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EDINBURG — At 50 years old, Abel Gonzalez says he’s happy to be involved in his eight-year dream career of filmmaking, something he sees as fostering the budding film industry in the Rio Grande Valley. But, he still has some anxieties.
He’s worried that a family member — who’s a U.S. citizen — will be targeted by immigration officials because he speaks minimal English. He’s concerned that rural parts of the Valley are not adequately represented politically, and that environmental concerns over pesticides and chemicals in those areas receive little attention.
He’s also frustrated over stagnant wages. He said businesses often don’t want to pay competitive wages for services because they believe they can find someone just a few miles south in Mexico to provide the service for a cheaper price.
Gonzalez believes in voting as an important way for communities to make their voices heard about their concerns, but said underrepresentation continues to be a problem. He doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.
“We’ve been under Republican governorship for so long,” he said. “It’s like a big tanker truck that you can’t just turn around. You just have to move slowly.”
His outlook reflects that of the average Valley resident. While on average, South Texans have a positive view on their lives; their overall life evaluation has fallen near to where it was in 2009 and are experiencing higher levels of negative emotions than historical trends, according to new survey data.
Between 2009 and 2018, life evaluation in the Rio Grande Valley peaked in 2014 before declining overall, according to an analysis by Blue Zones, a think tank that studies longevity and quality of life. That decline was concentrated among Hispanic residents, while life evaluation increased among non-Hispanics.
While the survey does not list reasons for declines in life evaluation, health status is listed as one of the biggest factors in determining life satisfaction. So are people and community.
It’s possible the downturn could be driven by concerns like those expressed by Gonzalez — heightened immigration enforcement and wages — according to one political scientist in the Rio Grande Valley.
That dissatisfaction is bad news for both major political parties, which are heavily focused on winning voters in South Texas. The valley is home to three of the most contested congressional elections. Voters are less likely to engage in the political process if they have a low quality of life, said Álvaro Corral, a political scientist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Feeling blue
Mollie Wallace, 31, says she’s happy overall, but she overcame many challenges to get here.
She’s been diagnosed with depression, ADHD and, at 19 years old, developed Bell’s palsy, a sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face. She’s also lost loved ones to suicide, and her mother to complications related to alcoholism.
It’s been quite the journey, but Wallace, an occupational therapist, is in a stable place now thanks to the support she receives from her dad and sister as well as the help she receives from her therapist and being on antidepressants.
“I feel lucky to be here,” she said.
But not everyone in the Valley is able to get the help they need.
About 30% of Valley residents don’t have health insurance, one of the highest uninsured rates in the country, and about 24% of people live below the poverty line, which is more than double the national rate.
Because of the need in the Valley, Blue Zones was invited to look into how it could help communities in the region by Methodist Healthcare Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit based in San Antonio.
Blue Zones helps communities establish programs to help residents live happier and longer lives. Coined by journalist Dan Buettner, the term “blue zone” became the name of the research firm, which aims to equip communities across the world.
As part of that process in the Valley, Blue Zone researchers met with people and organizations in the region to understand whether the area had the ability and willingness to implement Blue Zone strategies for improvement.
“We know that our model doesn’t work if we come and do the work to a community,” said Dan Buettner Jr., chief development officer for Blue Zones and Buettner’s son. “It’s got to be a continuation of what they’re doing.”
Part of the initial assessment is data collected via a survey by Gallup, one of the oldest and most respected public opinion polling firms in the U.S., and analyzed by Oxford University.
The data measured how people feel about their lives and what contributed to their happiness.
An analysis of the survey drew on Gallup survey data from 2009 to 2018 collected from Valley residents aged 18 and older. That was then compared to new data that Gallup collected for 2026 — 1,921 old surveys and 588 new surveys — to examine how views about their lives have changed.
Valley residents were asked to rate their life satisfaction on a scale from zero to 10. Based on responses, average well-being in the Valley between 2009 to 2018 was 7.3, above the average well-being in Texas which was 7.18.
In 2026, that dipped for Valley residents to 7.09. There was no 2026 rating for Texas overall.
The decrease in life evaluation wasn’t universal in the region. For the Hispanic population, which makes up about 92% of the population in the Valley, life satisfaction went from 7.3 between 2009 and 2018 to 6.9 in 2026.
Non-Hispanic people experienced the opposite. Their life satisfaction increased from 7.27 to 7.48.
Life evaluation differed across income levels, as well. People who earned higher incomes reported a higher life satisfaction.
Average life satisfaction in the Valley was at its lowest in 2009, with a rating of 7.0. That rose gradually over time before peaking in 2014 with a rating of 7.6. Life evaluation went down until 2016 when it reached an average rating of 7.2 and slightly increased in 2017 with a 7.35 rating.
