What Are the Biggest Problems in Texas Right Now?

The biggest problems in Texas right now, judged by both what Texans tell pollsters and what the numbers show, are the cost of living, a power grid straining under unprecedented demand, a housing and insurance market that has become unaffordable for many, a shrinking water supply, uneven healthcare access, and a public education system wrestling with teacher shortages and a new voucher program. Border security and political corruption also rank high, though who names them first depends heavily on party.

What Texans Say Worries Them Most

Economic anxiety leads every recent poll. A UT Tyler survey conducted in late May and early June 2025 found inflation was the top issue for voters at 21%, followed by border security at 19% and K-12 education at 10%.¹ An October 2025 poll from the UT/Texas Politics Project showed a sharper partisan split: Democrats named political corruption and leadership as their top concern (33%), Republicans pointed to immigration (17%) and border security (13%), and independents divided between political corruption (21%) and inflation (18%).²

In that same October 2025 poll, 66% of Texas voters said they were “very concerned” about the prices of food and consumer goods, 66% about healthcare costs, 57% about housing costs, and 46% about the inability to find work.² Those concerns show up in the specific problems below.

The Power Grid and Data Center Demand

Five years after Winter Storm Uri killed more than 240 people, the Texas grid faces a demand curve almost no one anticipated. ERCOT’s April 2026 preliminary forecast projects peak electricity demand could reach roughly 368,000 megawatts by 2032, driven by over 250,000 megawatts of requests from large-load projects. The state’s all-time record peak was about 85,500 megawatts in August 2023.³ The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts Texas electricity demand growing by 7% in 2025 and 14% in 2026, far outpacing the national average of about 2.2% annual growth.⁴

Much of the requested load is speculative. ERCOT received 225 new interconnection requests in 2025, roughly 70% of them for data centers, and many are “paper projects” without financing or construction plans, according to the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance.³ Even so, real facilities are large enough to threaten stability. Data centers consuming 750 to 4,000 megawatts can trip offline during disturbances and destabilize grid frequency. ERCOT logged at least 28 such incidents between January 2023 and September 2025.⁵

ERCOT’s board approved new “ride-through” rules in June 2026 requiring large facilities to stay online during brief disruptions, with disconnection possible for non-compliance. Industry groups including the Texas Blockchain Council have challenged ERCOT’s authority to enforce the rules, and Google has warned that compliance could require “complex, multi-billion dollar redesigns.”⁵

The Public Utility Commission shelved the proposed Performance Credit Mechanism in December 2024 after staff concluded it would provide only “minimal” additional reliability value, prioritizing “real-time co-optimization” for later in 2026 instead.⁶ ERCOT projections have estimated an 80% likelihood of rolling blackouts if a storm equivalent to Winter Storm Uri struck again, and a 50% chance under a repeat of 2022’s Winter Storm Elliott.⁷

Housing Costs and the Insurance Squeeze

Texas is short roughly 306,000 to 320,000 homes, and median home prices climbed about 40% between 2019 and 2023.⁸⁹ As of March 2025, the statewide median sale price was $340,000, with Austin-Round Rock topping major metros at $439,900. Active listings surged nearly 30% year-over-year, and almost 65% of closed sales involved price cuts of at least $5,000, though mortgage rates near 6.75% to 7% continued to squeeze buyers.¹⁰

Local zoning limits density, minimum lot-size requirements of 5,000 to 7,500 square feet in major cities discourage smaller homes, and institutional investors have entered the single-family market. The 2025 legislative session produced competing proposals to allow accessory dwelling units statewide, reduce minimum lot sizes in large cities, and convert commercial buildings to housing, set against bills to protect single-family neighborhoods from state-mandated densification.⁹

Homeowners insurance has compounded the affordability problem. The average annual premium reached $3,291 in 2024, and median premiums rose 60% compared to 2019.¹¹¹² Rate increases topped 21% in 2023, the highest of any state, before moderating to about 4.3% in 2025.

The main driver is weather. Annual billion-dollar disasters in Texas grew from eight in 2017 to 20 in 2024, and hail alone accounted for $4.93 billion in paid losses in 2024.¹²¹¹ The state’s climate risk score is 61, nearly double the national average of 33. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the insurer of last resort for 14 coastal counties, paid out nearly $259 million in Hurricane Beryl claims as of October 2024, and the state insurance commissioner rejected TWIA’s proposed 10% rate increase as “unjust and unfair.”¹³ The Dallas Fed reports evidence that unaffordable premiums are contributing to mortgage delinquency and relocation.

