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Amarillo loses 223 jobs as Tyson cuts shift, data center growth offsets losses
The June report from Amarillo National Bank shows city job counts declined while construction work outside city limits grew.
How we reported this
Amarillo recorded 223 fewer employed workers in May than a year earlier, according to Amarillo National Bank’s June 2026 Economic Analysis, even as the broader Panhandle added 750 positions.
The drop coincides with Tyson eliminating an entire shift that idled 1,700 workers, plus further reductions at two major manufacturing and health-care employers in the city. Without the surge in data-center construction jobs located outside Amarillo, the local economy would be showing clearer signs of contraction, the bank’s analysis states.
Job counts and wage trends
City unemployment climbed four-tenths of a point to 3.5 percent, driven mainly by the Tyson cut. The household survey counted 200 fewer jobs than last year, while the employer survey showed a 260-job loss. Average weekly wages in Amarillo rose 4 percent, trailing the 8 percent gain recorded across the Panhandle.
Retail sales provided a counterbalance, rising 18 percent from the same month last year and 11 percent year-to-date. New-vehicle sales slipped 4 percent and used-vehicle sales fell 1 percent. Motel occupancy tax receipts jumped 27 percent for the month, helped by data-center crews filling short-term rentals, while airline boardings edged lower after United dropped one daily flight.
Housing and energy indicators
Median home prices climbed 4 percent to $265,000. Thirty-year mortgage rates fell 50 basis points from a year ago. Residential starts reached 68 this month, up 94 percent from last June, and year-to-date starts increased 63 percent. Building-permit values more than doubled, rising 118 percent for the month and 47 percent year-to-date.
Three active drilling rigs now operate in the Panhandle after none last year. Oil traded above $75 a barrel. Recent rains may support corn at $4.66 a bushel, up 6 percent, though wheat prices declined 7 percent after one of the weakest harvests on record. Fed-cattle prices reached $257 per hundredweight, up 14 percent, and area dairies remain profitable despite milk prices falling 14 percent to $15.98.
City residents whose households lost Tyson shifts are weighing whether data-center construction work outside Amarillo will continue to offset the local losses or whether the gap will widen once those projects wind down. The bank’s next monthly update is scheduled for release in August.