Brownsville’s Big Leap: Space, Ships & 10,000 New Jobs

At the Encuentro Internacional Empresarial 2026 organized by Canacintra, Griselda Muñoz, Vice President of Operations at the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation (EDC), delivered a presentation titled “Celebrating Brownsville Facts, Projects and Real Results.” Accompanied by her colleague Eleazar Rodriguez, Senior Director of Cross-Border Industrial Recruitment & Community Development. Where together they outlined the organization’s role, the region’s competitive strengths, and a strong pipeline of transformative projects driving growth across Greater Brownsville, which explicitly includes surrounding areas and the Matamoros workforce.

The Greater Brownsville EDC focuses on four pillars: job creation, workforce development, business expansion, and retention. Muñoz emphasized that when marketing the area, the team always presents “Greater Brownsville,” incorporating Matamoros. They highlighted the binational labor force as a core strength: approximately 40,000 to 56,000 people cross daily from Mexico to work in the region. Population and labor-force projections point to continued strong growth, with an estimated increase of around 176,000 people in the labor area over the next 10 years.

Key Competitive Advantages Highlighted

•   Land area: Brownsville spans about 150 square miles — larger than Laredo’s roughly 100 square miles and the biggest city by area in the Rio Grande Valley

•   Average wage: Approximately $22.92

•   Manufacturing costs: Ranked No. 2 (highly competitive), ahead of Laredo (No. 11) and Corpus Christi (beyond No. 25)

•   Workforce growth: 3.72% in Brownsville vs. 2.42% in Laredo and 1.30% in Corpus Christi

•   Cost of living: Lower than Corpus Christi, the state average, and the national average

•   Multimodal connectivity: Five unique routes — highways, rail, deepwater port, airport, and spaceport (SpaceX Starbase) — a combination no other city claimed to match

•   Quality of life: Gladys Porter Zoo draws roughly 400,000 visitors annually, with plans underway to double its size

The EDC can offer incentives funded by a quarter-cent sales tax dedicated to economic development. A portion of collections return to the organization to support events, infrastructure, and assistance for companies creating jobs.

Flagship projects highlighted

•   Saronic Technologies (Port Alpha / Project Hercules): A major shipyard investment with roughly 10,000 jobs. A video featured the company’s vision for a modern, efficient shipyard addressing U.S. capacity gaps. The project emphasizes redesigning vessels for autonomy and applying lessons from other facilities to lower material and labor costs.

•   SpaceX Currently employing about 4,300 people, with plans to reach 8,000 by year-end. The long-term vision includes high-volume rocket production (referenced as approaching 1,000 per year). Muñoz stressed that SpaceX is firmly rooted in the area.

•   Linde (industrial gases): Described as the world’s largest gas company. The firm contacted the EDC in September 2024. Within two to three months, the team assembled the needed property and power, and the plant reached operation before the end of the year—the fastest plant Linde has built anywhere in the world. A parallel permit application in California remained pending while Brownsville operations were already running.

•   Amazon: A confidential three-year project known to only a few people in the office. The client signed a contract without the full identity of the end buyer being disclosed at the time, demonstrating the EDC’s ability to maintain strict confidentiality.

New industrial capacity and residential growth

The EDC has developed its own industrial park after recognizing a shortage of available warehouses and suitable manufacturing space. Nearly 80% of the first phase is under letters of intent or contracts. The site offers about 24 megawatts of power for the initial phase and sits roughly 7.5 miles from the port and 11 miles from the Veterans International Bridge. The city received 55 acres within the park for an Emergency Management Building, positioning it as one of the most secure industrial parks. Phase 2 has already launched with a 30-year LOI.

Additional notes included a forthcoming refinery project, 32 residential subdivisions under construction totaling 8,000–10,000 lots, and a strong pipeline of aerospace and space-related suppliers. The Port of Brownsville was repeatedly cited as one of the few U.S. ports still holding significant available land.

Muñoz closed by noting Brownsville’s evolution from once being ranked among the poorest U.S. cities to now ranking highly on metrics such as low manufacturing costs, safety, and U-Haul’s national moving rankings (No. 10). She invited attendees to private site tours in small groups and announced her expanded role as Vice President of Industry and Supply Chain, actively building a supplier ecosystem for the incoming major projects.

The presentation at the Encuentro Internacional Empresarial 2026 – Greater EDO Brownsville by Matamoros, organized by Canacintra, reinforced Greater Brownsville’s message: a binational workforce, multimodal infrastructure, available land, rapid permitting, and a growing cluster of space, shipbuilding, energy, and advanced manufacturing projects are creating sustained opportunity.