Water Scarcity and Aging Pipes

The Texas Water Development Board projects that the state’s existing water supply will decline by 18% by 2070 while demand grows 9%. Without new supply strategies, roughly a quarter of the population will face municipal water shortages during a significant drought.¹⁴ The Ogallala Aquifer is being rapidly depleted by overuse, and the Gulf Coast Aquifer faces mandatory pumping reductions to prevent land subsidence.¹⁵

As of June 2026, just over half the state (50.1%) is in some stage of drought, with 7.5 million residents in affected areas. About 10% of the state is in extreme drought and 1.6% in exceptional drought.¹⁶

Infrastructure losses compound the supply problem. The state’s 165,000-plus miles of water distribution pipes average an installation date of 1966. An estimated 572,000 acre-feet of water are lost annually to leaks and breaks, and boil-water notices jumped from about 2,000 in 2018 to over 3,100 in 2022.¹⁴ Voters approved $1 billion for water infrastructure in 2023, and during the 2025 session lawmakers proposed constitutional amendments to dedicate $1 billion annually for ten years, with total investments of $2.5 to $5 billion under discussion. Solutions under development include a proposed statewide water grid, seawater desalination in Corpus Christi, and brackish groundwater desalination in El Paso.¹⁵

Healthcare Access and Maternal Mortality

Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation, nearly 12% in 2023, and roughly 1 million children and teens went without health insurance at some point in the most recent year recorded. An estimated 400,000 of those uninsured children are actually eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but remain unenrolled.¹⁷ Texas is one of ten states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and it accounts for 42% of all individuals nationwide who fall into the “coverage gap” between state Medicaid thresholds and ACA marketplace subsidies.¹⁸

After pandemic-era protections ended, Texas disenrolled 2.5 million people from Medicaid by September 2024. Over 1.3 million were children, many removed for procedural reasons such as missing renewal paperwork. As of January 2025, over 244,000 applications were pending with an average wait of 54 days, prompting a federal investigation.¹⁷ A federal reconciliation bill signed into law is projected to cause approximately 110,000 additional Texans to lose Medicaid, while combined Medicaid and ACA marketplace cuts could leave up to 1.4 million Texans uninsured.¹⁹

Maternal outcomes are among the worst in the country. The pregnancy-related mortality ratio reached 23.1 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020, up from 16.7 the year before, and the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee found that 80% of those deaths were preventable. Black women in Texas die at a rate roughly 2.5 times that of white women.²⁰

A ProPublica analysis of hospital data found that sepsis rates among women hospitalized for second-trimester pregnancy loss increased more than 50% after the 2021 abortion ban took effect, and inpatient maternal deaths rose from 79 in the 2018–2019 baseline period to 120 in 2022–2023. While the national maternal mortality rate fell by 7.5% between 2019 and 2023, the rate in Texas rose by 33%.²¹ The Baker Institute has described the OB-GYN workforce as under “substantial strain.”²² The Texas Supreme Court ruled in May 2024 in Zurawski v. State of Texas that the abortion law’s exception for life-threatening conditions is constitutionally adequate, rejecting a challenge from 20 women and two doctors who argued the law’s ambiguity prevents physicians from providing care until patients are critically ill.²³

Public Education, Teacher Shortages, and Vouchers

Texas has more than 35,000 uncertified teachers in its classrooms, and roughly 38% of newly hired instructors in recent years lacked certification. Research from Texas Tech University found that students assigned to new uncertified teachers lost about four months of learning in reading and three months in math.²⁴ Texas teacher salaries run about $9,000 below the national average.

House Bill 2, an $8.5 billion school finance package signed into law in June 2025, creates a Teacher Retention Allotment providing permanent raises based on experience and district size, up to $8,000 for experienced teachers in smaller districts and $5,000 in larger ones, plus $45 per student for support staff salary increases. It also expands the Teacher Incentive Allotment for performance-based pay and requires districts to phase out uncertified teachers in core subjects by fall 2027.²⁵

The same session passed Senate Bill 2, creating the Texas Education Freedom Account program. Signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, the program allocates $1 billion over two years to provide roughly $10,000 annually per student for private school tuition and related expenses, with up to $30,000 for students with disabilities and $2,000 for home-schooled participants. Applications are expected to open in early 2026 for the 2026–27 school year.²⁶²⁷

Opponents argue that diverting public school funding will worsen budget deficits and teacher shortages, particularly in rural districts where schools serve as major employers. Private schools participating in the program are not required to administer state standardized tests. Abbott had helped clear the political path by successfully backing primary challengers against rural Republican legislators who blocked voucher bills in 2023.²⁶

The Child Care Shortage

Texas lost nearly 75,000 child care seats in a single year, and 88% of low-income working families live in a child care desert, where demand is at least three times the available supply. Over 90,000 children were on waitlists as of September 2024.²⁸ The state loses an estimated $9.39 billion annually due to insufficient child care.²⁹

Child care workers earn a median wage of $12 per hour, and most centers operate on margins below 1%. Regulated family child care homes declined 24% between 2019 and 2024.²⁹²⁸ The legislature secured $100 million in new child care scholarship funding in the 2025 session.³⁰

Border Security and Immigration Enforcement

Operation Lone Star, launched by Governor Abbott in 2021, has cost the state more than $11 billion.³¹ The program continues in 2026, with a posture shift from confrontation with the federal government to partnership with the Trump Administration. The governor has deputized the Texas National Guard to conduct immigration arrests, deployed a Texas Tactical Border Force alongside U.S. Border Patrol, and directed the Department of Public Safety to run tactical strike teams targeting individuals described as criminal unauthorized immigrants.³²

