North Texas map
Region · 38 counties · 31.8°–34° N · Central Time
North Texas is the state's population centre: four counties in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex hold more people than the other 34 combined. Its northern limit is not debatable — the Red River is the Oklahoma state line — but the southern and western limits are, and plenty of people use "North Texas" to mean only the Metroplex.
The Metroplex sits at the centre. Wichita Falls is the far west, Paris the far east, Waco country the southern fringe.
Where the region starts and ends
Everyone agrees on the top: the Red River, from the Oklahoma Panhandle corner east to the Arkansas line. Below that the definitions split. Geographers use North Central Texas for the 16-county planning region around Dallas and Fort Worth. Everyday use is looser: Wichita Falls, 140 miles northwest of Fort Worth on US-287, calls itself North Texas, and so does Paris, 100 miles northeast of Dallas, which just as often gets filed under Northeast Texas.
The southern edge is the softest. Hill and Bosque counties are a reasonable stopping point, but Waco is normally Central Texas and Corsicana leans toward East Texas. Going west, the rolling prairie past Jacksboro and Graham runs out into the Big Country around Abilene, which most people count as West Texas. Treat these as overlaps, not lines: Erath, Palo Pinto and Young counties get claimed by two regions depending on who is drawing the map.
Sub-regions
| Sub-region | Places | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex | Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Frisco, Denton | Two central cities and dozens of suburbs across Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties |
| Texoma | Sherman, Denison, Gainesville, Bonham | The Lake Texoma shore and the US-75 / US-82 corridor along the Red River |
| Cross Timbers | Weatherford, Decatur, Granbury, Mineral Wells | Oak belts and broken ranch country west of Fort Worth; the Barnett Shale gas field |
| Blackland Prairie | Waxahachie, Greenville, Corsicana, Kaufman | Deep black cotton soil south and east of Dallas, now subdivision country |
| Red River / Northeast counties | Paris, Clarksville, Bonham, Mount Vernon | Overlaps East Texas; river-bottom farming and small courthouse towns |
| Rolling Plains edge | Wichita Falls, Vernon, Seymour, Graham | Wheat, cattle and oil where the prairie starts turning into West Texas |
Counties
| County | Seat | Population (2020) | Area (sq mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas | Dallas | 2,613,539 | 909 |
| Tarrant | Fort Worth | 2,110,640 | 904 |
| Collin | McKinney | 1,064,465 | 886 |
| Denton | Denton | 906,422 | 952 |
| Ellis | Waxahachie | 192,451 | 952 |
| Johnson | Cleburne | 179,927 | 734 |
| Parker | Weatherford | 148,222 | 910 |
| Kaufman | Kaufman | 145,310 | 808 |
| Grayson | Sherman | 135,543 | 979 |
| Wichita | Wichita Falls | 129,350 | 633 |
| Rockwall | Rockwall | 107,819 | 149 |
| Hunt | Greenville | 99,956 | 882 |
| Wise | Decatur | 68,632 | 922 |
| Hood | Granbury | 61,598 | 437 |
| Lamar | Paris | 50,088 | 933 |
| Erath | Stephenville | 42,545 | 1,090 |
| Cooke | Gainesville | 41,668 | 899 |
| Palo Pinto | Palo Pinto | 28,409 | 986 |
| Throckmorton | Throckmorton | 1,440 | 916 |
Nineteen more counties — among them Montague, Clay, Archer, Jack, Bosque, Navarro, Van Zandt, Hopkins, Fannin, Red River, Delta, Rains, Franklin, Somervell, Stephens, Young, Baylor, Wilbarger and Hill — round the region out to 38. The full set is on the Texas counties map.
Cities
- Dallas
Pop. 1,304,379 · Third-largest city in Texas, on the Trinity River
- Fort Worth
Pop. 918,915 · The Stockyards, Sundance Square, west end of the Metroplex
- Arlington
Pop. 394,266 · Between the two central cities; AT&T Stadium and Six Flags
- Plano
Collin County · Pop. 285,494 · Corporate campuses along the Dallas North Tollway
- Irving
Dallas County · Pop. 256,684 · Las Colinas and the eastern half of DFW Airport
- Garland
Dallas County · Pop. 246,018 · Northeast of Dallas on I-635 and US-75
- Frisco
Collin County · Pop. 200,509 · One of the fastest-growing cities in the country
- Grand Prairie
Pop. 196,100 · Long, narrow city stretching south from I-30
- McKinney
Collin County seat · Pop. 195,308 · Historic square on US-75
- Mesquite
Dallas County · Pop. 150,108 · East of Dallas at I-30 and I-635
- Denton
Denton County seat · Pop. 139,869 · Two universities at the top of the I-35 split
- Carrollton
Pop. 133,434 · Northwest Dallas County on I-35E
- Wichita Falls
Wichita County seat · Pop. 102,316 · US-287 and US-82, near Sheppard Air Force Base
- Sherman
Grayson County seat · Pop. 43,645 · US-75 north toward Lake Texoma
- Paris
Lamar County seat · Pop. 24,171 · Red River country on US-82 and US-271
Highways
- I-35E and I-35W – I-35 splits at Hillsboro and runs as two separate interstates, 35E through Dallas and 35W through Fort Worth, rejoining at Denton.
- I-20 – the southern east–west route across the Metroplex, on to Abilene westbound and Tyler eastbound.
- I-30 – links downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, about 30 miles apart, then runs northeast to Texarkana.
- I-45 – begins in downtown Dallas and runs south to Houston.
- I-635 (LBJ) and I-820 – the loops around Dallas and Fort Worth.
- US-75 (Central Expressway) – Dallas north through Plano, McKinney and Sherman to Oklahoma.
- US-287 – Fort Worth northwest through Decatur and Wichita Falls toward the Panhandle.
- SH-121, SH-183 and the President George Bush Turnpike – the tolled suburban ring on the north side.
Distinctive facts
| Largest metropolitan area in Texas | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, about 7.6 million people in 2020 |
| Smallest county in Texas by area | Rockwall, 149 sq mi |
| Airport | DFW International, between Irving and Grapevine, covers roughly 27 square miles — larger than Manhattan |
| Biggest reservoir on the northern line | Lake Texoma, impounded on the Red River by Denison Dam, shared with Oklahoma |
| Gas field under the Metroplex | The Barnett Shale, drilled through Tarrant, Wise, Johnson and Denton counties |
| Two counties over a million | Dallas and Tarrant; Collin passed a million in 2020 |