Fort Worth surpasses 1 million residents, overtaking Austin
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Fort Worth would like more credit for its accomplishments. Photo: Matt Leclercq/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Fort Worth has overtaken Austin to become the 11th most populous U.S. city, per Census Bureau figures released Thursday.
Why it matters: Fort Worth added 23,442 residents between 2023 and 2024 — fifth most in the country — and now is home to just over 1 million people, as North Texas continues to experience explosive growth, the data shows.
The big picture: Five of the 15 fastest growing U.S. cities with populations of at least 20,000 are in North Texas.
- Princeton, in Collin County, was the fastest-growing city.
State of play: Dallas remains the largest city in North Texas and the ninth largest in the country, with 1.3 million residents.
- But Fort Worth has more than doubled its population since 1990, when it had around 450,000 residents.
- Princeton's population has more than doubled in just five years, from 17,000 to 37,000, the Census Bureau says. The city's population jumped nearly 31% between July 2023 and July 2024 alone.
The intrigue: Celina experienced the fourth largest population increase by percentage and Anna had the fifth largest among cities with more than 20,000 residents.
Between the lines: Fort Worth officials had long hoped to see the city surpass the 1 million mark.
- The data shows Fort Worth is growing faster than Dallas.
- Fort Worth's growth rate was 9.7% between April 2020 and July 2024, while Dallas' was 1.7%.
- Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker teased Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson at an event earlier this month, saying the Dallas-Fort Worth region is "as we like to say, the Fort Worth-Dallas region."
What they're saying: "The 1 million mark reflects not just growth, but complexity," Fort Worth's chief transformation officer, Christianne Simmons, said in a news release.
- "As Fort Worth becomes a bigger city, the questions get tougher — about infrastructure, public services and how to make limited dollars go further."