall smartphone penetration (by ~2–4 percentage points) than Texas’ metro-heavy average, reflecting lower median income and older age profile
- Higher reliance on prepaid and mobile-only home internet, especially among lower-income, Hispanic, Black, military, and renter households
- Smaller mid-band 5G footprint and lower median 5G speeds than Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, with more LTE/low-band fallbacks on the county’s fringes
- More pronounced urban–rural divide: Wichita Falls enjoys strong 5G and cable coverage, while outlying areas rely more on fixed wireless, satellite, and mobile hotspots
- Seasonal churn and plan switching are elevated due to the presence of Sheppard AFB and transient workers, a pattern less visible at the state level
Bottom line
- Wichita County exhibits high but slightly below–Texas-average smartphone adoption, paired with above-average prepaid usage and mobile-only internet reliance. 5G is strong in the city core but thins outside it, reinforcing a mobile-dependency pattern among households without affordable fixed broadband and creating usage profiles meaningfully different from Texas’ largest metros.
Social Media Trends in Wichita County
Wichita County, TX — Social media usage snapshot (2025)
Topline user stats
- Population: ~132,000 (U.S. Census, 2023 est.)
- Social media users (13+): ~86,000 people (about 65% of total population; ~79% of residents 13+)
- Gender among users: ~51% male, ~49% female (reflects county’s slight male skew)
Age profile of social media users (share of user base; approx. counts)
- 13–17: 9% (~7.5k)
- 18–24: 16% (~14.1k)
- 25–34: 21% (~17.8k)
- 35–44: 16% (~14.1k)
- 45–54: 14% (~12.2k)
- 55–64: 13% (~11.1k)
- 65+: 11% (~9.2k)
Most-used platforms (share of Wichita County social media users who use each at least monthly)
- YouTube: 85%
- Facebook: 66%
- Instagram: 48%
- TikTok: 41%
- Snapchat: 34%
- Pinterest: 28%
- WhatsApp: 23%
- X (Twitter): 20% Other notable: Reddit ~22%, LinkedIn ~18%, Nextdoor ~14%, Discord ~14%
Behavioral trends and local patterns
- Facebook remains the default for community info: city/county notices, school updates, church and civic groups, swap/marketplace activity, and local news station updates.
- Video-first consumption: Shorts/Reels/TikTok see the strongest reach and completion, especially for restaurants, events, and local retail.
- Youth and student-heavy segments (Sheppard AFB and Midwestern State University influence) over-index on TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and Discord; Reddit usage is notably higher among younger males.
- Weather and public-safety content performs consistently well; users follow local meteorologists, emergency management, and utility pages for storms, heat, and outage updates.
- Event discovery is concentrated on Facebook Events and Instagram Stories; day-of reminders with short video and map pins drive the best attendance lift.
- Neighbors/homeowners: Nextdoor and Facebook neighborhood groups are effective for home services, lost/found, code enforcement chatter, and crime watch; posts with photos and address-level clarity get more comments/shares.
- Commerce behavior: Facebook Marketplace is the primary local channel for vehicles, tools/equipment, furniture; price-transparency and quick-response messaging matter more than long descriptions.
- Messaging is integral: Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp group chats coordinate family, church, and team activities; Spanish-English bilingual posts improve share/forward rates in Hispanic households.
- X (Twitter) is niche but sticky for high school sports, breaking news, and live weather threads; Reddit is used for tech, gaming, PCS/military life, and landlord/tenant advice.
- Prime engagement windows: weeknights 7–10 pm; secondary peaks Sat morning and Sun afternoon; lunch hour posts work well for food offers.
Notes on methodology
- Figures are modeled for Wichita County using 2023 ACS demographics, Pew Research Center 2024–2025 U.S. platform usage, and age-adjusted adoption patterns typical for Texas counties with a university and an Air Force base. Percentages reflect estimated monthly use among local social media users, not the entire population.