Critics, including the ACLU of Texas, have focused on the program’s cost and its effects on civil liberties, including access to public education for undocumented students and the chilling effect on immigrant families seeking healthcare and social services.³¹

Bail Reform, Gun Policy, and Political Ethics

The 2025 legislature passed what Abbott called the “strongest bail reform package in Texas history,” signed into law on June 3, 2025. Senate Bill 9 restricts personal bonds for defendants charged with murder, certain family violence offenses, sexual assault, human trafficking, and other serious crimes. It bars appointed magistrates from granting bail for defendants who commit felonies while out on bail for another felony and for those with federal immigration detainers. Prosecutors gained the right to appeal bail decisions, with appellate courts required to rule within 20 days.³³ A proposed constitutional amendment allowing judges to deny bail for murder and certain aggravated offenses went before voters in November.³⁴

On guns, the 2025 legislature moved in the opposite direction from public opinion. A Kinder Institute poll showed 65% of Houston-area residents supporting raising the legal age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21.³⁵ Lawmakers instead passed a law prohibiting extreme risk protection orders in civil cases and making it a felony for officials to enforce them, banned city and county gun buyback programs, and removed state penalties for owning unregistered short-barreled firearms.³⁶ A bill to raise the rifle purchase age to 21 did not receive a hearing. On the other side of the ledger, the legislature appropriated $2 million for community violence intervention programs, the first time Texas has provided state funding for that purpose.³⁷

Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to shape voter concerns about political corruption. After being impeached by the Texas House and acquitted by the Senate in 2023, and after settling a felony securities fraud case for nearly $300,000 in restitution, Paxton saw the Justice Department decline to prosecute him on federal corruption allegations in the final weeks of the Biden administration. The investigation centered on whether Paxton abused his office to benefit a campaign donor, Nate Paul, who pleaded guilty in January 2025 to a federal charge of making false statements to banks to obtain over $170 million in loans.³⁸ Paxton chose not to contest a separate whistleblower lawsuit from former aides who alleged they were fired after reporting him to the FBI. He has characterized the investigations as a “bogus witch hunt.”

These problems are interconnected. A power grid strained by data centers intersects with water supply planning that hasn’t yet accounted for those same facilities. Insurance costs feed into housing unaffordability. A healthcare system stretched thin by the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid is simultaneously absorbing the effects of abortion restrictions on maternal health. The choices Texas makes in the next few years will determine whether its rapid growth remains an asset or becomes the source of compounding crises.

1
UT Tyler. UT Tyler Center for Opinion Research Poll
2
Texas Politics Project. Economic Concerns Deepen in New UT Texas Politics Project Poll
3
Texas Tribune. Texas ERCOT Data Center Energy Grid
4
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Short-Term Energy Outlook
5
E&E News. Texas Takes Aim at Threat of Cascading Outages
6
Utility Dive. Texas PUC Shelves Performance Credit Mechanism
7
Forbes. After 4 Years and Billions of Dollars the Texas Grid Is Not Fixed
8
Texas Comptroller. Housing Affordability Fiscal Notes
9
Texas Tribune. Texas Legislature Housing Affordability Crisis
10
Texas Real Estate Research Center. Texas Housing Insight March 2025
11
Texas Department of Insurance. Texas Homeowners Insurance Market Overview
12
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Texas Homeowners Insurance
13
Texas Tribune. Texas Gulf Coast Insurance Increase
14
Texas Comptroller. Water Infrastructure Fiscal Notes
15
Texas Tribune. Texas Water Explained Supply Demand
16
Drought.gov. Texas Drought Conditions
17
Texas Tribune. Texas Children CHIP Medicaid Uninsured
18
KFF. How Many Uninsured Are in the Coverage Gap
19
Texans Care for Children. What the Cuts in the Mega Budget Bill Mean for Texas Families
20
DSHS. Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee Joint Biennial Report
21
Texas Tribune. Texas Abortion Ban Impact Death Hospitalization
22
Baker Institute. Health Care Risk Texas Abortion Laws and OB-GYN Access
23
State Court Report. Texas Supreme Court Determine Scope of Medical Emergency Exceptions Abortion
24
Texas Tribune. Texas School Funding Uncertified Teachers Shortage
25
Texas Tribune. Texas Public Education Schools Funding Bill Explained
26
Texas Tribune. Texas Vouchers
27
Texas Private Schools. School Choice
28
Children at Risk. 2025 Analysis Texas Child Care Deserts
29
Texas LSG. Understanding the Child Care Crisis in Texas
30
Texas Workforce Commission. Child Care Data Reports Plans
31
ACLU of Texas. 89th Texas Legislative Hub
32
Office of the Governor. Operation Lone Star
33
Texas Courts. SB 9 Overview
34
Houston Public Media. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Bail Bills Into Law
35
Kinder Institute. 89th Texas Legislative Session Priorities and Policy Views
36
Texas Tribune. Texas Legislature Gun Restrictions
37
Giffords. Gun Law Trendwatch Where States Stand Halfway Through 2025
38
Associated Press. Justice Department Declined to Prosecute Texas AG Paxton