In 2004, the Texas Triangle contained five of the 20 largest cities in the US, and was home to more than 70% of all Texans, with a population of 13.8 million. In the next 40 years, the population of the Texas Triangle has been projected to grow more than 65%, or an additional 10 million people, leading to 78% of Texans living and working within the Texas Triangle. From a resident's perspective, the Triangle is gradually becoming synonymous with Texas. Additional MSAs in the region include Bryan-College Station, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, and Waco. Twelve micropolitan statistical areas are within the Triangle, which includes 66 counties. Beaumont, located east of Houston, has been considered part of the Texas Triangle by numerous studies dating from 2000. Burleson County is the center of the Texas Triangle. Sizable metro areas in Texas outside the Triangle are Corpus Christi, El Paso, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, Abilene, San Angelo, Laredo, Amarillo, Tyler, Longview, Wichita Falls, and the Rio Grande Valley.
Definition
The megaregion is defined in work by America 2050 and others. Dr. Robert Lang of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech characterized Dallas–Fort Worth as one of the earliest recognized megapolitans. Although each city is distinct, Dallas and Fort Worth developed closely enough to form the urban area widely known as "The Metroplex". A conference about the future of the Texas Triangle was held by Houston Tomorrow and America 2050 on September 24–25, 2009 in Houston. The region contains most of the state's largest cities and metropolitan areas, and in 2008 had a total of 17 million people, nearly 75% of Texas's total population. The region is comparable to Florida in population and comparable to Georgia in area, but the Texas Triangle comprises less than a quarter of Texas's total land area. According to the University of Texas at Austin Center for Sustainable Development, "the Texas Triangle has three sides measuring 271, 198, and 241 miles in ground distance."
Sixty-seven counties are within the Texas Triangle. They are: Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Chambers, Collin, Colorado, Comal, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Falls, Fayette, Fort Bend, Freestone, Galveston, Gonzales, Grayson, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Houston, Hunt, Jefferson, Johnson, Kaufman, Kendall, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Madison, McLennan, Medina, Milam, Montgomery, Navarro, Orange, Parker, Rockwall, Robertson, San Jacinto, Somervell, Tarrant, Travis, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Williamson, Wilson, and Wise.
Texaplex
The term "Texaplex" was coined by David Winans in 2009, a combination of the terms "Texas" and "metroplex."
The Texaplex Project
The Texaplex Project refers to the online viral video and white paper that was produced by David Winans and MODassic Marketing as a response to the 2008 recession. The short video cites many economic and population statistics in Texas. The video was freely distributed and shared across the web in an effort to counteract the bad economic news with good news.
