Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington
Conurbation
From top: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, showcasing Downtown Dallas and Downtown Fort Worth, and the Arlington Entertainment District
Country	United States
State	Texas
Principal cities	Dallas Fort Worth Arlington Plano Irving Denton Richardson Grapevine
Area
• Urban	1,779.1 sq mi (4,607.9 km2)
• Metro	8,675 sq mi (22,468 km2)
Highest elevation	1,368 ft (417 m)
Population  (2020 Census for MSA/CSA, 2010 Census for urban area)
• Urban	5,121,892 (6th)
• Urban density	2,878.9/sq mi (1,111.5/km2)
• Metro density	880.4/sq mi (339.9/km2)
• MSA	7,637,387 (4th)
• CSA	8,121,108 (7th)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	214, 254, 469, 682, 817, 903, 940, 972
Interstates

The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties. It is the economic and cultural hub of North Texas. Residents of the area also refer to it as DFW (airport code), or the Metroplex. The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area's population was 7,637,387 according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 census, making it the most populous metropolitan area in both Texas and the Southern United States, the fourth-largest in the U.S., and the tenth-largest in the Americas. In 2016, the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex had the highest annual population growth in the United States.

The metropolitan region's economy also referred to as Silicon Prairie, is primarily based on banking, commerce, insurance, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, medical research, transportation and logistics. As of 2021, Dallas–Fort Worth is home to 22 Fortune 500 companies, the 4th-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States behind New York City (54), Chicago (35), and Houston (24). In 2016, the metropolitan economy surpassed Houston to become the fourth-largest in the U.S. The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex boasted a GDP of just over $620.6 billion in 2020. If the Metroplex were a sovereign state, it would have the twentieth largest economy in the world as of 2019. In 2015, the conurbated metropolitan area would rank the ninth-largest economy if it were a U.S. state. In 2020, Dallas–Fort Worth was recognized as the 36th best metropolitan area for STEM professionals in the U.S.

The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex comprises the highest concentration of colleges and universities in Texas. The UT Southwestern Medical Center is home to six Nobel Laureates and was ranked No. 1 in the world among healthcare institutions in biomedical sciences. The Metroplex is also the second most popular metropolis for megachurches in Texas (trailing the Greater Houston metropolitan area), ranked the largest Christian metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., and has one of the largest LGBT communities in Texas since 2005.

Origin of the term

A portmanteau of metropolis and complex, the term metroplex is credited to Harve Chapman, an executive vice president with Dallas-based Tracy-Locke which was one of three advertising agencies that worked with the North Texas Commission (NTC) on strategies to market the region. The NTC copyrighted the term "Southwest Metroplex" in 1972 as a replacement for the previously-ubiquitous "North Texas", which studies had shown lacked identifiability outside the state. In fact, only 38 percent of a survey group identified Dallas and Fort Worth as part of "North Texas", with the Texas Panhandle also a perceived correct answer, being the northernmost region of Texas.

Metroplex counties

Counties in the DFW metroplex (picture is now outdated)

• Collin County
• Dallas County
• Denton County
• Ellis County
• Hood County
• Hunt County
• Johnson County
• Kaufman County
• Parker County
• Rockwall County
• Somervell County
• Tarrant County
• Wise County

Metroplex cities, towns, and CDPs

Note: Cities and towns are categorized based on the latest population estimates from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (as of January 1, 2012). No population estimates are released for census-designated places (CDPs), which are marked with an asterisk (*). These places are categorized based on their 2010 census population.

Places with more than 100,000 inhabitants

Northern Dallas metropolitan area at night – astronaut photo, courtesy NASA (November 15, 2012)

Places designated "principal cities" by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) are italicized.

