Business and Economy
If anything is truly remarkable about Irving, it’s its workforce environment. Irving boasts an extremely active workforce made possible by several major Irving companies who work with the area’s high schools and colleges to prepare Irving’s workforce through programs such as mentoring and job-shadowing, as well as by providing lecturers and input on curriculum development.
The area colleges and universities tailor their workforce development and other professional programs to meet the needs of the area’s businesses, all offer degree plans, both graduate and undergraduate, that are designed to meet all the needs of working professional and the companies hiring them.
In support of Irving’s business is the Irving ED Partnership, which is as committed to helping businesses grow and create new ones. The coalition works to ensure that Irving businesses have what they need to maximize their success in the community and has created several programs to serve the market including the Workforce Enrichment Council, which is an organization that provides its business partners with resources in the areas of human capital, training and development, and organizational excellence.
The Technology Leadership Council is for Irving’s burgeoning technology sector, which works to build relationships, share industry information, promote Irving as a technology destination and support local educational programs.
Also, Irving offers a wide range of incentive programs from the local to the state level that has been developed to strengthen business growth in Irving. And the City’s Economic Development Team works to ensure that each new, relocating or expanding company gets the maximum support from the programs available.
Additionally, Irving residents and businesses enjoy one of the lowest municipal property tax rates in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. For qualifying new, relocating and expanding companies, Irving offers incentives that can reduce property taxes by 30 percent or more for up to 10 years.
Also, there’s the Foreign Trade Zone No. 39, which encompasses approximately 2,500 acres at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport including a 621-acre business park. Foreign trade zone designation allows companies to defer, reduce or eliminate U.S. Customs duties and reduce inventory and distribution costs. Irving offers additional benefits for new, expanding and relocating businesses that are within the Irving city limits.
Texas is widely considered one of the most business-friendly states in the country with its incentive programs. Texas’ support for relocating businesses is generous, and includes Texas Enterprise Fund, Skills Development Fund, Texas Emerging Technology Fund, In-State Tuition and Texas Workforce Commission Employee Recruitment.
Irving is the headquarters of ExxonMobil, Michael's Stores and Zale Corporation, and the national headquarters for the Boy Scouts of America.
A workforce of more than 2.7 million people lives within a 30-minute commute of Irving. Within the city of Irving is a workforce of nearly 120,000. Both the Irving and Dallas/Fort Worth workforces are highly educated, highly skilled, multinational and diverse. More than 65 percent have attended college and approximately 10 percent have post-graduate degrees.
Demographics
As of the 2000 census, there were 191,615 people living in Irving.
The median income for a household in the city was $44,956, and the median income for a family was $50,172.
Men had a median income of $35,852 versus $30,420 for women.