Tarrant County, Texas
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Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
with a 2020 U.S. census population of 2,110,640, making it the third-most populous county in Texas and the 15th-most populous in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Its
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is
Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
. Tarrant County, one of 26 counties created out of the Peters Colony, was established in 1849 and organized the next year. It is named after Edward H. Tarrant, a lawyer, politician, and militia leader. The ancestral homelands of Native American tribes: Caddo,
Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe from Oklahoma and Texas. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct language, extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Tonkawa ...
, Comanche, and
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
covered Tarrant County. The Native American tribes resisted settlement and fought to defend their land. The
Battle of Village Creek The Battle of Village Creek, also known as the Village Creek Massacre, occurred on May 24, 1841, on the embankments of Village Creek in what was then the Republic of Texas. The site of the massacre is now located in Tarrant County, Texas, named ...
is a well known battle that took place in Tarrant County.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (4.3%) is water.


Adjacent counties

* Denton County (north) * Dallas County (east) * Ellis County (southeast) * Johnson County (south) * Parker County (west) * Wise County (northwest)


Communities


Cities (multiple counties)

* Azle (partly in Parker County) * Burleson (mostly in Johnson County) * Crowley (small part in Johnson County) *
Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
(small parts in Denton,
Johnson Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English * Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...
, Parker and Wise counties) * Grand Prairie (partly in Dallas County and a small part in Ellis County) *
Grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...
(small part in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, and part of Grapevine Lake in Denton County) * Haslet (small part in Denton County) *
Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...
(small parts in Ellis and
Johnson Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English * Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...
counties) * Newark (mostly in Wise County) * Reno (almost entirely in Parker County) * Roanoke (almost entirely in Denton County) * Southlake (small part in Denton County)


Cities

* Arlington *
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
* Blue Mound * Colleyville * Dalworthington Gardens * Euless * Everman * Forest Hill * Haltom City * Hurst * Keller * Kennedale * Lake Worth * North Richland Hills * Pelican Bay * Richland Hills * River Oaks * Saginaw * Sansom Park * Watauga * Westworth Village * White Settlement


Towns

* Benbrook * Edgecliff Village * Flower Mound (mostly in Denton County) * Lakeside * Pantego * Trophy Club (mostly in Denton County) * Westlake (small part in Denton County) * Westover Hills


Census-designated places

* Briar (partly in Wise and Parker counties) * Pecan Acres (small part in Wise County) * Rendon


Historical census-designated places

* Eagle Mountain


Unincorporated communities

*
Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
(partly in Denton County) * Avondale * Boss * Eagle Acres * Lake Crest Estates * Lake Forest * Lake Shore Estates


Historical communities

* Birdville * Bisbee * Bransford * Center Point * Ederville * Garden Acres * Handley * Johnsons Station


Ghost towns

*
Birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
* Dido * Minters Chapel


* *


Demographics

Since the 1850 United States census, Tarrant County has experienced population growth except for the 1870 census; in 1850, the county had a population of 664, growing to 1,170,103 at the 1990 census. By the 2020 census, the county's population grew to 2,110,640. Tarrant County is the second-most populous county in the Metroplex, behind Dallas County. In 2000, the racial and ethnic makeup of the county was 71.2%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 12.8%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.6% Native American, 3.6% Asian, 0.2%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 9.1% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races; 19.7% of the population were
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race. In 2020, its racial and ethnic makeup was 42.87% non-Hispanic white, 29.42% Hispanic or Latino American of any race, 16.99% Black or African American, 6.05% Asian alone, 0.33% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.20% Pacific Islander, 0.39% some other race, and 3.74% multiracial. Its increasing racial and ethnic diversity has reflected growing trends of diversification in Texas. In 2000, there were 533,864 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.22. As of the 2010 census, there were about 5.2 same-sex couples per 1,000 households in the county. In 2000, 28.1% of the county's population was under the age of 18, 10.0% was from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $46,179, and the median income for a family was $54,068. Males had a median income of $38,486 versus $28,672 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $22,548. About 8.0% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 13.8% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over. According to the 2021 census estimates, the median income for a household in the county was $71,346. American Community Survey 2023 Data The United States Census Bureau estimated that in 2023, Tarrant County’s population was 2,182,947. It was also estimated that the county's population was 42.2%
Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...
, 30.5% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Non-Hispanic Black, 6.2% Asian, 0.4% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 2.2% Multiracial.


