Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget,[a] is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States, encompassing 11 counties. Its historically dominant core cities are Dallas and Fort Worth.[5] 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,[6] making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. and the fifteenth-largest in the Americas. In 2016, the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex had the highest annual population growth in the United States.[7] By 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area's population had increased to 8,100,037, with the highest numerical growth of any metropolitan area in the United States.[8]
"Dallas–Fort Worth" redirects here. For the airport, see Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. For the Drake Milligan album, see Dallas/Fort Worth (album).
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 2022, Dallas–Fort Worth is home to 23 Fortune 500 companies, the 4th-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States behind New York City (62), Chicago (35), and Houston (24).[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] In 2020, Dallas–Fort Worth was recognized as the 36th best metropolitan area for STEM professionals in the U.S.[12]
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.[13][14] The Metroplex is also the second most popular metropolis for megachurches in Texas (trailing the Greater Houston metropolitan area),[15] ranked the largest Christian metropolitan statistical area in the U.S.,[16][17][18] and has one of the largest LGBT communities in Texas since 2005.[19][20][21][22]
Etymology[edit]
A portmanteau of metropolis and complex, the term metroplex is credited to Harve Chapman, an executive vice president with Dallas-based Tracy-Locke, one of three advertising agencies that worked with the North Texas Commission (NTC) on strategies to market the region.[23] The NTC copyrighted the term "Southwest Metroplex" in 1972 as a replacement for the previously-ubiquitous "North Texas",[24] 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.[25]