According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 902 square miles (2,340 km2), of which 864 square miles (2,240 km2) is land and 39 square miles (100 km2), or 4.3%, is water.[3]
U.S. Decennial Census[5] 1850–2010[6] 2010–2019[7]
Tarrant County, Texas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Since the1850 United States census, Tarrant County has experienced population growth except for the1870 census; in 1850, the county had a population of 664, growing to 1,170,103 at the1990 census. By the 2020 census, the county's population grew to 2,110,640.[11] Tarrant County is the second-most populous county inthe Metroplex, behindDallas County.
In 2000, the racial and ethnic makeup of the county was 71.2%White, 12.8%Black orAfrican American, 0.6%Native American, 3.6%Asian, 0.2%Pacific Islander, 9.1% fromother races, and 2.5% from two or more races; 19.7% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race.[12] 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.[11] Its increasing racial and ethnic diversity has reflected growing trends of diversification in Texas.[13][14][15]
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 5.2same-sex couples per 1,000 households in the county.[16]
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. Theper capita income for the county was $22,548. About 8.0% of families and 10.6% of the population were below thepoverty line, 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.
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, 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.[17]
Tarrant County, like all Texas counties, is governed by aCommissioners Court. The court consists of thecounty 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.[18]
In May 2025, when there were two Democrats and two Republicans on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, County JudgeTim O'Hare declared that the ongoing process ofredistricting 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".[19][20]
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,[24] and Haslet[25] and Edgecliff Village[26] contract service from the Sheriff's Office. DFW Airport,[27] 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,[28] while the city of Arlington contracts paramedic apparatus from private entity American Medical Response.[29]
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.[30]
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 nopublic defender.[31]
Since the 1950s, Tarrant County has been very conservative for an urban county, and is one of the most populousRepublican-leaning counties in the nation. However, it elected DemocratJim Wright to 17 terms (1955–1989) as U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House (1987–1989), and Wright was succeeded by fellow DemocratPete 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, theDemocratic 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.[37]
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.[37] Tarrant County has consistently voted Republican in gubernatorial elections since1994.[38]
The county has leaned Republican in United States Senate races since Democrat Lloyd Bentsen's 1988 victory, but in2018 and2024 Democratic U.S. Senate candidates carried Tarrant, though both lost statewide to incumbentTed Cruz.[39]
Joe Biden carried the county with 49.3% (toDonald Trump's 49.1%) in the2020 presidential election, the first win for a Democratic presidential ticket in Tarrant County since Texas nativeLyndon B. Johnson 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 RepublicanGerald Ford carried Tarrant by 2,146 votes over DemocratJimmy Carter. Many other suburban Texas counties, including Tarrant's immediate neighborsDenton andCollin, as well as those aroundHouston andAustin, showed similar trends between 2016 and 2020.[40] However, in the2024 election Tarrant County moved back in the Republican column, supporting Trump overKamala Harris, 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 senatorPhil Gramm's election as both a Democrat and a Republican after heswitched parties in 1983 to run for re-election. The first Republican elected to the State Senate from Tarrant County since Reconstruction wasBetty Andujar in 1972.
United States presidential election results for Tarrant County, Texas[41]
Under the Texas Education Code, Tarrant County is the entire official service area ofTarrant County College (formerly Tarrant County Junior College).[44]
Public schools in Texas are organized into independentschool districts andcharter schools. Tarrant County is also home to dozens of private high schools and nearly 100 lower-level private schools.[45]
Fort Worth Alliance Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located 14 miles (23 km) 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.
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