Government, courts, and politics


Government

Tarrant County, like all Texas counties, is governed by a Commissioners Court. The court consists of the county judge, who is elected county-wide and presides over the full court, and four commissioners, who are elected in each of the county's four precincts. In May 2025, when there were two Democrats and two Republicans on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, County Judge Tim O'Hare declared that the ongoing process of
redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...
Tarrant County precincts was "purely 100% about partisan politics", as he detailed that "my plan and what I campaigned on openly and publicly, dating as far back as May 2021", is to "pass a map that guarantees, or comes as close as you can to guarantee, three Republican commissioners" in Tarrant County out of four, as O'Hare thought that "Tarrant County would be better served if we have strong Republican leadership".


County Judge and Commissioners


County Officials


Constables


County services

The
JPS Health Network The Tarrant County Hospital District (TCHD) does business as the JPS Health Network. It is located in the taxpayer-supported hospital district of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas. Headquarters are in the John Peter Smith Hospital at 1 ...
(Tarrant County Hospital District) operates the
John Peter Smith Hospital John Peter Smith Hospital (also known as JPS Hospital) is a Trauma center, Level 1 Trauma Center, 573-bed public hospital located in Fort Worth, Texas that provides Inpatient care, inpatient, Ambulatory care, outpatient, and Psychiatry, behavioral ...
and health centers. Countywide law enforcement is provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office and Tarrant County Constable's Office. All cities in the county provide their own police services, with three exceptions: Westlake contracts service from the Keller Police Department, and Haslet and Edgecliff Village contract service from the Sheriff's Office. DFW Airport, the Tarrant County Hospital District, and the Tarrant Regional Water District also provide their own police forces. Since the disbandment of the North Tarrant County Fire Department, no countywide firefighting services exist. All municipalities provide their own fire departments. Most cities also operate their own ambulances, with two notable exceptions: Fort Worth and 14 other Tarrant County cities are served by the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority (MAEMSA), a governmental administrative agency established under an interlocal operating agreement and operating as MedStar Mobile Health, while the city of Arlington contracts paramedic apparatus from private entity American Medical Response. Fire and EMS protection in unincorporated portions of Tarrant County is governed by the Tarrant County Emergency Services District #1, which administers contracts with 17 fire departments (including 10 with EMS response) and has mutual aid agreements with eight additional fire departments. CareFlite air ambulance services operate from Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. As of 2021, Tarrant County was the largest county by population in the United States with no
public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...
.


Courts


Justices of the Peace


County criminal courts


County civil courts


County probate courts


Criminal district courts


Civil district courts


Family district courts


Juvenile district court


Politics

Since the 1950s, Tarrant County has been very conservative for an urban county, and is one of the most populous Republican-leaning counties in the nation. However, it elected Democrat Jim Wright to 17 terms (1955–1989) as U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House (1987–1989), and Wright was succeeded by fellow Democrat Pete Geren (1989–1997). The county has become more competitive since the 2010s, and has voted to the left of Texas as a whole. Beginning in 2016, the Democratic Party rebounded to represent a larger portion of the political profile and made huge gains in Tarrant County, concentrated in several areas throughout the county: eastern Euless, Grand Prairie and eastern and southern Arlington, northern and western areas of Mansfield, large portions of Fort Worth, particularly the area surrounding the Stockyards and Meacham Airport, southern and eastern Fort Worth, especially in dense metro areas and along I-35W, and Forest Hill. Republicans are dominant in many of the rural areas of the county, downtown and western Fort Worth and north of Loop 820, and almost all suburban areas including Benbrook, rural Mansfield areas and western Arlington, Haltom City, Mid-Cities (Hurst, Euless, and Bedford), and the northern suburbs. Tarrant County has consistently voted Republican in gubernatorial elections since
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
. The county has leaned Republican in United States Senate races since Democrat Lloyd Bentsen's 1988 victory, but in
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
and
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
Democratic U.S. Senate candidates carried Tarrant, though both lost statewide to incumbent
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
.
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
carried the county with 49.3% (to
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's 49.1%) in the 2020 presidential election, the first win for a Democratic presidential ticket in Tarrant County since Texas native
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
in 1964, and the closest such race in the county since at least 1912. Biden's margin over Trump was 1,826 votes; the next closest margin was in 1976, when Republican
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
carried Tarrant by 2,146 votes over Democrat
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
. Many other suburban Texas counties, including Tarrant's immediate neighbors Denton and Collin, as well as those around
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
and Austin, showed similar trends between 2016 and 2020. However, in the 2024 election Tarrant County moved back in the Republican column, supporting Trump over
Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
, 51.8% to 46.7%. This was still to the left of the state as a whole, which voted for Trump 56.1% to 42.4% in 2024. From the 1893 beginning of U.S. House District 12, there have been two Republicans in 127 years elected to the U.S. House for the western half of Tarrant County; from the 1875 inception of U.S. House District 6, there have been three Republicans in 145 years elected to the U.S. House for the eastern portion of Tarrant County, including former congressman and senator
Phil Gramm William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of United States Congress, Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Gr ...
's election as both a Democrat and a Republican after he switched parties in 1983 to run for re-election. The first Republican elected to the State Senate from Tarrant County since Reconstruction was Betty Andujar in 1972.


