NAI Global - Commercial Real Estate Services, Worldwide.

El Paso is the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. As of July 1, 2014, the population estimate from the U.S. Census was 679,036, making it the 19th most populous city in the United States. Its U.S. metropolitan area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth counties, with a population of 836,698. The El Paso MSA forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces CSA, with a population of 1,050,374.

El Paso stands on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), across the border from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The two cities, along with Las Cruces (in the neighboring state of New Mexico), form a combined international metropolitan area, sometimes referred as the Paso del Norte or El Paso–Juárez–Las Cruces. The region of over 2.7 million people constitutes the largest bilingual-binational work force in the Western Hemisphere.

El Paso has been ranked the safest large city in the U.S. for four consecutive years and ranked in the top three since 1997. The city is the headquarters of one Fortune 500 and three publicly traded companies, as well as home to the Medical Center of the Americas, the only medical research and care provider complex in West Texas and southern New Mexico, and the University of Texas at El Paso, the city's primary university. The city hosts the annual Sun Bowl, the second oldest bowl game in the country. In 2010, El Paso received an All-America City Award.

El Paso has a strong federal and military presence. William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Biggs Army Airfield and Fort Bliss call the city home. Fort Bliss is one of the largest military complexes of the United States Army and the largest training area in the United States.[13] Also headquartered in El Paso are the DEA domestic field division 7, El Paso Intelligence Center, Joint Task Force North, U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector and U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Group (SOG).

El Paso has a diversified economy focused primarily within international trade, military, government civil service, oil and gas, health care, tourism and service sectors. The El Paso metro area had a GDP of $29 billion in 2011. There were also $92 billion worth of trade in 2012. Over the past 15 years the city has become a significant location for American-based call centers. Cotton, fruit, vegetables, and livestock are also produced in the area. El Paso has added a significant manufacturing sector with items and goods produced that include petroleum, metals, medical devices, plastics, machinery, defense-related goods and automotive parts. The city is the second busiest international crossing point in the U.S behind San Diego.

El Paso is home to one Fortune 500 company in Western Refining, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. This makes the city one of six Texas metro areas to have at least one Fortune 500 company call it home; the others being Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi. The city has three other publicly traded companies in Helen of Troy Limited, a NASDAQ-listed company that manufactures personal health care products under many labels, such as OXO, Dr. Scholl's, Vidal Sassoon, Pert Plus, Brut and Sunbeam, among others. The third publicly traded company is El Paso Electric listed on the New York Stock Exchange, a public utility engaging in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in west Texas and southern New Mexico. The fourth publicly traded company is Western Refining Logistics also traded in the New York Stock Exchange. It is a Western Refining subsidiary which owns, operates, develops, and acquires terminals, storage tanks, pipelines, and other logistics assets.

More than 70 Fortune 500 companies have offices in El Paso, including AT&T, ADP, Boeing, Charles Schwab, Delphi, dish network, Eureka, Hoover, Raytheon, State Farm and USAA. Hispanic Business Magazine included 28 El Paso companies in its recently released list of the 500 largest Hispanic owned businesses in the United States. El Paso's 28 companies are second only to Miami's 57. The list of largest Hispanic owned businesses include companies like Fred Loya Insurance, Dos Lunas Spirits, Dynatec Labs, Spira Footwear and El Taco Tote. El Paso was home to El Paso Corporation formerly known as El Paso Natural Gas Company.

The city also has a large military presence with Fort Bliss, William Beaumont Army Medical Center and Biggs Army Airfield. The defense industry in El Paso employs over 37,000 and provides a $6 billion annual impact to the city's economy. Fort Bliss was chosen as the newly configured U.S. Air Force Security Forces Regional Training Center which will bring 8,000 to 10,000 Air Force personnel annually.
An M1 Abrams tank crew on Fort Bliss' Doña Ana Range

In addition to the military, the federal government has a strong presence in El Paso to manage its status and unique issues as an important border region. Operations headquartered in El Paso include the DEA domestic field division 7, El Paso Intelligence Center, Joint Task Force North, U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector and U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Group (SOG).

Call center operations make up seven of the top 10 business employers in El Paso. With no signs of growth slowing in this industry, in 2005, the 14 largest call centers in El Paso employed more than 10,000 people. Automatic Data Processing has an office in West El Paso, employing about 1,100 people with expansion plans to reach 2,200 by 2020.

Tourism is another major industry in El Paso, bringing in $1.5 billion-a-year and over 2.3 million visitors annually due to the city's sunny weather, natural beauty, rich cultural history and many outdoor attractions.

Ciudad Juárez, known in the past as Paso del Norte (Pass of the North),[3] and commonly referred to by locals as simply Juáritos, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), south of El Paso, Texas. Together with the surrounding areas the cities form El Paso–Juárez, the second largest bi-national metropolitan area on the Mexico-United States border (after San Diego–Tijuana), with a combined population of over 2.7 million people.

There are four international ports of entry connecting Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, including the Bridge of the Americas, Ysleta International Bridge, Paso del Norte Bridge and Stanton Street Bridge. These combined allowed 22,958,472 crossings in 2008, making Ciudad Juárez a major point of entry and transportation into the U.S. for all of central northern Mexico. The city has a growing industrial center which is made up in large part by more than 300 maquiladoras (assembly plants) located in and around the city. According to a 2007 New York Times article, Ciudad Juárez "is now absorbing more new industrial real estate space than any other North American city." In 2008, fDi Magazine designated Ciudad Juárez "The City of the Future."

The El Paso Regional Economic Development Corporation indicated that Ciudad Juárez is the metropolis absorbing "more new industrial real estate space than any other North American city." The Financial Times Group through its publication The Foreign Direct Investment Magazine ranked Ciudad Juárez as the "City of the Future" for 2007–2008. The Ciudad Juárez-El Paso area is a major manufacturing center. ADC Telecommunications, Electrolux, Bosch, Foxconn, Flextronics, Lexmark, Delphi, Visteon, Johnson Controls, Lear, Boeing, Cardinal Health, Yazaki, Sumitomo, and Siemens are some of the foreign companies that have chosen Ciudad Juárez for their business operation.

The Mexican state of Chihuahua is frequently among the top five states in Mexico with the most foreign investment. Many foreign retail, banking, and fast-food businesses have locations within Juárez.

Education is also a driving force in El Paso's economy. El Paso's three large school districts are among the largest employers in the area, employing more than 20,000 people among them. UTEP has an annual budget of nearly $418 million and employs nearly 4,800 people. A 2010 study by the university's Institute for Policy and Economic Development stated the University's impact on local businesses is $417 million annually.

References:

www.wikipedia.com