Institute For The Future

DFW2026: Igniting Economic and Cultural Prosperity in North Texas

Released January 23, 2017, this report identifies significant trends that will shape the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex over the next decade and documents that, while the 16 counties surrounding Dallas and Fort Worth are home to more than seven million people, steady population growth is expected to continue into the next decade, dramatically enhancing the area’s cultural, educational, and skills diversity. The North Texas region will also experience some of the fastest growth in middle-skill jobs—work that requires some postsecondary education—and 80% of these jobs will require digital skills. At the same time, heavy investments in digital infrastructure indicate that DFW will rapidly embrace smart city services and urban innovation.

Released at Capital One’s Reimagine Communities symposium, and commissioned as part of the company’s Future Edge DFW initiative, the report provides insights that could help prepare the DFW community to think creatively about the future of North Texas and to take deliberate actions today to build a future of inclusive economic and cultural prosperity. Broken down into drivers of change, forecasts of change, and countervailing forces the community will need to address over the next decade, the findings are based on insights collected from in-depth interviews with a diverse group of DFW business and economic development leaders, experts from academia, nonprofits and the arts, as well as a quantitative survey of local residents aimed to gauge attitudes on, assumptions about, and sense of preparedness for the next decade.