At Iconic Deity Design House we are about being and staying involved with our local community and so we feature local information, news and press releases about the McAllen Metropolitan area. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metro Area, Texas

The Rio Grande Valley includes the four southern-most counties in Texas: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy. It is in the geographic center of the region most recently termed the Rioplex, which includes the four Rio Grande Valley counties and the Northern Mexico border cities between Matamoros and Ciudad Mier.

McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. It is located at the southern tip of Texas in an area known as the Rio Grande Valley and is part of the American Southwest. Its southern boundary is located about five miles from the U.S.–Mexico border and the Mexican city of Reynosa, the Rio Grande, and about 70 miles (110 km) west of South Padre Island and the Gulf of Mexico. The 2010 census put the city’s population at 129,877 and the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission metropolitan area at 774,769. The Reynosa–McAllen Metropolitan Area counts with a population of nearly 1.7 million.[3]
The area around McAllen was largely rural in character dependent on agriculture for much of its history since it was settled in 1904. The latter half of the 20th century was marked by steady growth that accelerated during the 1980s and led to an economic and population boom in the 1990s and 2000s. Today McAllen is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the United States. The introduction of the maquiladora economy and the North American Free Trade Association led to a boom in international trade, cross-border commerce with Mexico and health care. McAllen’s Medicare spending per capita has attracted national scrutiny due to a sharp increase from a national average in 1992 to a near national high by 2006.
McAllen is a regional retail destination for South Texas and Northern Mexico. This sector has contributed to McAllen’s economy, growing 138% since[when?], to over $3 billion while employing 27% of the workforce. While McAllen’s total population is 15th among Texas cities, it ranked 12th in overall retail sales, and third in the State in total retail sales per household and per capita. (Wikipedia, 2012)

The McAllen MSA is rated:

• One of the Fastest Growing Metros in the State of Texas
• Forbes listed McAllen as one of the top ten best cities for recession recovery in a 2009 article.
• The McAllen MSA ranked 7th overall out of the 200 best performing U.S. metropolitan areas in the nation, and 1st in high technology sector growth in 2008
• 3rd Lowest Cost of Living
• CNNMoney recognized McAllen among its Best Places to Launch a Small Business in 2009. McAllen was ranked 16th among Mid-Size Cities and 23rd overall for Small Business Growth.
• McAllen’s total population is 15th among Texas cities, yet it ranked 12th in overall Retail Sales, and 3rd in the State in total Retail Sales per household and per capita.

(Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2008, Milken Best Performing Cities Index 2008)