Table of Contents
Other Counties in Texas
- Anderson
- Andrews
- Angelina
- Aransas
- Archer
- Armstrong
- Atascosa
- Austin
- Bailey
- Bandera
- Bastrop
- Baylor
- Bee
- Bell
- Bexar
- Blanco
- Borden
- Bosque
- Bowie
- Brazoria
- Brazos
- Brewster
- Briscoe
- Brooks
- Brown
- Burleson
- Burnet
- Caldwell
- Calhoun
- Callahan
- Cameron
- Camp
- Carson
- Cass
- Castro
- Chambers
- Cherokee
- Childress
- Clay
- Cochran
- Coke
- Coleman
- Collin
- Collingsworth
- Colorado
- Comal
- Comanche
- Concho
- Cooke
- Coryell
- Cottle
- Crane
- Crockett
- Crosby
- Culberson
- Dallam
- Dallas
- Dawson
- De Witt
- Deaf Smith
- Delta
- Denton
- Dickens
- Dimmit
- Donley
- Duval
- Eastland
- Ector
- Edwards
- El Paso
- Ellis
- Erath
- Falls
- Fannin
- Fayette
- Fisher
- Floyd
- Foard
- Fort Bend
- Franklin
- Freestone
- Frio
- Gaines
- Galveston
- Garza
- Gillespie
- Glasscock
- Goliad
- Gonzales
- Gray
- Grayson
- Gregg
- Grimes
- Guadalupe
- Hale
- Hall
- Hamilton
- Hansford
- Hardeman
- Hardin
- Harris
- Harrison
- Hartley
- Haskell
- Hays
- Hemphill
- Henderson
- Hidalgo
- Hill
- Hockley
- Hood
- Hopkins
- Houston
- Howard
- Hudspeth
- Hunt
- Hutchinson
- Irion
- Jack
- Jackson
- Jasper
- Jeff Davis
- Jefferson
- Jim Hogg
- Jim Wells
- Johnson
- Jones
- Karnes
- Kaufman
- Kendall
- Kenedy
- Kent
- Kerr
- Kimble
- King
- Kinney
- Kleberg
- Knox
- La Salle
- Lamar
- Lamb
- Lampasas
- Lavaca
- Lee
- Leon
- Liberty
- Limestone
- Lipscomb
- Live Oak
- Llano
- Loving
- Lubbock
- Lynn
- Madison
- Marion
- Martin
- Mason
- Matagorda
- Maverick
- Mcculloch
- Mclennan
- Mcmullen
- Medina
- Menard
- Midland
- Milam
- Mills
- Mitchell
- Montague
- Montgomery
- Moore
- Morris
- Motley
- Nacogdoches
- Navarro
- Newton
- Nolan
- Nueces
- Ochiltree
- Oldham
- Orange
- Palo Pinto
- Panola
- Parker
- Parmer
- Pecos
- Polk
- Potter
- Presidio
- Rains
- Randall
- Reagan
- Real
- Red River
- Reeves
- Refugio
- Roberts
- Robertson
- Rockwall
- Runnels
- Rusk
- Sabine
- San Augustine
- San Jacinto
- San Patricio
- San Saba
- Schleicher
- Scurry
- Shackelford
- Shelby
- Sherman
- Smith
- Somervell
- Starr
- Stephens
- Sterling
- Stonewall
- Sutton
- Swisher
- Tarrant
- Taylor
- Terrell
- Terry
- Throckmorton
- Titus
- Tom Green
- Travis
- Trinity
- Tyler
- Upshur
- Upton
- Uvalde
- Val Verde
- Van Zandt
- Victoria
- Walker
- Waller
- Ward
- Washington
- Webb
- Wharton
- Wheeler
- Wilbarger
- Willacy
- Williamson
- Wilson
- Winkler
- Wise
- Wood
- Yoakum
- Young
- Zapata
- Zavala