1,000,000+

• Dallas (1,241,162)

500,000–999,999

• Fort Worth (833,319)

200,000–499,999

• Arlington (375,600)
• Plano (269,776)
• Garland (233,564)
• Irving (225,427)

100,000–199,999

• Grand Prairie (181,824)
• McKinney (143,223)
• Mesquite (143,195)
• Frisco (128,176)
• Carrollton (125,409)
• Denton (121,123)
• Richardson (103,297)
• Lewisville (101,074)

Places with 10,000 to 99,999 inhabitants

Places with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants

Unincorporated places

Demographics

At the 2020 U.S. census 7,637,387 people lived in the area, up from 6,371,773 in 2010. According to information gathered from the North Texas Commission, the Metroplex's racial makeup was 75% White, 15% Black or African American, 7% Asian American, and 3% from other races in 2017. Ethnically, Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 29% of the metropolitan population. At the 2019 American Community Survey, 74% of the area was White, 16% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 7% Asian, 0.1% other races, and 2% from two or more races. Ethnically, 29% was Hispanic or Latin American of any race. From 2010 to 2017, Hispanics and Latinos increased an estimated 38.9% followed by Blacks and African Americans. In 2015, an estimated 101,588 foreign-born residents moved to the Metroplex. Of the immigrant population, 44.1% were from Latin America, 35.8% Asia, 7.1% Europe, and 13.1% Africa. In 2010, 77,702 foreign nationals immigrated; approximately 50.6% came from Latin America, 33.0% from Asia, 7.3% Europe, and 9.1% Africa.

The median household income in Dallas–Fort Worth was higher than the state average in 2017, and its unemployment and poverty rate was lower. The median income for males was $51,498 and $44,207 for females. In 2019, the per capita income of DFW was $72,265 and the per capita income was $36,274. In 2010, the median income for a household in the metropolitan area was $48,062, and the median income for a family was $55,263. Males had a median income of $39,581 versus $27,446 for females. The per capita income for the Metroplex altogether was $21,839.

The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex's religious population are predominantly Christian and the largest metro area that identify with the religion in the United States (78%). Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches are prominent in many cities and towns in the metropolitan region. The Methodist and Baptist communities anchor two of the area's major private universities (Southern Methodist University and Dallas Baptist University). Non-Christian faiths including Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and contemporary paganism collectively form a little over 4% of the religious population.

Combined Statistical Area

The Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK Combined Statistical Area is made up of 20 counties in north central Texas and one county in southern Oklahoma. The statistical area includes two metropolitan areas and seven micropolitan areas. As of the 2010 Census, the CSA had a population of 6,817,483 (though a July 1, 2015 estimate placed the population at 7,504,362). The CSA definition encompasses 14,628 sq mi (37,890 km²) of area, of which 14,126 sq mi (36,590 km²) is land and 502 sq mi (1,300 km²) is water.

Components

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)

• Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington (Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Hood, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise counties)
• Sherman-Denison (Grayson County)

Micropolitan Statistical Areas (μSAs)

• Athens (Henderson County)
• Bonham (Fannin County) (delineated and added in 2015)
• Corsicana (Navarro County)
• Durant, OK (Bryan County, Oklahoma)
• Gainesville (Cooke County)
• Mineral Wells (Palo Pinto County)
• Sulphur Springs (Hopkins County)

Note: The Granbury micropolitan statistical area (Hood and Somervell counties) was made part of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area effective 2013.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,487,956 people, 2,006,665 households, and 1,392,540 families residing within the CSA. The racial makeup of the CSA was 70.41% White, 13.34% African American, 0.59% Native American, 3.58% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 9.62% from other races, and 2.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.83% of the population. It is home to the fourth-largest Muslim population in the country.

The median income for a household in the CSA was $43,836, and the median income for a family was $50,898. Males had a median income of $37,002 versus $25,553 for females. The per capita income for the CSA was $20,460.

Geography

The Metroplex overlooks mostly prairie land with a few rolling hills dotted by man-made lakes cut by streams, creeks and rivers surrounded by forest land. The Metroplex is situated in the Texas blackland prairies region, so named for its fertile black soil found especially in the rural areas of Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.

Many areas of Denton, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant, and Wise counties are located in the Fort Worth Prairie region of North Texas, which has less fertile and more rocky soil than that of the Texas blackland prairie; most of the rural land on the Fort Worth Prairie is ranch land. A large onshore natural gas field, the Barnett Shale, lies underneath this area; Denton, Tarrant and Wise counties feature many natural gas wells. Continuing land use change results in scattered crop fields surrounded by residential or commercial development.

South of Dallas and Fort Worth is a line of rugged hills that goes north to south about 15 miles (24 km) that looks similar to the Texas Hill Country 200 miles (320 km) to the south.

