Youth, Mobility, and the Growth in North Texas

For once, just stop. Look around. Count the cranes towering above the mid-rises. Look at the cars, the traffic, and distracting construction everywhere.

If you've been in North Texas for even just a decade, you've noticed the transformation taking place, and you're probably wondering "Where did all these people come from?"
 
The answer is complex and independent from our urban philosophies. All those statistics that show more people moving to the city, all those millennials dumping their backyards and cars for walkability, they don't correlate here, at least not in Dallas anyway. In fact, if anything, the hard numbers from the North Texas mobility research shows that the majority of our growth has come from the derivative exurbs like Plano, Addison, and especially Denton. It's proof that education and diversity account for much more than the idea of urban living.

 
The images here provide a graphic representation of how many people are moving in and out of the core four counties in North Texas, their population growth in 2014, and a general overlay of demographics for that growth. If nothing else, they show us that now is a good time to move to North Texas, have some children, and ride out the storm.

 
Illustrations by Ryan Flener.

Columns would like to thank the Dallas Chamber of Commerce for data and graphic support.