It was a good run for Fort Worth, but a quick one. New data from the Texas Demographic Center shows Austin is back to being the state's fourth-most populous city behind Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. Fort Worth is now No. 5.

Fort Worth had briefly taken the spot as Texas’ fourth-largest city as both cities reached a population of 1 million.

Where it stands
In January 2025, Austin overtook Fort Worth by about 34,000 people. Now, the Capital City has a little more than 1,054,000 people. Fort Worth has 1,020,987 residents, the Texas Demographic Center says.

Since 2020, Austin's population has grown by about 9.5 percent, while Fort Worth has grown by about 11 percent.

The counties with the most people are Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Bexar. Travis County takes the fifth spot.

Houston still reigns supreme as the biggest city in the Lone Star State, with more than 2.3 million people.

Fort Worth's time in the spotlight
In November, 2024, the Texas Demographic Center shared data showing that Fort Worth's population had increased 7.7 percent (since 2020) to more than 989,878. That was just enough to eclipse Austin, at 986,928.

At the time, Texas' population had been estimated at 30.7 million. The most current estimate the center shows as of January, 2026 — after tweaks to 2024 data — is 30.3 million.

The dynamic was solidified in May 2025, with U.S. census data placing Austin in 13th place annually and Fort Worth in 11th. San Jose, California, snuck in between the two Texas cities into 12th place.

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