The discovery of Hawkville Field in 2008 was the triggering event that led to the current economic boom in the study area. Significant demographic changes were observed throughout a projection time window from 2010-2025 in the study area, which includes six counties located in the Eagle Ford Shale play (Dimmit, Frio, La Salle, Maverick, Webb, and Zavala). New workers and their households moving to the study area will result in an increase in the number of younger households and school-aged cohorts. These areas will need additional funding to expand and develop more schools, and maintain student-teacher ratios and classroom capacity within the region.

This study suggests three scenarios for population growth that are related to different drilling patterns in the study area. Scenario 1, with a total of 22,000 wells, the six counties will generate 14, 731 transient and permanent workers of rigrelated jobs within the next 9 years from 2012-2020. Scenario 2, which is most likely to occur, will generate 7,913 transient and permanent workers of direct rig-related jobs with an estimation of 25,000 wells within the next 14 years from 2012-2025. Scenario 3, a hypothetical scenario, will have an estimated total of 52,000 wells.