March 1, 2023

Source: Fast Company

A wind power boom in the nation’s central corridor has been a financial windfall for some struggling rural areas.

Coke County, Texas, which has a population of about 3,300, had the biggest increase in economic output of any county in the country between 2019 and 2021, according to a Stateline analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics. Coke County’s gross domestic product, or GDP, increased from $128 million to $235 million, or 83%.

Including Coke County, seven of the top 10 counties with the largest GDP increases had significant recent wind farm construction, the analysis found.

Read more: How wind farms are supercharging the economies of rural America