Population explosion

Booming Dallas-Fort Worth metro leads U.S. in population growth from 2020-2021

The pain is real.

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Dallas-Fort Worth racked up the largest population gain of any U.S. metro area from July 2020 to July 2021, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Taking into account births, deaths, move-ins, and move-outs, DFW’s population grew by 97,290 during the one-year period, the Census Bureau says. By comparison, that's almost the entire population of the suburb of Allen, which is home to about 105,000 people.

Among all U.S. metro areas, DFW notched the third-highest number of new residents (54,319) attributed to domestic migration, or people moving from other U.S. metro areas. Domestic migration is a major factor in calculating population gains and losses.

The bureau estimates DFW’s population stood at 7,759,615 as of July 1, 2021. The region’s headcount increased 1.3 percent during the one-year period.

Three other major Texas metro areas appear in the national top 10 for numeric population growth (rather than percentage growth) from July 2020 to July 2021, according to the Census Bureau. They are:

Houston metro area, ranked third with 69,094 additional residents. Estimated July 1, 2021, population: 7,206,841. One-year growth rate: 1 percent.
Austin metro area, ranked fourth with 53,301 additional residents. Estimated July 1, 2021, population: 2,352,426. One-year growth rate: 2.3 percent.
San Antonio metro area, ranked eighth with 35,105 additional residents. Estimated July 1, 2021, population: 2,601,788. One-year growth rate: 1.4 percent.

Growth in counties
No Texas counties rank in the top 10 for percentage growth in population from July 2020 to July 2021.

Collin and Denton counties are responsible for much of DFW’s population growth during the one-year period, the Census Bureau estimates show.

Collin County’s population rose by 36,313 from July 2020 to July 2021, putting it at No. 2 among counties picking up the most new residents. Maricopa County, Arizona, anchored by Phoenix, ranked first with an additional 58,246 residents.

Collin County ranks third nationally for the number of new residents (30,191) attributed to domestic migration during the one-year period.

Denton County gained 27,747 residents from July 2020 to July 2021. That earns Denton County a sixth-place showing among U.S. counties with the biggest numeric growth in population.

Dallas County actually lost population (24,907 residents) during the one-year period.

The Kinder Institute at Houston’s Rice University noted in 2021 that Collin and Denton counties represent the “epicenter” of the population boom in North Texas.

“Suburban communities outside the region’s two core cities accounted for roughly three-quarters of the metro’s population growth over the past decade. Collin and Denton counties have a combined population of 2 million, larger than all but four U.S. cities,” the Kinder Institute says. “Together, the population of the five largest suburban cities in these counties — Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Denton, and Allen — roughly doubled from 2000 to 2019 and now exceeds the population of San Francisco.”

Other Texas counties in the national top 10 for numeric growth during the one-year period are:

Fort Bend County (Houston), No. 4, with 29,895 additional residents.
Williamson County (Austin), No. 5, with 27,760 additional residents.
Montgomery County (Houston), No. 8, with 23,948 additional residents.

rankings

Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

Christopher Turner

A man received the death penalty for his 2020 cold-blooded execution of a convenience store owner.

According to a release from the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Christopher Karon Turner, 48, to death on November 20 for executing convenience store owner Anwar Ali during a robbery. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Charles Boulware and Allenna Bangs represented the state.

On March 27, 2020, at around 6:15 am, Turner, a convicted felon, wore a surgical mask and a glove and entered the Super Big Country Mart in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County south of Fort Worth. There, he held a gun to the back of Anwar Ali, the 62-year-old store owner, and walked him through the store.

Ali did everything Turner demanded, including opening the cash register to give him money. And yet Turner forced Ali into the bathroom and onto his knees, and shot him in the neck. Ali was discovered, dead in the bathroom, about an hour later.

Turner fled the store in Ali's Toyota minivan with the money from the register and Ali's wallet. In the van, he found more than $50,000 cash in a black bag. Over the next few days, Turner went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, drugs, clothes, and more. He and others used cash and a credit card that belonged to Ali.

Turner fled to Colorado where U.S. Marshals arrested him. On his body they found a firearm which was determined to be the murder weapon.

"This was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder," Boulware told the jury. "From the moment he was charged with this crime, he has tried to escape responsibility."

Bangs noted that before this trial began, Turner obtained the names of jurors and their telephone numbers, and gave them to an inmate charged with murder. At the trial on November 20, as Bangs addressed the jury, Turner tried to hold up a sign to the jury but was handcuffed by Sheriff's deputies who removed him from the courtroom, while he yelled out "she lied."

Ali came to the United States from Pakistan decades ago to pursue the American dream. Ali's son, Hussein, spoke in the courtroom after the death penalty was announced. "Thank you for giving us justice," Ali said. "I hope there are no more devils like this person."