Dallas-Fort Worth Economy

The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — formally Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington — is the fourth-largest metro economy in the United States and one of the fastest-growing. It is the corporate-headquarters capital of the Sun Belt, a major aviation and logistics hub, and home to a fast-expanding finance and tech sector that draws workers and companies from higher-cost coastal metros every year.

This is a plain-English tour of how the Dallas-Fort Worth metro economy works. For the state-level picture, see Texas Economy. For the country-level view, see The State of the U.S. Economy and the broader Economy hub and city cluster.

How big is the DFW metro economy?

For example, recent metro GDP for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has run around $740 billion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Metro population is roughly 8.1 million, per the U.S. Census Bureau. That makes DFW larger by population than 38 of the 50 U.S. states.

The biggest industries

DFW's economy is unusually broad, but a few sectors carry an outsized share:

• Finance and insurance — Dallas is one of the largest banking hubs in the country, with major operations for JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab, and dozens of insurers and asset managers.
• Aviation and aerospace — DFW International is one of the busiest airports in the world, American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth, and Lockheed Martin's F-35 production line is in Fort Worth.
• Telecom and tech — AT&T is headquartered in Dallas, and the metro hosts major operations for Texas Instruments, NTT Data, and a fast-growing software cluster.
• Logistics and distribution — DFW is a major U.S. trucking hub, with huge warehouse and distribution complexes spreading north into Frisco and west toward Fort Worth.
• Healthcare — Baylor Scott & White, Texas Health Resources, and UT Southwestern together employ huge numbers of workers across the metro.
• Energy — many oil and gas firms keep major back-office and corporate operations in Dallas, even when their wells sit in the Permian Basin to the west.
• Construction and real estate — fast metro growth keeps residential, commercial, and industrial construction unusually busy.

Jobs and wages

Metro labor data is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Southwest region. For example, the DFW metro unemployment rate has typically run at or below the national average, helped by steady in-migration from California, the Northeast, and other higher-cost states.

Texas follows the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and neither Dallas nor Fort Worth sets its own local minimum. Many large DFW employers pay well above that floor on their own to compete for workers in a tight labor market.

Cost of living

DFW's cost of living tends to run close to the national average. For example, recent HUD Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom in the metro has run around $1,600 a month, with central Dallas, Plano, and Frisco higher and southern Dallas County and parts of Tarrant County lower. Current county-level numbers are at HUD User.

The federal government tracks region-specific inflation data through the BLS Southwest region. DFW's CPI tends to track close to the national average month to month, though housing has run hotter than the country as a whole in recent years.

Taxes in DFW

Texas has no state income tax, so DFW residents pay no state or local tax on wages. Combined sales tax in the City of Dallas is 8.25%, made up of the state's 6.25% base plus city and transit-district pieces. Property taxes are high — among the highest effective rates in the country — because Texas leans on property tax to fund schools and local government in place of income tax. State rules live at the Texas Comptroller, and you can read more about how sales tax works in our glossary.

How the DFW metro fits into the national picture

Dallas-Fort Worth has been one of the most consistent destinations in the U.S. for corporate relocations and expansions for the past decade. The combination of no state income tax, central geography, two competing major cities with their own downtowns, and one of the largest airports in the world has made the metro a default choice for headquarters moves. When a national bank, insurer, or tech firm announces a new regional hub, DFW is usually on the short list.

Two cities, one metro

Dallas and Fort Worth are different places with different economies. Dallas leans more into finance, telecom, and corporate headquarters. Fort Worth leans more into aerospace, energy, and logistics, and has a smaller, more compact downtown. The two cities and their suburbs together form a single labor market — workers routinely commute across the metro for jobs.

A note on the numbers

Numbers in this article change every quarter — always check the latest from BEA, BLS, and HUD User for the most current data on the Dallas-Fort Worth metro.