Transportation

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (IATA airport code: DFW), located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, is the largest and busiest airport in the State of Texas. At 17,207 acres (6,963 ha) of total land area, DFW is also the second-largest airport in the country and the sixth-largest in the world. It is the third-busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft movements and the world's seventh-busiest by passenger traffic, transporting 62.9 million passengers in FY 2014. Based in Fort Worth, American Airlines' headquarters are adjacent to DFW. Recently having regained the title as the largest airline in the world in terms of both passengers transported and fleet size, American is a predominant leader in domestic routes and operations.

The Dallas Love Field Airport (IATA airport code: DAL) is located in northwest Dallas. Based in Dallas, Southwest Airlines is headquartered next to Love Field.

DFW freeway map

The Dallas–Fort Worth area has thousands of lane-miles of freeways and interstates. The Metroplex has the second-largest number of freeway-miles per capita in the nation, behind only the Kansas City metropolitan area. As in most major metropolitan areas in Texas, most interstates and freeways have access or frontage roads where most of the businesses are located; these access roads have slip ramps allowing traffic to transition between the freeway and access road. North–south interstates include I-35 and I-45. East–west routes include I-30 and I-20. I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W from Denton to Hillsboro: I-35W goes through Fort Worth while I-35E goes through Dallas. (This is one of only two examples of an interstate splitting off into branches and then rejoining as one; the other such split is in Minneapolis-St. Paul where I-35E goes into St. Paul and I-35W goes through Minneapolis.) I-30 connects Dallas and Fort Worth, and I-45 connects Dallas to Houston. The "multiple-of-5" numbers used for the interstate designations are notable, as these numbers were designed to be used for major multi-state arteries of the U.S. Interstate Highway System. The North Texas region is the terminus for two of them, and I-45 is located only within Texas.

HOV lanes exist along I-35E, I-30, I-635, US 67, and US 75. I-20 bypasses both Dallas and Fort Worth to the south while its loop, I-820, goes around Fort Worth. I-635 splits to the north of I-20 and loops around east and north Dallas, ending at SH 121 north of DFW Airport. I-35E, Loop 12, and Spur 408 ultimately connect to I-20 southwest of Dallas, completing the west bypass loop around Dallas. A large number of construction projects are planned or are already underway in the region to alleviate congestion. Due largely to funding issues, many of the new projects involve building new tollways or adding tolled express lanes to existing highways, which are managed by the North Texas Tollway Authority. It was originally established to manage the Dallas North Tollway and oversees several other toll projects in the area.

Public transit

Map of rail transit in the Dallas–Fort Worth area

Public transit options continue to expand significantly throughout the Metroplex. However, it is limited in several outlying and rural suburbs. Dallas County and portions of Collin and Rockwall counties have bus service and light rail operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), covering thirteen member cities. DART's rail network currently sprawls for 93 miles throughout the area. The Red Line extends north to Plano and southwest to Westmoreland Road. The Blue Line reaches from Rowlett in the northeast to the University of North Texas at Dallas campus near I-20 in the south. The 28-mile Green Line, which opened in December 2010, connects Carrollton in the northwest through downtown Dallas to Pleasant Grove in the southeast. The Orange Line, which completed expansion in 2014, parallels the Red Line from Plano to downtown Dallas and the Green Line from downtown Dallas to Northwest Hwy before extending through the Las Colinas area of Irving to reach DFW International Airport.

Denton County has bus service limited to Denton, Highland Village, and Lewisville (with commuter service to downtown Dallas) provided by the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA). The A-train, a diesel commuter rail line, parallels I-35E to connect Denton, Highland Village, Lewisville, and Carrollton. Several smaller towns along this line, Corinth, Shady Shores, and Lake Dallas, voted to abstain from DCTA and do not have stations. There is an across-the-platform transfer in Carrollton to the DART Green Line. A-Train service began June 20, 2011.

Tarrant County has bus services operated by Trinity Metro (formerly the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, popularly known as 'The T'), available only in Fort Worth. It additionally operates TEXRail commuter rail, which serves to connect downtown Fort Worth with DFW Airport and the DART Orange Line. The diesel commuter train that serves Fort Worth and its eastern suburbs is operated as the Trinity Railway Express; it connects downtown Fort Worth to downtown Dallas, where it links to the DART light rail system. A station near its midpoint, Centerport, also serves DFW Airport via a free airport shuttle bus. The TRE is jointly owned by FWTA and DART. Amtrak serves two stations in the Metroplex—Dallas Union Station and Fort Worth Central Station. Both are served by the Texas Eagle route, which operates daily between Chicago and San Antonio (continuing on to Los Angeles three days a week), though only Fort Worth is served by the Fort Worth-Oklahoma City Heartland Flyer.

