Stargate flagship campus
Abilene / Taylor County · Crusoe / Oracle for OpenAI · Two buildings operating; six progressing
Community profile
Classification: Middle-income, racially mixed regional city
Geography: Abilene city proxy; host-campus ZIP requires parcel confirmation
Income: City median household income is below the national figure; poverty is about 15%.
Race: Abilene is majority non-Hispanic White with substantial Hispanic and Black populations.
Documented bargain
Benefits: Thousands of construction workers, 357 committed full-time jobs and large announced capital investment.
Burdens: Rapid rent increases and shelter pressure have been reported; an 85% property-tax abatement and valuation appeal raise questions about public return.
Power and government
Utilities: The eight-building campus uses closed-loop cooling and combines grid power with on-site gas generation.
Public action: A proposed extra 600 MW expansion was dropped in 2026; the original eight-building campus continues.
Abilene is neither an affluent enclave nor an overwhelmingly nonwhite frontline community. Its experience highlights housing and fiscal risk in a lower-cost regional market.