Community Archetypes in the Permian Basin and their Relationship to Energy Resources
Authors: Ross Elizabeth , Pogue Gregory , Engel-Cox Jill , Gunda Thushara 
Published: August 2024

The Permian Energy Development Lab (PEDL) is a new research coalition in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico, managed by a consortium of higher education, public sector, civic, community, and philanthropic organizations . PEDL’s mission is to catalyze advanced energy research, prepare new energy professionals and entrepreneurs, and create value for energy communities. To meet the three parts of this mission, a comprehensive facts-based understanding of the diverse communities within the large Permian region, not relying on impressions or preconceptions, is essential. Therefore, this report is intended to serve as a foundational data-focused description of Permian Basin communities at the county-level, illustrating the differences and commonalities between the communities. This report focuses on the region’s strengths and needs, especially regarding its relationship (past, present, and future) with the energy industry. The report provides a framework to simplify the study a large and diverse geographic area grounded by aligning counties based on shared properties rather than just physical location. The framework of archetypes presented can also be used to help design and implement future energy technology research, educational, and outreach programs to equitably develop and deploy advanced energy technologies that benefit the communities in the Permian Basin. The core Permian Basin is a region that covers more than 51,000 square miles and includes 50 counties in Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas PEDL also includes counties adjacent to the Permian Basin in outreach and research efforts; thus, the analysis in this paper includes 66 counties. Through cluster and socioeconomic analyses, we identified seven distinct community archetypes in the Permian region at the county-level; values in parentheses indicate the number of counties within each archetype: Archetype 1: High oil and gas (O&G) production (4) Archetype 2: High renewable energy capacity (8) Archetype 3: Very small populations and population loss (17) Archetype 4: High percent of residents with less than high school education (9) Archetype 5: High unemployment and high percent of residents with less than high school education (26) Archetype 6: Exceptionally small population with high gross domestic product (GDP) and very high O&G production (1) Archetype 7: Very high population gain (1) One goal of the clustering effort was to characterize the profile of the Permian Basin and facilitate deeper community engagement. Indeed, starting with a set 66 counties, 64 counties could be accurately described in just five archetypes with remaining two counties parsing into unique archetypes, based on population and economic dynamics. In addition to facilitating community engagement, these archetypes highlight the diversity and commonalities within the Permian, with some archetypes containing a substantial number of Permian basins (e.g., Archetypes 3 and 5) while others highlight unique nature of individual counties (e.g., Archetypes 6 and 7). The main utility of the archetypes is to allow for more informed sampling across the expanse and diversity of Permian counties for future research activities in the region. After describing the archetypes, this report suggests future research and engagement activities. By leveraging the patterns illuminated by the archetypes, PEDL can produce community-engaged research, workforce development, and in-community activities that are more tailored to the diverse community landscape of the Permian.