How much did Dallas-Fort Worth grow last year? Explore the latest Census data
Just over 8.1 million people now call the Metroplex home after the region experienced the largest population swell of any metropolitan area in the county last year, according to the U.S. Census’s latest population tallies.
Explore the data to better understand the scope, scale, and style of the growth.
The mighty Metroplex
DFW added 152,598 residents between July 2022 and July 2023. The Metroplex’s population has ballooned by around 434,000 since 2020. The change is roughly equivalent to the entire city of Oakland, California, relocating to the region. Meanwhile, the country’s three largest metro areas — New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago — have shed hundreds of thousands in that timeframe.
DFW grew slightly less in absolute terms than it did the year prior, when the population spiked by 172,792. Population growth in Fort Worth, Arlington, and Grapevine accounted for approximately 30% of the bulge; most of the expansion occurred in Dallas, Plano, and Irving. (The Census has not yet published last year’s population estimates for each individual city.)
Almost 101,500 people moved to DFW in 2023 — roughly 41,000 from abroad and 60,500 from other parts of the states. The region’s “natural change” — the difference between births and deaths — jumped from 42,509 to 51,377.
Counting the counties
Eight of the ten U.S. counties that experienced the largest gross population spikes in 2023 are in Texas. Collin and Denton counties absorbed the second and sixth largest swells; Tarrant, minting 27,301 new residents, ranked ninth. Harris County recorded the largest population gain in the county, with 53,788.
Kaufman and Rockwall counties, east of Dallas, were the country’s two fastest growing counties between 2022 and 2023. On the whole, growth in North Texas counties far outpaced the national average (0.29%).
Tarrant boasted the unique achievement of undergoing the fifth largest natural population change in the nation last year (two places behind Dallas).
