Denton, Texas Population 2021

Denton is located in Denton County, Texas about 40 miles northwest of Dallas. It's the 12th largest city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex which stretches over 13 counties and has a combined population of 7.5 million. While Denton isn't a very large city, it draws in more than twice its population every year for festivals like the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo.

Population Growth

The opening of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 1974, in addition to the city's growing status within the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in the decade previously, saw an increase from 27,000 in 1960 to 40,000. The second-largest leap in population came in the 1980s, with a growth of an additional 18,000 people, culminating in a population of 66,000 in 1990.

None of this compares, however, to Denton’s largest decade of growth: the 2000s. Denton has seen rapid growth in recent years, along with the majority of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and has become the country’s seventh fastest growing city. In the year 2000, the population sat at 80,000. By 2010, this had skyrocketed to 117,000: an increase of 36,000 people, or a percentage increase of more than 45%.

Denton is expected to grow faster than ever in the years to come thanks to greater sensitivity to the needs of developers and a shorter permitting process. There are now two master-planned communities proposed that would add 15,000 new homes to the city, increasing residential properties by nearly 50% (https://www.bisnow.com/dallas-ft-worth/news/economic-development/denton-county-poised-for-major-residental-growth-with-commercial-following-those-rooftops-97372).

Denton's history began in the mid-1800s when William S. Peters got a land grant from the Texas Congress and founded a colony in his name. A few years following this, Denton County was formed, and the town was renamed Denton.

In 1866, Denton was incorporated, and as the city was expanding, it grew into a major agricultural trade center. The Texas and Pacific Railway was built in 1881 and gave Denton a rail connection that led to a booming population.

Denton’s connection to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the building of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport saw a near doubling in population growth between the 1960s and the 1980s. Heavy manufacturing companies moved in, joining older firms, and saw the population continue to grow more so into the 1990s and 2000s.