The Dallas-Fort Worth Combined Statistical Area is made up of 19 counties in north central Texas. The statistical area includes two metropolitan areas and five micropolitan areas. As of the 2000 Census, the CSA had a population of 5,487,956 (though a July 1, 2007 estimate placed the population at 6,498,410). The CSA definition encompasses 14,628 sq. mi. of area, of which 14,126 sq. mi. is land and 502 sq. mi. is water.

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)
Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington (Collin, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, and Wise counties>

Sherman–Denison

Micropolitan Statistical Areas

Athens
Bonham
Gainesville
Granbury and Somervell
Mineral Wells

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,487,956 people, 2,006,665 households, and 1,392,540 families residing within the CSA. The racial makeup of the CSA was 70.41% White, 13.34% African American, 0.59% Native American, 3.58% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 9.62% from other races, and 2.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.83% of the population.

The median income for a household in the CSA was $43,836, and the median income for a family was $50,898. Males had a median income of $37,002 versus $25,553 for females. The per capita income for the CSA was $20,460.

Topography

The whole area the metroplex overlooks is mostly prairie with a few rolling hills dotted by man made lakes cut by streams creeks and rivers with most of the forest land near the rivers and creeks and streams. The areas around Dallas are in the blackland prairie named for the fertile black soil so there are cotton, and other crops that grow around Dallas in the following counties Collin, Rockwall, Hunt, Kaufman, rural parts of Dallas county and Ellis County. As these rural areas get developed into suburbs it is pretty common to see cotton fields close adjacent to development and new development is replacing the cotton fields especially in Collin county. North Dallas Southern Denton and Southern Collin county has most of the dense new development of the metroplex. While new development in the the other counties around Fort Worth and South and and East Dallas is more sprawled or spread out. The land around Fort Worth known as the Barnet Shale and Ft Worth Prairie is prairie but different soil type and being less fertile and more rocky means most of the rural land is used as ranchland and gas wells. This area includes Wise, rural parts of Tarrant, Parker, Johnson, and Denton county. Just like Dallas suburbs new developments are replacing the ranches and its pretty common to see new developments around the ranches and gas wells close to urban development and new developments. South of Dallas and Fort Worth is a line of rugged hills that goes north to south about 15 miles that looks similar to the Texas Hill Country 200 miles to the South. This is the most scenic area between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Description of economic activity

The cities of Dallas and Fort Worth are the anchor cities of the Metroplex. Dallas and its suburbs have one of the highest concentrations of corporate headquarters in the United States. As such, one of the largest industries in the Metroplex is conducting business. The Metroplex also contains the largest Information Technology industry base in the state (often referred to as Silicon Prairie), owing to the large number of corporate IT projects and the presence of numerous electronics, computing and telecom firms such as Texas Instruments, Electronic Data Systems, Perot Systems, i2, AT&T, and Verizon in and around Dallas. 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. According to the Dallas Business Journal’s 2006 Book of Lists, American Airlines is the largest employer in the Metroplex. Several major defense manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Bell Helicopter Textron, and Raytheon, maintain significant operations in the Metroplex. ExxonMobil, the #2 corporation on the Fortune 500 listings, is headquartered in Irving, Texas (though the majority of ExxonMobil’s empoloyees are in Houston).

Transportation

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. American is the largest airline in the world in terms of passengers transported and fleet size. It is also a predominant leader in domestic routes and operations.

Love Field Airport (IATA Airport Code: DAL) is located in Dallas. Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, has its headquarters next to Love Field. The airline is considered as a predominant U.S. low-cost airline for domestic routes.

Public transit options exist but are limited in scope. Dallas County has bus service and light rail operated by DART, going as far north as Plano, but there are still many suburbs without service. Denton County has bus service limited to Denton and Lewisville owned by the Denton County Transportation Authority, although a light rail line is planning that would parallel I-35 to connect Carrollton, Lewisville, Lake Dallas, and Denton. Tarrant County has bus service operated by the T available only in Fort Worth. The train that serves Fort Worth and the eastern suburbs is operated by Trinity Railway Express; it connects from downtown Fort Worth to downtown Dallas, where it links to the DART rail system.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has hundreds of lane miles of freeways and interstates. Like most major metropolitan areas in Texas, most Interstates and freeways have access roads where most of the businesses are located; these access roads have slip ramps that merge onto the freeways and interstates. North-south Interstates include I-35 and I-45. East-west routes include I-30 and I-20. I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W from Denton to Hillsboro: I-35W goes through Fort Worth while I-35E goes through Dallas. I-30 connects Dallas and Fort Worth and I-45 connects Dallas to Houston. HOV lanes currently exist along I-35E, I-30, I-635, US 67, and US 75. I-20 bypasses both Dallas and Fort Worth to the south while its loop, I-820, loops around Fort Worth. I-635 splits to the north of I-20 and loops around east and north Dallas, ending at SH 121 north of DFW Airport. I-35E, Loop 12, and Spur 342 ultimately connect to I-20 southwest of Dallas make the west bypass around Dallas to complete the loop. A large number of construction projects are planned or are already underway in the region to alleviate congestion. Due largely to funding issues, many of the new projects involve building new tollways or adding tolled express lanes to existing highways.