The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern U.S., encompassing 11 counties. Its historically dominant core cities are Dallas and Fort Worth. It is the economic and cultural hub of North Texas. Residents of the area also refer to it as DFW or the Metroplex. The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area's population was 7,637,387 according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. and the eleventh-largest in the Americas. In 2016, the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex had the highest annual population growth in the United States. By 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area's population had increased to 8,100,037, with the highest numerical growth of any metropolitan area in the United States.