The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has officially surpassed 8 million residents, according to a new study.
The metroplex has solidified its status as one of the nation’s fastest-growing metro areas, according to a new study by the Texas Demographic Center (TDC), which produces, interprets, and distributes demographic information for Texas.
While the region as a whole has experienced tremendous growth since 2020, the local population in Dallas has remained stagnant due to heightened demand in neighboring suburbs like Fort Worth, Frisco, Lewisville, and McKinney.
Gov. Greg Abbott claimed Fort Worth was “a big part of the Texas economic juggernaut” during an event in March. Additionally, The Free Cities Index recently named Fort Worth the nation’s top pro-growth city, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Overall, the population in DFW grew by an estimated 101,051 residents between July 1, 2022, and January 1, 2023, increasing the total estimated population to 8,060,528.
However, the region’s growth has not occurred all at once. Between 2020 and 2023, DFW saw its population increase by 5.5% or about 423,000 residents.
“Families desire cities that are affordable, foster economic opportunities, and offer residents a high quality of life,” said Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, who authored The Free Cities Index study.
According to the TDC, population estimates for counties are completed using three methods: ratio-correlation, component-method II, and housing-unit method. For more details on the methodology, click here.
In a separate study by Site Selection Group, the Dallas-based commercial real estate agency forecasts the population in DFW to grow to 8,479,851 million total residents by 2028, marking a nearly 9% increase over the next half-decade.
If the population growth in North Texas stays on track, moving services platform moveBuddha predicts the metro will be the fourth-most populated region in the country.
“If current population growth rates continue unabated, the future of America belongs to Texas,” moveBuddha said.
While the DFW metroplex is booming, Dallas has struggled to keep up in recent years, losing nearly 16,000 people between 2020 and 2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.