As of 2016 the Taiwanese airline EVA Air operates a shuttle bus service from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston to Richardson, so that Dallas-based customers may fly on its services to and from Houston.

Largest area employers

Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex

Economy

Headquarters of AMR Corporation and American Airlines

The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth are the two central cities of the Metroplex, with Arlington being a third economically important city; it is a center for sporting events, tourism and manufacturing. Most other incorporated cities in the Metroplex are "bedroom communities" serving largely as residential and small-business centers, though there are several key employers in these regions. Due to the large number of smaller, less well-known cities, Metroplex residents commonly divide the region roughly in half along Texas Interstate 35, which runs north–south, splitting into two 'branches' (I-35E in Dallas and I-35W in Fort Worth) through the Metroplex. They refer to places as being on the "Dallas side" or the "Fort Worth side", or in "the Arlington area", which is almost directly south of the airport; cities in the Arlington area form the Mid-Cities. It is nominally between the two major east–west interstates in the region (I-20, passing to the south of both downtowns, and I-30, connecting Dallas and Fort Worth city centers).

AT&T headquarters in Dallas

Business management and operations play a central role in the area's economy. Dallas and its suburbs have the third-largest concentration of corporate headquarters in the United States. Moreover, it is the only metro area in the country home to three of the top-ten largest Fortune 500 companies by revenue. The area continues to draw corporate relocation from across the nation, and especially from California. From late 2018 to early 2019, both McKesson and Charles Schwab announced they would be relocating from San Francisco to the DFW area. Later in 2019, San Francisco-based Uber announced a massive corporate expansion just east of downtown Dallas.

Banking and finance play a key role in the area's economy. DFW recently surpassed Chicago to become the second-largest financial services hub in the nation, eclipsed only by New York. Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, Goldman Sachs, State Farm, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity Investments maintain significant operations in the area. The Metroplex also contains the largest Information Technology industry base in the state (often referred to as Silicon Prairie or the Telecom Corridor, especially when referring to US-75 through Richardson, Plano and Allen just north of Dallas itself). This area has a large number of corporate IT projects and the presence of numerous electronics, computing and telecommunication firms such as Microsoft, Texas Instruments, HP Enterprise Services, Dell Services, Samsung, Nokia, Cisco, Fujitsu, i2, Frontier, Alcatel, Ericsson, CA, Google, and Verizon. AT&T, the largest telecommunications company in the world, is headquartered at the Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas. ExxonMobil and McKesson, respectively the 2nd and 7th largest Fortune 500 companies by revenue, are headquartered in Irving, Texas. Fluor, the largest engineering & construction company in the Fortune 500, is also headquartered in Irving. In October 2016, Jacobs Engineering, a Fortune 500 company and one of the world's largest engineering companies, relocated from Pasadena, California to Dallas. Toyota USA, in 2016, relocated its corporate headquarters to Plano, Texas. Southwest Airlines is headquartered in Dallas. The airline has more than 53,000 employees as of October 2016 and operates more than 3,900 departures a day during peak travel season.

On the other side of the Metroplex, the Texas farming and ranching industry is based in Fort Worth, though the area's economy is diverse. American Airlines, the largest airline in the world, recently completed their new $350M corporate HQ complex in Fort Worth. American Airlines is the largest employer in the Metroplex. Several major defense manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopter Textron, and Raytheon, maintain significant operations in the Metroplex, primarily on the "Fort Worth side." They are concentrated along State Highway 170 near I-35W, commonly called the "Alliance Corridor" due to its proximity to the Fort Worth Alliance regional airport.

Changes in house prices for the Metroplex are publicly tracked on a regular basis using the Case–Shiller index; the statistic is published by Standard & Poor's and is also a component of S&P's 20-city composite index of the value of the U.S. residential real estate market.

