The median income in Bay City ($39,675) is significantly lower than the State ($47,622) and even the County ($40,635). This indicates that many of the well paying jobs in and around Bay City are not held by those living in the City Limits. In addition, over 1/3 of Bay City residents make less than $25,000 per year. This puts a significant strain on public services and is a challenge for the community. It will be important to identify strategies to address this issue and create opportunity for Bay City residents to access local, high paying jobs.
Reasons for Low Income
One of the reasons for the low income in Bay City can be found in the following table. Nearly 70% of the jobs in the City Limits are in the Retail and Service industry, which typically has low wages. While there has been tremendous success in economic development within Matagorda County, residents of Bay City have not seen as much benefit from this as would be hoped. It will be critical going forward for the City to continue working to develop the local workforce to compete for the new jobs being created in the region.