New data confirms what North Texans already know: Dallas-Fort Worth is sprawling, and it's only getting bigger.
The DFW region gained more residents than any other metropolitan area in the country between 2017 and 2018, according to population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington gained 131,767 people in 2018, driven by domestic and international migration and natural increase of more births than death, the bureau said. Growth here in North Texas was more than a third of Texas' total population growth during that period.
Since 2010, the North Texas Metroplex and the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area gained more than 1 million people each, placing them as the fourth and fifth most populous metropolitan areas behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Collin County added more than 33,700 people between 2017 and 2018, outpacing Dallas and Tarrant counties for population growth.
Kaufman County led the DFW region in percentage growth and ranked third nationally at 4.7%.
The bureau's estimates show two Texas oil centers, Midland and Odessa, were also among the fastest growing American metro areas for the 12-month period ending in July 2018, with populations swelling by 4.3 and 3.2% respectively.
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The Texas Tribune reports the census also showed Texas' growth has slowed since 2015, when the state grew by more than 500,000 people in a year.
Births and migration to the Lone Star State, which overall added more than 3.5 million people since 2010, were important parts of the population growth in the American south and west.
