Metro area · Texas

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is a metropolitan area of 11 counties in Texas, home to 8,477,157 residents. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area has a quality-of-life score of 52 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #444 of 925 US metro and micro areas. Among metro and micro areas based in Texas it ranks #5 of 67. It ranks best on average weekly wage (high), broadband subscriptions (high) and injury deaths (low). It ranks worst on high ozone days (high), days with unhealthy air (high) and median Air Quality Index (high).

52Moderate
Quality-of-life score
#444 of 925 metro and micro areas
Texas
#5 of 67 in TX
Population
8,477,157 (2025)
Land area
8,676 mi²
Density
977.0 /mi²
CBSA code
19100

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 68 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map
Location of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US metro and micro areas.

  • Safety49#476/924
  • Economy92#77/925
  • Housing20#741/925
  • Health84#149/925
  • Healthcare47#490/923
  • Environment2#903/917
  • Education68#295/925
  • Infrastructure74#239/925
  • Community38#576/925
  • Leisure & amenities37#587/925

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area ranks highest and lowest among US metro and micro areas (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Metro and micro areas like Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Counties in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Whole counties, as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates the area. Federal spending below is the exact sum of these counties.

  1. Dallas CountyCentral county432,661,397
  2. Tarrant CountyCentral county462,248,466
  3. Collin CountyCentral county841,297,179
  4. Ellis CountyCentral county52240,867
  5. Johnson CountyCentral county43218,048
  6. Rockwall CountyCentral county83140,738
  7. Denton CountyOutlying county761,069,346
  8. Kaufman CountyOutlying county31209,235
  9. Parker CountyOutlying county59184,767
  10. Hunt CountyOutlying county22123,336
  11. Wise CountyOutlying county4183,778

Principal cities

The cities the area is named for.

  1. ArlingtonPrincipal city397,742
  2. DallasPrincipal city1,307,930
  3. DentonPrincipal city152,866
  4. Fort WorthPrincipal city963,194
  5. GrapevinePrincipal city51,139
  6. IrvingPrincipal city256,492
  7. PlanoPrincipal city290,594
  8. RichardsonPrincipal city118,731

Largest cities and towns

By population, for places with most of their residents in the area.

  1. Dallas1,307,930
  2. Fort Worth963,194
  3. Arlington397,742
  4. Plano290,594
  5. Irving256,492
  6. Garland246,844
  7. Frisco219,304
  8. McKinney210,600
  9. Grand Prairie201,883
  10. Denton152,866
  11. Mesquite149,299
  12. Carrollton133,740
  13. Lewisville131,080
  14. Richardson118,731
  15. Allen110,265
  16. Flower Mound78,389
  17. Mansfield77,510
  18. North Richland Hills70,780
  19. Rowlett65,463
  20. Euless60,421
  21. Wylie60,334
  22. DeSoto56,211
  23. Little Elm54,820
  24. Burleson52,918

Other metro and micro areas in Texas

Areas based in Texas, best score first.

Neighboring metro and micro areas

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar metro and micro areas

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

JSON · /api/v1/places/M19100