[6] On January 24, 2012, Pecos City appeared on the Forbes 400 as the second-fastest growing small town in the United States.

Prior to the arrival of the railroad, a permanent camp existed nearby where cattle drives crossed the Pecos River.

With the introduction of irrigation from underground aquifers, the city became a center of commerce for extensive local agricultural production of cotton, onions, and cantaloupes.

The introduction of large-scale sulfur mining in adjacent Culberson County during the 1960s led to significant economic and population growth.

In 1962, Pecos resident and tycoon Billie Sol Estes was indicted for fraud by a federal grand jury.

Oscar Griffin, Jr., of the Pecos Independent and Enterprise newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking the story.

Pecos is the site of the largest private prison in the world, the Reeves County Detention Complex, operated by the GEO Group.

Pecos experiences a semiarid (BSk) to desert climate (BWh) with hot summers and mild winters.