Tarrant County, Texas


Tarrant County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2010, it had a population of 1,809,034. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth.
Tarrant County, one of 26 counties created out of the Peters Colony, was established in 1849 and organized the next year. It was named in honor of General Edward H. Tarrant of the Republic of Texas militia.
Tarrant County is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of, of which is land and is water.

Adjacent counties

2015 Texas Population Estimate Program

As of the 2015 Texas Population Estimate Program, the population of the county was 1,960,741: 916,941 non-Hispanic whites ; 299,637 Black Americans ; 158,299 other non-Hispanic Americans ; 585,864 Hispanics and Latinos, of any race.

2010 Census

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,809,034 people. Tarrant County is currently the second most populous county in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area.

2000 Census

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,446,219 people, 533,864 households, and 369,433 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,675 people per square mile. There were 565,830 housing units at an average density of 655 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 71.2% White, 12.8% Black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 3.6% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 9.1% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. 19.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 533,864 households out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.22. As of the 2010 census, there were about 5.2 same-sex couples per 1,000 households in the county.
In the county, the population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $46,179, and the median income for a family was $54,068. Males had a median income of $38,486 versus $28,672 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,548. About 8.0% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.8% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government, courts, and politics

Government

Tarrant County, like all Texas counties, is governed by a Commissioners Court, which consists of the county judge, who is elected county-wide and presides over the full court, and four commissioners, who are elected in each of the county's four precincts.

County commissioners

County officials

Constables

County services

The JPS Health Network operates the John Peter Smith Hospital and health centers.
Countywide law enforcement is provided by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office and Tarrant County Constable's Office. All cities in the county provide their own police services, with three exceptions: Westlake contracts service from the Keller Police Department, and Haslet and Edgecliff Village contract service from the Sheriff's Office. DFW Airport, the Tarrant County Hospital District, and the Tarrant Regional Water District also provide their own police forces.
Since the disbandment of the North Tarrant County Fire Department, no countywide firefighting services exist. All municipalities provide their own fire departments. Most cities also operate their own ambulances, with two notable exceptions: Fort Worth and 14 other Tarrant County cities are served by the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority, a governmental administrative agency established under an interlocal operating agreement and operating as MedStar Mobile Health, while the city of Arlington contracts paramedic apparatus from private entity American Medical Response.
Fire and EMS protection in unincorporated portions of Tarrant County is governed by the Tarrant County Emergency Services District #1, which administers contracts with 17 fire departments and has mutual aid agreements with eight additional fire departments.
CareFlite air ambulance services operate from Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth.

Courts

Justices of the peace

County criminal courts

County civil courts

County probate courts

Criminal district courts

Civil district courts

Family district courts

Juvenile district court

Politics

Tarrant County is one of the largest Republican-leaning counties in the nation.
In 2019, Democrats have begun to represent a larger portion of the political profile, and are concentrated in several areas throughout the county: eastern Euless, Grand Prairie and eastern and southern Arlington, Northern and West areas of Mansfield, large portions of Fort Worth, particularly the area surrounding the Stockyards and Meacham Airport, southern and eastern Fort Worth, especially in dense metro areas and along I-35W, and Forest Hill.
Republicans are dominant in much of the rural areas of the county, downtown and western Fort Worth and north of Loop 820, and almost all suburban areas including Benbrook, rural Mansfield areas and western Arlington, Haltom City, Mid-Cities, and the northern suburbs.
Since the late 20th century, residents of Tarrant County have supported Republican Party presidential candidates. Since 1952 the majority of voters supported the Republican presidential candidate in every election except 1964, when the county voted for Democrat Lyndon Johnson, a Texas native. In 2016, Donald Trump won the county with 51.7% of the vote, the worst showing for a Republican since Bob Dole in 1996, and by a margin of 8.6%, the lowest since 1976.
The first Republican elected to the State Senate from Tarrant County since Reconstruction was Betty Andujar in 1972.
The county also leans Republican in races for the United States Senate, but in the 2018 election, Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke won it with a plurality. This was the first time a Democratic candidate won Tarrant County in a federal election since Lloyd Bentsen in his 1988 re-election bid for the Senate.

State Board of Education members

Texas State Representatives

Texas State Senators

United States Representatives

Education

Colleges and universities

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools in Texas are organized into independent school districts and charter schools. Tarrant County is also home to dozens of private high schools and nearly 100 lower-level private schools.

Independent school districts

Major highways

is partially in the cities of Grapevine and Euless in Tarrant County and Irving in Dallas County.
Fort Worth Alliance Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located north of the central business district of Fort Worth on Interstate-35W. Billed as the world's first purely industrial airport, it was developed in a joint venture between the City of Fort Worth, the Federal Aviation Administration and Hillwood Development Company, a real estate development company owned by H. Ross Perot, Jr. Alliance Airport has 9600' and 8200' runways.
Fort Worth Meacham International Airport is located at the intersection of Interstate 820 and U.S. Business Highway 287 in northwest Fort Worth, 5 miles from the downtown business district. Meacham International Airport has two parallel runways and a crosswind runway.
Fort Worth Spinks Airport is located 14 miles south of the downtown business district. The airport is located at the intersection of Interstate-35W and HWY 1187 and serves as a reliever airport for Fort Worth Meacham International Airport and Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport.

Communities

Cities (multiple counties)