Population boom

Dallas-Fort Worth population headed toward staggering milestone by 2028

The Metroplex's population in the next five years could balloon to nearly 8.5 million people.

Photo by leekris/Getty Images

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

texas population growth reports dallas fort worth arlington

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."