It used to be.

Fort Worth earned the Cowtown name honestly, and it has held on to that reputation with both hands ever since. The reputation is charming. As a description of the city you'd be buying a home in today, it's a lie.

The short answer is that Fort Worth is the tenth-largest city in the United States. It still has cattle, boots, and a famous university, and it also has a real downtown, heavy traffic, and housing that ranges from high-rise condos to one-acre lots. Buyers who plan around the small-town picture end up surprised, and usually in ways that cost them money or time.

This is the third post in our Lies About DFW series. We started with whether all of Dallas-Fort Worth is basically the same and then asked whether DFW is really country. Fort Worth gets its own post because it gets its own myth.

The Lie: Fort Worth Is a Rural College Town

People who have never spent time here tend to carry around the same picture.

Fort Worth is out there somewhere west of Dallas. It's country. TCU is there, so it must be a college town with some cows around the edges. That college-and-cattle personality is the whole city.

I understand how the picture got painted. Fort Worth really was a rural town once, and it has never been shy about saying so. Residents love the history and culture tied to the Stockyards and Hell's Half-Acre. Texas Christian University is a big part of the city's identity. Nobody made any of that up.

The mistake is believing that purple picture is finished.

How Big Is Fort Worth Today?

Big enough to sit on the same list as New York and Los Angeles.

We played a game on a recent podcast episode where I made the team name the ten largest cities in America. It took them a few tries. Here is the actual list:

  • New York
  • Los Angeles
  • Chicago
  • Houston
  • Phoenix
  • Philadelphia
  • San Antonio
  • San Diego
  • Dallas
  • Fort Worth

Miami didn't make it. Neither did Atlanta or Austin. Fort Worth did.

The best way I know to describe Fort Worth is that it's what Dallas was not that long ago. It has the size and the momentum of a major city, and a lot of people outside Texas still talk about it like a stop on a cattle trail.

Downtown Fort Worth is as much concrete as downtown anywhere. And if you start inside the Fort Worth city limits and drive toward open country, you'll be driving quite a while before you get there.

Why Does the Cowtown Reputation Stick?

Fort Worth likes it, and so do the rest of us.

The city has kept its western identity on purpose. Even as a resident of the Dallas area, I wear boots every single day, and I don't think of them as a costume. That part of the stereotype is real, and it's one of the things that makes living here fun.

A city's personality and a city's size are two separate facts, though. Fort Worth kept the personality while ballooning in size. Home buyers need to hold both of those in their head at once.

What Does This Lie Cost Home Buyers?

It sends people to the wrong house for the wrong reasons.

Some buyers want a quiet small town. They hear Cowtown, pick Fort Worth off the map, and find themselves in a major city with major-city traffic. A drive that should take 30 minutes can turn into 60 here, and it doesn't always wait for rush hour. If your office is across town, that matters before you choose a neighborhood. We've discussed how your job should affect your home search.

Other buyers want city life and never look at Fort Worth, because somebody told them it was all pasture. They cut the tenth-largest city in the country out of their search without seeing it.

Then there are the buyers who treat Fort Worth as one place. It isn't one place any more than DFW is. Aledo is different from Keller, and both are different from the neighborhoods near downtown. Each has its own prices and its own pace.

Here is the good news for the buyer who came for the Cowtown part. You don't have to drive an hour out of Fort Worth to get land. There are one-acre lots within about 20 minutes of a skyscraper, and finding them is one of the things our team specializes in. You can get the peace and quiet of a small acreage lot while still seeing the downtown skyline in the distance. Start with where you can find a home on land in DFW.

So slow down before you speed up. Decide what you want your days to look like, and then find the part of Fort Worth that delivers it.

What About Fort Worth Sellers?

Your buyer may believe this lie too.

Plenty of people shopping in Fort Worth are relocating, and some of them arrive with the small-town picture in their head. A listing that shows a house and nothing else leaves that picture in place. Good marketing shows the buyer what life is like around the home, including how close it sits to jobs, hospitals, and everything else a big city offers.

The market on this side of the Metroplex is uneven right now. Buyers have the advantage in some pockets and sellers have it in others. In most places, it comes down to the individual house. A citywide headline won't tell you where your home stands. A specialist who works the Fort Worth side every day will.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fort Worth a small town?

No. Fort Worth is the tenth-largest city in the United States. It began as a rural cowtown "where the west begins" and still celebrates that history, but it is a major city today.

Why is Fort Worth called Cowtown?

The nickname comes from the city's history in the cattle business. Many cattle trails passed through the city in the 1800s. Fort Worth has kept that western identity as part of its culture even as it has grown.

Is Fort Worth just a college town?

No. Texas Christian University is an important part of Fort Worth, and the city has other colleges as well. They are one piece of a very large and varied city.

Can you still buy land near Fort Worth?

Yes. Small-acreage properties and one-acre lots can be found without within about 30 minutes of Downtown Fort Worth. More land becomes available if you're willing to drive 45 minutes to an hour from the city's center.

Is Fort Worth different from Dallas?

Yes. They are two separate major cities with their own neighborhoods, housing, and culture. The communities around each one differ from each other as well.

Buying or Selling on the Fort Worth Side?

Get a Fort Worth specialist.

Most agents are generalists who cover the whole Metroplex and know a little about all of it. The Todd Tramonte Home Selling Team has full-time buyer specialists dedicated to the Fort Worth side, and they work with buyers only. They know where one city crosses into the next, where the school district lines fall, and which pockets still have land.

We guarantee to sell your home over the average price and under the average time. We also guarantee to help you buy a home and save at least $5,000 throughout the purchase process.

Call before you pick a Fort Worth neighborhood off a map. In the first conversation, tell us what you want your life in Fort Worth to look like, and we'll show you which parts of the city deliver it. Search Fort Worth-area homes at MyFortWorthMLS.com, visit DallasHomeRealty.com, or call or text 214-216-2161.

Enjoy the boots and the cattle drive.

Buy like you're moving to a big city, because you are.