The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates employment and wage estimates for every state, Metropolitan Statistical Area and Balance-of-State area in the United States. In order to better meet the needs of local users, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) staff in the Texas Labor Market Information Department of the Texas Workforce Commission (LMI) has produced wage estimates for geographic areas not produced by BLS. Workforce Development Areas (WDAs) are not published by BLS and are not, therefore, official BLS data series. Due to confidentiality and quality criteria, LMI cannot produce estimates for every occupation in every geographic area.

This dataset represents Texas county boundaries. It contains fields that can be used to join additional population and demographic tables produced by the US Census Bureau. It also includes attribute information indicating whether a county was designated as Most Impacted and Distressed by HUD (HUD MID) or by the State of Texas (State MID) per disaster declaration.

Estimates are provided at three income levels: Low Income (up to 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI)); Moderate Income (greater than 50 percent AMI and up to 80 percent AMI), and Medium Income (greater than 80 percent AMI and up to 120 AMI). HUD is publishing the margin of error (MOE) data for all block groups and all places in the 2015 ACS LMISD. These data are provided within the LMISD tables. Under the 2010 ACS LMISD, HUD previously published a separate table with the MOE data only for those Places with MOEs of 20 percent or more.

The MOE does not provide an expanded range for compliance. For example, a service area of 50 percent LMI with a 2 percent MOE would still be just 50 percent LMI for compliance purposes. However, the 2 percent MOE would inform the grantee about the accuracy of the ACS data before undergoing the effort and cost of conducting a local income survey, which is the alternative to using the HUD-provided data.