The survey also asked how often people experienced positive and negative emotions.
Overall, fewer people reported experiencing positive emotions on a daily basis in 2026 compared to the time period between 2009 and 2018, while people experiencing daily negative emotions increased. That was the case among Hispanic and non-Hispanic people alike, though Hispanic people had a bigger jump in the percentage of people experiencing negative emotions daily — 38% to 54% — compared to non-Hispanics — 28% to 33%.
Wallace, the occupational therapist, is not Hispanic, but immigration policies and how they are affecting the community has become a stress point for her too.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been pushing forward on plans to erect border barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. In the Valley, CBP is building a 30-foot wall along the river levee inside the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, separating the visitor’s center from the trail. Environmental groups also worry the wall would restrict the movement of wildlife.
Considered to be the jewel of the national wildlife refuge system, Santa Ana was also a refuge for Wallace — a safe place where she felt she could hide when she was dealing with Bell’s palsy.
She’s also anxious about how patients are impacted by ICE raids. Colleagues told her their patients are sometimes scared to open their doors, worried that an ICE agent is on the other side.
“How could you be happy if you’re worried about where you or your child’s next meal is coming from, or if someone’s gonna come and take you from your home, or your children from your home?” Wallace said.
Potential disengagement
Corral, the UTRGV political scientist, believes economic factors like inflation as well as the immigration crackdown, were likely factors in the decline in life evaluation among Hispanic people in the Valley.
“I think it could very well be how severe folks have felt things have turned against them,” Corral said.
That downturn could have consequences in how people engage in government and elections, he said.
The Valley has historically had low voter turnout, which Corral said could be because voting is low on their list of priorities.
“People are really busy just surviving,” he said. “Thorough engagement in politics, at a midterm elections level, is almost like a luxury good.”
Republicans hope to maintain the strong gains among Hispanic voters that helped win all four Valley counties for Trump in 2024. The GOP is particularly focused on flipping the 28th and 34th Congressional Districts, which are currently held by U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, and Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen.
Meanwhile, Democrats are attempting to win back the 15th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Monica De La Cruz, a Republican from Edinburg. De La Cruz won the seat for the GOP in 2022 after the district was redrawn in 2021 to favor Republicans.
If candidates want to spur voter turnout despite general discontent, Corral cautioned against any instinct to play on people’s negative emotions. That could lead to a general disaffection with politics.
“I would be most concerned that the rise in negative emotions would probably dampen political engagement rather than benefiting any one particular party per se,” Corral said.
What is happiness?
To understand what drives well-being in the Valley, Oxford University analyzed answers to survey questions relating to workplace, health status, personal safety, community and people, and health behaviors.
Among Valley residents, the biggest driver of well-being is health status, which makes up 57% of importance. This includes whether health problems prevent people from doing things people their age would normally do, whether poor health kept them from doing their usual activities during the last 30 days, their Body Mass Index, whether they’ve been told by a medical professional that they have depression, and how they would rate their own health in general.
Second was community and people, which made up 21.5% of importance. The third most important factor is the workplace, which made up 11%, followed by health behaviors and personal safety with 6% and 5%, respectively.
The importance of each factor was shown to vary across age groups. For example, among residents 18 to 30 years old, health status made up 15% of importance while community and people was the biggest factor, making up 62.3% of importance.
But health took up a larger piece of the pie across older generations — for people between 31 and 59 years old, health made up 62% of importance and 51% for people 60 and older.
By identifying drivers of well-being in the Valley, Blue Zones aims to identify ways to improve well-being and quality of life by working with civic organizations, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, as well as local governments to encourage healthier practices.
With the initial assessment completed, Blue Zones will need to secure funding to begin putting into place improvement plans across the various communities in the Valley, including Edinburg, McAllen, Weslaco, Harlingen and Brownsville.
The group will develop custom blueprints for each community that will include looking at Gallup’s well-being measurements and tracking risk factors for disease.
They will track how many grocery stores, schools and employers are becoming Blue Zone-approved and how many policies are put in place related to trails, parks and food systems.
Among the biggest challenges in the Valley is that the area has among the highest rates of diabetes in the country and healthcare costs are a huge economic drag, said Buettner, the Blue Zone leader.
The strength of the Valley is its family identity, which Buettner said was part of the building blocks for what they hope to accomplish.
“There’s these really strong, trusted nodes and networks that, if we can tap into that, we can tap into the actual culture and start normalizing a culture of healthy behaviors,” he said.
The end goal is more good years for people based on addressing economic development, workforce, population health and reducing chronic disease.
“It’s a full story of community self-determination, led by well-being as the north star metric,” he said.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
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