Fort Worth drivers, prepare to share the roads with nearly a million more people. A new analysis predicts Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington's population could cross the 8 million threshold in the next five years, swelling to nearly 8.5 million total residents.

According to a new study by Site Selection Group, the Metroplex is tracking as the fifth fastest-growing large metro area in the country by 2028. DFW's 2023 population adds up to 7.8 million people, and the area has a projected population growth rate of 8.64 percent.

To be precise, the analysis forecasts DFW's population as 8,479,851 in 2028.

The new report comes on the heels of a recent survey predicting DFW could become the biggest metro area by the year 2100. Another recent report declared DFW has usurped Austin as the No. 1 destination for California movers. And those moving to Fort Worth from California can save nearly $500,000.

A continued population boom seems inevitable.

"Most population growth is occurring across the Sun Belt," the Site Selection Group report's author says. "Specific to the large metro areas, eight of the top 10 growth markets are located within the Sun Belt [such as] Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas."

The report was used to determine the American metro areas that will have the most "favorable long-term labor conditions." Each metro area was categorized into one of three groups based on overall population size: large (over 1 million people), mid-size (between 500,000 and 999,999 people), and small (between 250,000 and 499,999 people).

"Although population growth does not guarantee success with hiring and retaining employees, it does provide validation that labor conditions could be trending in a more favorable direction," the report says.

Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land landed at the top of the list for the predicted fastest growing large metro areas. Austin's population could climb to over 2.7 million residents with a 13.55 percent growth rate, and Houston could expand 9.62 percent to over 8 million people by 2028.

The top 10 fastest-growing large metro areas by 2028 are:

• No. 1 – Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown
• No. 2 – Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land
• No. 3 – Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee
• No. 4 – Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
• No. 5 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
• No. 6 – Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida
• No. 7 – Salt Lake City, Utah
• No. 8 – Charlotte-Concord-Castonia, North Carolina-South Carolina
• No. 9 – Jacksonville, Florida
• No. 10 – Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington