Buying Land in Gaines County, Texas

A Top Oil County Sits Under a Top Cotton and Peanut County

Case-by-case / verify locally

Gaines County has long ranked among Texas's leading oil-producing counties, with historical peak annual production exceeding 40 million barrels, while simultaneously ranking as a top cotton producer and the state's No. 1 peanut producer on irrigated High Plains farmland. That dual identity means mineral rights, existing well pads, pipeline easements, and active drilling are a realistic, everyday consideration on agricultural land here in a way they simply aren't in most Texas counties -- have a Texas oil-and-gas attorney review the mineral-rights and surface-use status of any specific parcel before buying, and don't assume a farmed or pasture-looking tract is free of oil-and-gas activity or leases.

A County-Seat-Headquartered Water District, Managing Real, Documented Aquifer Decline

Case-by-case / verify locally

Gaines County sits inside the Llano Estacado Underground Water Conservation District (LEUWCD), headquartered right in Seminole and covering roughly 1,525 square miles of the southern High Plains. This isn't a hypothetical concern: USGS-documented comparisons between early development-era (1930s-60s) and recent (2005-2015) measurements show real, measured groundwater-level decline in and around Gaines County's portion of the Ogallala Aquifer. For irrigated farmland or a new domestic well, confirm current well-permit rules, any production limits, and the latest available water-level data directly with LEUWCD rather than assuming supply will remain what it has historically been.

No County Septic Permitting -- Routes Through TCEQ Region 7

Could not confirm

Gaines County is not a TCEQ authorized agent for OSSF (septic) permitting. Applications instead go through TCEQ's Region 7 office in Midland (432-570-1359) rather than a county department. Properties of 10 acres or more with a single-family dwelling may qualify for the state's 10-acre exemption from the permit requirement -- confirm current fees and site-evaluation requirements directly with the TCEQ regional office before budgeting a system.

Subdivision Rules Explicitly Cover Manufactured-Home Rental Communities

Generally favorable

Gaines County's posted Subdivision Regulations (most recently revised February 2025) are titled to explicitly cover "Subdivision and Manufactured Home Rental Community Regulations" -- meaning the county's platting rules reach manufactured-home rental communities specifically, not just traditional platted residential subdivisions. If a manufactured-home community is part of your plan for a parcel, confirm the current regulations' specific requirements directly with the county rather than assuming standard subdivision rules are the only ones that apply.