Sports

The Metroplex is one of the 13 U.S. metropolitan areas that has a team in each of the four major professional sports leagues. Major professional sports first came to the area in 1952, when the Dallas Texans competed in the National Football League for one season. In 1960, major professional sports returned when the Dallas Cowboys began competing in the National Football League and the Dallas Texans began competing in the American Football League. The Dallas Texans later relocated to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. In 1972, Major League Baseball's Washington Senators moved to Arlington to become the Texas Rangers, named after the statewide law enforcement agency. The National Basketball Association expanded into North Texas in 1980 when the Dallas Mavericks were added to the league. The fourth sport was added in 1993 when the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League moved to Dallas, becoming the Dallas Stars.

The Major League Soccer team FC Dallas is based in Frisco, and the Dallas Wings of the WNBA play in Arlington. The area is also home to many minor-league professional teams, and four colleges that compete in NCAA Division I athletics. Two NASCAR Cup Series races are hosted annually at Texas Motor Speedway, the All-Star Race and the AAA Texas 500, and two PGA Tour events are held annually in the Metroplex, the AT&T Byron Nelson and the Colonial National Invitation Tournament. The Metroplex has hosted many premiere sports events on both an annual and one-time basis.

Major professional sports teams

Club	Sport	Founded	League	Venue
Dallas Cowboys	American Football	1960	NFL	AT&T Stadium
Texas Rangers	Baseball	1972^	MLB	Globe Life Field
Dallas Mavericks	Basketball	1980	NBA	American Airlines Center
Dallas Stars	Ice Hockey	1993^	NHL	American Airlines Center
FC Dallas	Soccer	1996	MLS	Toyota Stadium
Dallas Wings	Basketball	2015^	WNBA	College Park Center

^- Indicates year team relocated to the area

Other notable professional and amateur teams

^- Indicates year team relocated to the area

Division I college athletics

School	City	Mascot	Conference
University of Texas at Arlington	Arlington	Mavericks	Sun Belt Conference
University of North Texas	Denton	Mean Green	Conference USA
Southern Methodist University	University Park	Mustangs	American Athletic Conference
Texas Christian University	Fort Worth	Horned Frogs	Big 12 Conference
Dallas Baptist University	Dallas	Patriots	Missouri Valley Conference (baseball only)

The headquarters for both the Big 12 and American Athletic Conference are located in Irving, Conference USA headquarters are in Dallas and the Southland Conference headquarters are in Frisco.

Sports events hosted

Note: Venues are listed with their current names, not necessarily those in use when an event took place.

Education

Notable colleges and universities

Public universities

School	Enrollment	Location	Mascot	Athletic Affiliation (Conference)	University System
University of Texas at Arlington	42,496	Arlington	Mavericks	NCAA Division I (Sun Belt) Non–Football	University of Texas System
University of North Texas	40,796	Denton	Mean Green	NCAA Division I FBS (C–USA)	University of North Texas System
University of Texas at Dallas	26,793	Richardson	Comets	NCAA Division III (American Southwest) Non–Football	University of Texas System
Texas Woman's University	15,472	Denton	Pioneers	NCAA Division II (Lone Star) Women's sports only	Independent
Texas A&M University–Commerce	12,385	Commerce	Lions	NCAA Division II (Lone Star)	Texas A&M University System
University of North Texas at Dallas	3,030	Dallas	Trailblazers	NAIA (Sooner) Non–Football	University of North Texas System
UT Southwestern	2,235	Dallas	N/A	N/A	University of Texas System

Private universities

School	Enrollment	Location	Mascot	Athletic Affiliation (Conference)
Southern Methodist University	11,643	University Park	Mustangs	NCAA Division I FBS (American)
Texas Christian University	10,394	Fort Worth	Horned Frogs	NCAA Division I FBS (Big 12)
Dallas Baptist University	5,445	Dallas	Patriots	NCAA Division II (Lone Star) Non–Football, compete in the Missouri Valley Conference at the Division I level for baseball
Texas Wesleyan University	3,378	Fort Worth	Rams	NAIA (Sooner)
University of Dallas	2,387	Irving	Crusaders	NCAA Division III (SCAC) Non–Football, compete in Texas Rugby Union at the Division II level for Rugby
Southwestern Assemblies of God University	2,012	Waxahachie	Lions	NAIA NCCAA (Sooner and Central States Football League)
Paul Quinn College	600	Dallas	Tigers	NAIA (Red River) Non–Football

Images for kids

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  1915 map of Dallas and Tarrant Counties

• 

  Downtown Dallas

• 

  Downtown Fort Worth