The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington,

TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, the official title designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two distinct metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington.

Residents of the area informally refer to it as theDallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, DFW, or The Metroplex. It is the economic and cultural hub of the region commonly calledNorth Texas or North Central Texas and is the largest land-locked metropolitan area in the United States.The 2011 official estimate U.S.

Census has the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex at 6,526,548, making it the largest metropolitan area in the South. During the 12-month period from July 2008 to July 2009, the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area gained 146,530 new residents, more than any other metropolitan area in the United States. The area's population has grown by about one million since the last census was administered in 2000.

The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington MSA is, by population, the largest metropolitan area in Texas, the largest in the South, the fourth-largest in the United States, and the tenth-largest in the Americas. The metroplex encompasses 9,286 square miles (24,100 km2) of total area: 8,991 sq mi (23,290 km2) is land, while 295 sq mi (760 km2) is water, making it larger in area than the U.S. states ofRhode Island and Connecticut combined. It is also the sixth largest gross metropolitan product (GMP) in the United States, and approximately tenth largest by GMP in the world.