# Upshur County, Texas: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy Home to Gilmer, Gladewater and Big Sandy Upshur County is not a build-out site today. It feels the boom through the grid it shares, the utilities that serve it and the work nearby. Upshur County is home to Gilmer, part of Gladewater (2,516 of its 6,306 residents), Big Sandy and Ore City. Next door, Morris County has 900 MW of planned generation. Construction employs 809, up 1.6% since 2019, and construction is 2.0 times as concentrated here as in the U.S. economy. Unemployment was 4.9% in August 2026, against 3.7% in 2019. Employers here counted 7,790 jobs in 2025, up 7.8% from 2019. 2.0× the U.S. share of jobs in construction +7.8% total jobs since 2019, now 7,790 3 MW of operating power plants, mostly solar ## Cities and towns in Upshur County Upshur County is home to Gilmer, part of Gladewater (2,516 of its 6,306 residents), Big Sandy and Ore City. Gilmer5,287 residents Gladewater2,516 residents · 40% of the city Big Sandy1,339 residents Ore City1,210 residents East Mountain972 residents Union Grove477 residents - Gladewater also extends into [Gregg County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/gregg-county). Residents are 2025 Census estimates for the part of each city, town or township inside this county. Census publishes no annual estimate for unincorporated communities. ## What changed in Upshur County | Measure | Then | Now | Change | Rank in Texas | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population (2020 → 2025) | 41,044 | 44,410 | ▲ 8.2% | 78th of 254 by size | | Total jobs (2019 → 2025) | 7,224 | 7,790 | ▲ 7.8% | 101st of 254 by growth | | Average annual pay (2019 → 2025) | $39,921 | $50,613 | ▲ 26.8% | — | | Construction jobs (2019 → 2025) | 796 | 809 | ▲ 1.6% | 116th of 155 by growth | | Unemployment rate (2019 → August 2026) | 3.7% | 4.9% | ▲ 1.2pts | — | | Generating capacity added since 2019 | — | 3 MW | | — | | Generating capacity retired since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | 3 MW of that came online in 2019 or later, mostly solar. Its power plants have 3 MW of capacity, 100% of it solar. 44,410 people live here, up 8.2% since 2020. Southwestern Electric Power Co is the largest utility serving Upshur County, one of 3 with territory here. Its residential customers paid an average 12.03¢/kWh in 2024, below the 12.81¢ median for Texas utilities. ## Who powers Upshur County ### Utilities with service territory in Upshur County | Utility | Ownership | Service | Residential customers (systemwide) | Residential price, 2024 | Commercial share of sales | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Southwestern Electric Power Co | Investor Owned | Bundled | 156,271 | 12.03¢ | 30% | | Upshur Rural Elec Coop Corp | Cooperative | Bundled | 44,415 | 12.40¢ | 18% | | Wood County Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | Bundled | 35,793 | 12.83¢ | 39% | Customer counts, prices and sales shares cover each utility's whole system in the state, not only this county. Commercial sales include data centers. ### Operating power plants | Technology | Capacity | Share | |---|---|---| | Solar | 3 MW | 100% | | Largest plants | Owner | Technology | MW | Since | |---|---|---|---|---| | Hecate Energy Upshur Rural LLC | Hecate Energy Upshur Rural LLC | Solar | 3 MW | 2022 | ## The Upshur County labor market | Industry (2025) | Jobs | Average pay | Concentration vs U.S. | |---|---|---|---| | All industries | 7,790 | $50,613 | 1.00 | | Construction | 809 | $65,651 | 1.96 | Concentration is the BLS location quotient: 1.0 means the industry holds the same share of local jobs as it does nationally. Industry rows count private employers; cells BLS suppresses are left out. ## Data centers and local rules in Upshur County No data center, local measure or delayed project is on record in Upshur County. Texas has 25 local measures on record statewide. ## Upshur County and its neighbors Of the 7 counties that border Upshur County, Morris County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined. [[[[[[[ | County | Population | Jobs since 2019 | Operating MW | Planned MW | Data centers | Local measures | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Upshur County | 44,410 | ▲ 7.8% | 3 MW | — | — | — | | Camp County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/camp-county) | 13,380 | ▲ 4.9% | — | — | — | — | | Gregg County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/gregg-county) | 126,095 | ▼ 0.9% | 351 MW | — | — | — | | Harrison County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/harrison-county) | 71,956 | ▼ 8.3% | 1,043 MW | 450 MW | — | — | | Marion County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/marion-county) | 9,896 | ▲ 10.9% | 882 MW | — | — | — | | Morris County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/morris-county) | 12,133 | ▼ 13.6% | — | 900 MW | — | — | | Smith County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/smith-county) | 252,549 | ▲ 10.0% | — | — | — | — | | Wood County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/wood-county) | 49,688 | ▲ 3.8% | — | — | — | — | ## More of Texas [All Texas countiesThe state power page and county mapOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas)[Smith County252,549 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/smith-county)[Gregg County126,095 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/gregg-county)[Harrison County71,956 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/harrison-county)[Wood County49,688 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/wood-county)[Camp County13,380 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/camp-county) ## Upshur County, answered from the record ### Who provides electricity in Upshur County, Texas? 3 utilities have service territory in Upshur County in the EIA-861 2024 report: Southwestern Electric Power Co, Upshur Rural Elec Coop Corp, Wood County Electric Coop, Inc. The largest, Southwestern Electric Power Co, charged residential customers 12.03¢/kWh on average in 2024. ### What power plants are in Upshur County? 1 operating plant with 3 MW of capacity. The largest is Hecate Energy Upshur Rural LLC (3 MW, solar). ### Are there data centers in Upshur County? The SAVRN Data Center Map has no data center in Upshur County. The nearest activity on record is next door in Morris County. ### Is Upshur County adding jobs? Employers counted 7,790 jobs in 2025 against 7,224 in 2019 (+7.8%, BLS QCEW). Construction went from 796 to 809. ### Does Upshur County have a data center moratorium? No county-level measure is on record for Upshur County. Texas has 25 local measures statewide, listed on the state page. --- Canonical: https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/texas/upshur-county Updated: 2026-10-08. Refreshed weekly by SAVRN from EIA, BLS, BEA, Census and the SAVRN trackers. License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).