Investors looking to sink their dollars into industrial properties? LoopNet suggests they should focus on Texas.
Five Texas markets ranked among LoopNet’s latest list of the 10 best U.S. cities for industrial investing, with Midland taking the top spot and Lubbock ranking No. 2. Odessa came in fifth, Austin eighth and Fort Worth ninth. El Paso rounded out the Texas contingent at No. 10.
That gives Texas half of the markets in LoopNet’s top 10, an impressive showing that highlights the continuing strength of the state’s industrial real estate market.
LoopNet analyzed more than 22,000 industrial listings across 139 U.S. cities when compiling its ranking of the 10 best U.S. markets for industrial investors. The study considered five factors: rent-to-price ratios, available industrial inventory, industrial employment trends, population growth and building quality. The property and pricing data reflects listings active in July 2026, according to LoopNet.
LoopNet described Midland, Texas, as the most well-rounded industrial market in its study. The city posted a median asking rent of $17.50 a square foot annually, the highest among the top 10 markets. Manufacturing employment jumped 17.6% year over year, while Midland also ranked among the top 20 cities for available industrial listings.
One of the reasons for that strength? Midland sits in the heart of the Permian Basin, tying its industrial demand closely to the region’s oil-and-gas economy.
LoopNet ranked Lubbock as the second-best industrial investment market largely because of its consistency. The market had a median industrial asking price of $94.96 a square foot and a median annual asking rent of $10.50 a square foot. Industrial employment also increased across the metro, led by manufacturing.
Odessa, another Permian Basin market, came in at No. 5. LoopNet pointed to its 12.6% rent-to-price ratio, one of the strongest in the country, as one reason. Odessa also benefits from its sizable inventory of available properties.
But Odessa also illustrates one of the risks investors face in chasing the highest returns. Industrial employment declined on a year-over-year basis in this market, with both manufacturing and wholesale trade employment falling. That made Odessa the only market in LoopNet’s top five with a negative overall employment picture.
Austin ranked No. 8 in LoopNet’s study and posted the strongest demand profile among the 10 highest-ranked cities. The metro population here grew 13.9% over five years, while manufacturing employment climbed 17.2% year over year. Austin also boasts one of the newer industrial inventories among the top markets, with a particularly high share of Class-A properties available to investors.
Investors pay for those strengths, though. Austin had the highest median asking price per square foot among the top 10 markets on LoopNet’s list, and its 5.9% rent-to-price ratio was the weakest in that group.
Fort Worth, at No. 9, also benefited from the quality of its industrial inventory. The market had a share of Class-A properties more than twice that of any other top-ranked city, along with one of the largest pools of available listings. Its metro population grew 10.6% over five years.
Again, the trade-off is price. Fort Worth’s rent-to-price ratio was relatively low, while industrial employment growth was only marginal on a year-over-year basis.
El Paso’s median industrial asking price of $77.03 a square foot was the lowest among LoopNet’s top 10 markets, helping the market generate an 11% rent-to-price ratio. The city also benefits from its position along the U.S.-Mexico border and the resulting cross-border freight activity. El Paso’s population growth was less impressive, though, with LoopNet reporting that it increased just 1.3% during the last five years.
How did LoopNet determine which markets made its list of top industrial investment regions? LoopNet gave rent-to-price ratios the greatest weight in its ranking, accounting for 30% of the score. Listing volume represented another 20%, as did industrial employment trends. Population growth accounted for 15%, while the share of Class-C inventory represented the remaining 15%.
The study also cautions that its rent-to-price ratio doesn’t match a property’s expected return. That’s because this ratio doesn’t account for such challenges as vacancy, operating expenses, taxes or concessions.
