Lubbock Is Expanding…And It’s Getting Weird

Lubbock continues to grow and expand, but it’s doing it in a way that feels a little…off. The city’s population is growing at about 1% a year. Meanwhile, it feels like chicken strip places are growing at about 10% a year. That second number is completely made up—but you know exactly what I mean.

Growth Outside the Loop (A Love/Hate Thing)

I’m not anti-growth, and I’m definitely not anti–new places to eat. I love all of that. I just wish more of it stayed inside the Loop. Instead, we keep stretching farther and farther out, and it starts to raise some long-term questions.

Two big ones:

1. Are we neglecting what we already have?
2. Are we making things harder to get to than they need to be?

Why the Inside of the Loop Still Matters

If you don’t keep investing inside the Loop, eventually you’re not “growing,” you’re just relocating Lubbock one strip mall at a time. Revitalization is always easier before things get rough—not after.

I’ve always said if Lubbock really wanted to get downtown poppin’, they’d drop something big down there. A movie theater. One of those combo food/bowling/arcade places. Something that gives people a reason to go, hang out, and stay awhile.

The problem? Even the folks who want to push downtown forward seem a little hesitant. There’s still that concern about “what else comes with it,” and whether it scares off the exact customers they’re trying to attract.

The Transportation Thing No One Talks About

Here’s the other side of this—getting around.

People don’t want to drive as much as they used to. Gas, traffic, time—it all adds up. So now you’ve got more people using rideshares or just trying to keep things closer to home.

Shorter trips mean more money left over to actually spend somewhere. Longer trips? That’s just money burned getting there.

And when everything keeps moving farther out, public transportation becomes a nightmare. It’s tough enough already without having to stretch routes out to brand-new developments on the edge of town.

This Will Catch Up Eventually

It doesn’t feel like a big deal right now, but it will. That steady 1% population growth—and whatever the real number is on chicken strip expansion—is going to catch up with us at some point.

Read More: Why Lubbock Needs To Revitalize Areas Inside The Loop

Lubbock’s growing, no doubt about it. The question is whether we’re building something that works long-term…or just building farther away from where we started.