The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (also DFW Metroplex, or simply referred to as the Metroplex by most locals) encompasses the combined metropolitan area of the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. The Metroplex officially consists of twelve counties in North Texas, but the term is more commonly used to refer to the contiguous urbanized area that extends into nine of those counties. The Metroplex is sometimes also referred to as "DFW", though that nickname is more commonly associated with the Metroplex's major airport.
According to the 2000 Census, approximately 5,220,000 people live in the Metroplex, which is officially known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (Dallas-Fort Worth CMSA). This makes the Metroplex the largest metropolitan area in Texas, the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States, and one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world.
Metroplex counties
Metroplex cities
Primary cities
Suburbs with 100,000 people or more
Suburbs with between 10,000 and 100,000 people
Suburbs with under 10,000 people
Description of economic activity
The cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington are the anchor cities of the Metroplex. Dallas and its suburbs have one of the highest concentrations of corporate headquarters in the United States (see the Dallas article for a summary of companies headquartered in the area). As such, one of the largest industries in the Dallas area is conducting business. For example, with Texas Instruments, EDS, Perot Systems, i2, and other companies based in Dallas, the Metroplex contains the largest Information Technology industry in the state. On the other end of the business spectrum, and on the other side of the Metroplex, the Texas farming and ranching industry is based in Fort Worth.
The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (IATA Airport Code: DFW) is the largest airport in the state of Texas. The airport is located between Dallas and Fort Worth. American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, has its headquarters next to DFW Airport.
Love Field Airport (IATA Airport Code: DAL) is located in Dallas. Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, has its headquarters next to Love Field.
Media
The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth have their own newspapers, the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, respectively. Historically, the two papers were restricted in readership to their own counties; Tarrant County households would never read the Morning News and vice versa. As the two cities' suburbs have grown together, a large region of overlap has developed in the area around Arlington where Dallas and Tarrant Counties meet. This pattern has been repeated in other print media, radio, and television, but since the 1970s all of the television stations and most of the FM radio stations have chosen to transmit from Cedar Hill so as to serve the entire market, and are programmed likewise. A recent phenomenon seen most clearly in the DFW market has been the rise of "80-90 move-ins", whereby stations have been moved from distant markets, in some cases as far away as Oklahoma, and relicensed to anonymous small towns in the Metroplex to serve as additional DFW stations. According to 100000watts.com, the market has 38 AM stations, 58 FM stations (many of them class Cs), and 18 full-power television stations.
See also
External links
Official sites
Additional information
Last updated: 08-23-2005 18:11:55
Last updated: 09-03-2005 18:37:12
