
Texas Triangle

The Texas Triangle (also known as Texaplex) is a region of Texas which contains the state's five largest cities and is home to the majority of the state's population. The Texas Triangle is formed by the state's four main urban centers, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, connected by Interstate 45, Interstate 10, and Interstate 35. In 2020, the population of the Texas Triangle reached nearly 21 million following rapid growth across much of Texas. The Texas Triangle is one of eleven megaregions in the United States, clusters of urban areas which share economic and cultural ties.
In 2004, the Texas Triangle contained five of the 20 largest cities in the U.S., and was home to more than 70% of all Texans, with a population of 13.8 million. In the next 40 years, the population of the Texas Triangle has been projected to grow more than 65%, or an additional 10 million people, leading to 78% of Texans living and working within the Texas Triangle. From a resident's perspective, the Triangle is gradually becoming synonymous with Texas.
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. Beaumont, located east of Houston, has been considered part of the Texas Triangle by numerous studies dating from 2000. Burleson County is the center of the Texas Triangle.
Sizable metro areas in Texas outside the Triangle are Corpus Christi, El Paso, Lubbock, Midland-Odessa, Abilene, San Angelo, Laredo, Amarillo, Tyler, Longview, Wichita Falls, and the Rio Grande Valley.
Geography.
The megaregion is defined in work by America 2050 and others. Dr. Robert Lang of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech characterized Dallas–Fort Worth as one of the earliest recognized megapolitans. Although each city is distinct, Dallas and Fort Worth developed closely enough to form the urban area widely known as the Metroplex. A conference about the future of the Texas Triangle was held by Houston Tomorrow and America 2050 on September 24–25, 2009 in Houston.
The 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, nearly 75% of Texas's total population. 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."
Triangle counties.
Sixty-seven counties are within the Texas Triangle. They are: Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, 
Bastrop,
Bell,
Bexar,
Brazoria,
Brazos,
Burleson,
Caldwell,
Chambers,
Collin,
Colorado,
Comal,
Cooke,
Coryell,
Dallas,
Delta,
Denton,
Ellis,
Falls,
Fayette,
Fort Bend,
Freestone,
Galveston,
Gonzales,
Grayson,
Grimes,
Guadalupe,
Hardin,
Harris,
Hays,
Henderson,
Hill,
Hood,
Houston,
Hunt,
Jefferson,
Johnson,
Kaufman,
Kendall,
Lavaca,
Lee,
Leon,
Liberty,
Limestone,
Madison,
McLennan,
Medina,
Milam,
Montgomery,
Navarro,
Orange,
Parker,
Rockwall,
Robertson,
San Jacinto,
Somervell,
Tarrant,
Travis,
Walker,
Waller,
Washington,
Wharton,
Williamson,
Wilson, and
Wise.