Texas Triangle

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The Texas Triangle is one of eleven megaregions of the United States, located entirely within Texas, containing the state's five largest cities (Dallas–Fort Worth, Greater Houston, San Antonio–Austin), and home to about two-thirds of the state's population, being connected by Interstate 45, Interstate 10, and Interstate 35.

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Texas Triangle Megaregion
Megaregion of the U.S.
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Clockwise from top: Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth
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The cities and counties in or near the Texas Triangle, a megaregion of the U.S. state of Texas: City names in bold in the map legend are in the top 10 most populous Texas cities.
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StateFile:Flag of Texas.svg Texas
Area
 • Metro
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Population
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Population
 • Estimate 
(2025)
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 • Metro densityScript error: No such module "ConvertIB".
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GDP
[2][3]
 • Metro$2.0 trillion (2025)
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In 2004, the Texas Triangle contained five of the 20 largest cities in the U.S. and was home to over 70% of all Texans, with a population of 13.8 million.[4] In 2025, its population reached nearly 23 million, following rapid growth across much of Texas.[1] In 2009, Kent Butler and Fritz Steiner projected that, by the mid-21st century, its population was expected to increase by around two-thirds,[5] or 10 million people, comprising nearly 80% of all Texans.

Additional metropolitan areas 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.[6] Beaumont, located east of Houston, has been considered part of the Texas Triangle by numerous studies dating from 2000.[7][8][9][10][11] Burleson County is the center of the Texas Triangle.

Geography

In his 1969 work Imperial Texas, cultural geographer Donald W. Meinig was the first to suggest that a triangular area bounded by the state's major metropolitan areas formed the "core" of the state. Meining, however, considered this region a "hollow" core unlikely to coalesce into a true megalopolis.[12] The contemporary megaregion is defined in work by America 2050 initiative and others. Dr. Robert Lang of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech characterized Dallas–Fort Worth as one of the earliest recognized megapolitans.[citation needed] Although each city is distinct, Dallas and Fort Worth developed closely enough to form the urban area widely known as the Metroplex.

The 60,000-square-mile (160,000 km2) region contains most of the state's largest cities and metropolitan areas, and in 2008 had a total of 17 million people and by 2020 had grown to nearly 21 million,[1] nearly 75% of Texas's total population.[13] 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."[14]

Metropolitan areas

Micropolitan areas

Triangle counties

The Texas Triangle contains 65 counties. They are Anderson, Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Chambers, Collin, Colorado, Comal, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, DeWitt, Ellis, Falls, Fayette, Fort Bend, Freestone, Galveston, Gonzales, Grimes, Guadalupe, Harris, Hays, Henderson, Hill, Hunt, Houston, Jackson, Johnson, Kaufman, Kendall, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Madison, McLennan, Medina, Milam, Montgomery, Navarro, Rockwall, Robertson, San Jacinto, Tarrant, Travis, Trinity, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Williamson, and Wilson.

Politics

The Texas Triangle can be considered one of the more politically left-wing areas in Texas due to the anchoring cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth. All of these cities, and their respective counties of Harris, Bexar, Dallas, Travis, and Tarrant, moved towards Joe Biden in 2020, with Biden flipping Tarrant County, which had gone for Donald Trump in 2016. However in 2024, Trump flipped Tarrant county again, when he carried the state with a double-digit margin.

Prior to 2008, with the exception of Austin/Travis and San Antonio/Bexar (the latter a former bellwether/swing county and the former a liberal stronghold), all of these cities/counties were conservative strongholds, having voted for Republican presidential candidates from the 1960s through 2004.

This culminated with Barack Obama flipping Dallas, Harris, and Bexar counties to the Democratic party in 2008.[15] Despite the five biggest cities in Texas being within the Triangle, there are also a great number of rural, conservative counties in the Triangle. It is in these counties that Republicans poll their best.

Transportation

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Growth Challenges and Opportunities in the Texas Triangle | TNE". texasup.org.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."GDP by State". GDP by State | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Bureau of Economic Analysis. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."What is the Texas Triangle? Exploring the State's Urban Megaregion", hillwoodcommunities.com
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Simple Economics of the Texas Triangle – Houston Business, Jan. 2004 – FRB Dallas". Archived from the original on February 2, 2004. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Reinventing The Texas Triangle – UTexas CSD – 2009" (PDF). utexas.edu. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Triangle Census – Megas, Metros & Micros". Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."MegaRegions +MetroProsperity". Houston Tomorrow and America 2050. August 4, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kent Butler, Sara Hammerschmidt, Frederick Steiner and Ming Zhang. "REINVENTING THE TEXAS TRIANGLE Solutions for Growing Challenges" (PDF). The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture Center for Sustainable Development. pp. 6, 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dan Seedah and Robert Harrison (September 2011). "Megaregion Freight Movements: A Case Study of the Texas Triangle" (PDF). Center for Transportation Research University of Texas at Austin (Form DOT F 1700.7 (8–72)). pp. 37–38. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Michael Neuman and Elise Bright (May 2008). "TEXAS URBAN TRIANGLE Framework for future growth" (PDF). Texas Transportation Institute Texas A&M University System College Station, Texas 77843-3135. pp. 4–6. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ming Zhang, Frederick Steiner, Kent Butler (April 4, 2007). "Connecting the Texas Triangle: Economic Integration and Transportation Coordination" (PDF). The Healdsburg Research Seminar on MegaRegions. p. 31. Retrieved March 11, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Meining, D.W. (1969). Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in Cultural Geography. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 111, 119. ISBN 0292738072.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Neuman, Michael; Elise Bright (May 2008). "Texas Urban Triangle: Framework for Future Growth". SWUTC/08/167166-1. Texas A&M University System. Archived from the original on July 6, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kent Butler; Sara Hammerschmidt; Frederick Steiner; Ming Zhang (2009). "Defining The Region" (PDF). Reinventing the Texas Triangle. Center for Sustainable Development, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ratcliffe, R.G. "Obama campaign lends a hand to Texas Democrats". Chron.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."DEMAND FOR HIGH SPEED RAIL IN THE TEXAS TRIANGLE & BEYOND" (PDF).
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Rojas, Gabriel (May 2007). "Maglev high speed ground transportation for the Texas Triangle : a technology assessment".
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Texas triangle high speed rail study" (PDF).

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