The seat of Ochiltree County, Perryton is located northeast of Amarillo on US 83 and Hwy 15 near the Oklahoma/Texas state line.
Since Perryton was a designated mailing station between Amarillo and Wichita, Kansas, an airport was constructed near the city dump in 1932; it became known as the 'Sewer-Side Airport.'
In the mid-1980s Perryton's industries included creameries, oilfield services and equipment manufacturing, a trailer manufacturer, farm-machinery distributors, and cattle feedlots.
The population of Perryton increased from 4,399 in 1950 to 7,774 in 2000, when it had 467 businesses.