State Board of Education members


Texas State Representatives


Texas State Senators


United States House of Representatives


United States Senate


Education


Colleges and universities

Under the Texas Education Code, Tarrant County is the entire official service area of Tarrant County College (formerly Tarrant County Junior College). Universities in Tarrant County include: * University of Texas at Arlington * Texas Christian University (Fort Worth) * Texas A&M University School of Law (Fort Worth) * Texas Wesleyan University (Fort Worth) * Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth)


Primary and secondary schools

Public schools in Texas are organized into independent
school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...
s and
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
s. Tarrant County is also home to dozens of private high schools and nearly 100 lower-level private schools.


Independent school districts

Those serving the county include: * Arlington Independent School District * Birdville Independent School District * Carroll Independent School District * Castleberry Independent School District * Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District * Everman Independent School District * Fort Worth Independent School District * Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District (most) * Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District * Keller Independent School District * Kennedale Independent School District * Lake Worth Independent School District * White Settlement Independent School District * Aledo Independent School District (partial) * Azle Independent School District (partial) * Burleson Independent School District (partial) * Crowley Independent School District (partial) * Godley Independent School District (partial) * Lewisville Independent School District (partial) * Mansfield Independent School District (partial) * Northwest Independent School District (partial) Masonic Home Independent School District formerly served a part of the county. In 2005 it merged into FWISD.


Charter schools

* Arlington Classics Academy * Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts * IDEA Public Schools * Harmony Public Schools * Newman International Academy * Texas School of the Arts * Treetops School International * Uplift Education (partial) * Westlake Academy * Great Hearts


Private schools

* Colleyville Covenant Christian Academy * Fort Worth Christian School *
Fort Worth Country Day School Fort Worth Country Day (FWCD) is a JK-12 private, independent, coeducational, nondenominational college-preparatory school located on approximately 100 acres in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is accredited by the Independent Schools Associ ...
* Lake Country Christian School * Nolan Catholic High School * The Oakridge School * Southwest Christian School * Temple Christian School * Trinity Valley School


Transportation


Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Airports

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is partially in the cities of
Grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...
and Euless in Tarrant County and Irving in Dallas County. Fort Worth Alliance Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located north of the central business district of Fort Worth on Interstate-35W. Billed as the world's first purely industrial airport, it was developed in a joint venture between the City of Fort Worth, the Federal Aviation Administration and Hillwood Development Company, a real estate development company owned by H. Ross Perot Jr. Alliance Airport has 9600' and 8200' runways. Fort Worth Meacham International Airport is located at the intersection of Interstate 820 and U.S. Business Highway 287 in northwest Fort Worth, 5 miles from the downtown business district. Meacham International Airport has two parallel runways. Fort Worth Spinks Airport is located 14 miles south of the downtown business district. The airport is located at the intersection of Interstate-35W and HWY 1187 and serves as a reliever airport for Fort Worth Meacham International Airport and Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport.


See also

* List of museums in North Texas * National Register of Historic Places listings in Tarrant County, Texas * Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Tarrant County


References


External links


Tarrant County official website

Tarrant County in ''Handbook of Texas Online''
from The University of Texas at Austin
Tarrant County profile from The County Information Project
{{Coord, 32.77, -97.29, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex 1850 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1850 Majority-minority counties in Texas