North Texas Metroplex

If you are new to Texas, have no fear, in the past few years there have been lots of newbies accepted into the Republic.  Thankfully, you’ll find that Texans are outgoing, friendly, and willing to help and guide you if you just moved into town. But as you adjust to your new Texas life, you’ll discover:

You may be super grateful to not be shoveling snow in February but you’ll have to crank up your lawnmower at least once in January and February.  

Those bouts of rain and warm weather days will mean your lawn will have the urge to grow. And you’ll need to mow it before the city code officials give you a warning from that pic your neighbors submitted on the City app.

And as far as weather, you’ll receive warning sirens once per month that will make your heart skip a beat each time. In Plano, they occur on the first Wednesday of the month at noon. Once March, April, and May come you might hear this siren in the middle of the night along with high winds and thunder. At this point, my heart typically skips 2 beats. 

Fort Worth and Dallas are often combined together to create the “DFW” metropolitan area. While the two may constantly be linked together as one, the fact of the matter is that Fort Worth and Dallas are two completely different cities. Located next to each other, it is easy to group these two cities as one but it often causes confusion to non-locals. If you are wondering if you should move to Dallas or move to Fort Worth, then it is important to first have a firm understanding of what separates them from each other. First and foremost, Fort Worth is cheaper than living in Dallas. In fact, rent prices are a whole 18.8% lower in Fort Worth than rent in Dallas. Fort Worth is also thought to be more “Texan” than Dallas due to its cowboy stereotype and abundance of cattle ranching in the area. Dallas on the other hand tends to be more urban, has more traffic, and is not as laid-back and relaxed as Fort Worth is.

The beautiful city of Fort Worth is found in North Central Texas and is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. With a total population of 874,401 people, Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. A good place to live, Fort Worth has a vibrant Downtown area and an exciting city center. Known as one of the best places to live in Texas for its job market, culture, and southern hospitality, many young professionals and families are relocating to the area.

Everything is bigger in Texas, and that’s certainly true when it comes to Dallas’s population, growth, and size. In fact, the DFW area has grown in population by 18.9% since 2010. In terms of population, it trails only Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. 

Dallas is approximately 343 square miles. To put that in perspective, Chicago covers 234 square miles. Manhattan sits on a relatively minuscule 34-mile plot of land. That’s smaller than the landmass covered by the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) alone. Living in Dallas may not be for everyone due to its size, but we will cover commuting, traffic, and public transportation a little later.