{"id":379438,"date":"2026-07-20T11:03:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/379438\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:03:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:03:35","slug":"dallas-faces-inflection-point-with-stagnating-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/379438\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas faces inflection point with stagnating population"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2013 On Tuesday morning in downtown Dallas, it might have been hard to tell the state\u2019s third largest city has suffered some big-name economic losses.<\/p>\n

Colorful street art installed for the FIFA World Cup, which has injected good vibes and camaraderie into the sprawling 8.5 million-person region, adorned car-jammed streets. Employees holding coffee cups passed through the glass front doors of Whitacre Tower, long home to AT&T, like any other day.<\/p>\n

But AT&T plans to leave downtown Dallas for a mega-campus in nearby Plano, one of many prominent setbacks the city faces. The Dallas Stars, the city\u2019s National Hockey League franchise, will join them. Though the Dallas Mavericks plan to remain in city limits, the team is also leaving the city\u2019s urban core, opting for a spot closer to the city\u2019s northern, more suburban fringe.<\/p>\n

Those departures from in and around downtown follow years of relative stagnation in Dallas. Last year, the city\u2019s population fell for the first time<\/a> since the COVID-19 pandemic \u2014 it\u2019s now at 1.3 million people after losing 1,800 residents \u2014 while the region and other large Texas cities boomed.<\/p>\n

\"\"The American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas on Feb. 17, 2026. Manoo Sirivelu\/The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a bug floating in a sink of water, and for the first time, the water didn\u2019t rise, the water went down a little bit,\u201d Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. \u201cWe need to deal with the fact that the sink has a leak.\u201d<\/p>\n

As big names depart for Dallas\u2019 suburbs and its population stagnates, the city\u2019s status as the region\u2019s economic engine could be in serious jeopardy \u2014\u00a0and the suburbs once birthed by Dallas now hold the cards.<\/p>\n

Dallas has long sustained an outflow of people to the surrounding suburbs, driven by perceptions of better schools, attainable housing, public safety and family friendliness. Officials and experts say that Dallas hasn\u2019t built enough housing, which could stanch the bleed, and without efforts to seriously beef up the city\u2019s population growth, observers warn that the city could wind up hollowed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you start having population decline, then you\u2019re going to have empty housing,\u201d said Lloyd Potter, the state demographer. \u201cWhen you have empty housing, the property values start going down. If your tax base starts decreasing, you\u2019re going to be hurting pretty bad especially with the kind of infrastructure demands that Dallas has.\u201d<\/p>\n

The string of recent losses has fueled an already impassioned debate over whether Dallas should demolish its iconic-but-divisive City Hall downtown in a moonshot bid to spur redevelopment \u2014\u00a0a bitter fight that has magnified the stresses of the city\u2019s uncertain future as well as its potential reinvention.<\/p>\n

\"Y\u2019allY\u2019all Street development in downtown Dallas on Feb. 17, 2026. Manoo Sirivelu\/The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Signs abound that Dallas could be on the verge of renewed growth, spurring some optimism amid the losses. The city\u2019s burgeoning financial sector, dubbed \u201cY\u2019all Street,\u201d is on the rise<\/a>. Pockets of vibrancy exist throughout the city in places like the Bishop Arts District and Lower Greenville. And the urban core is adding residents as developers transform long empty office towers into new residences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we are going to become that city who bottoms out and has to declare bankruptcy and start over,\u201d Council Member Paula Blackmon said. \u201cDallas is that can\u2011do city. We build stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Civic and business leaders argue the losses are potentially a blip on the way to greater growth. But they acknowledge the city could be more competitive with its neighbors to prevent a growing exodus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has reinvented itself a number of times over the decades,\u201d said Brad Cheves, who heads the Dallas Regional Chamber. \u201cI think we\u2019re at one of those moments right now, and I think that\u2019s thrilling. We should embrace it as opposed to being fearful of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flight to the suburbs<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s commercial purge started with AT&T, which in January announced it will relocate from downtown to a sprawling, 2.3-million-square-foot campus in suburban Plano \u2014 replete with a 280-foot tower resembling downtown Dallas\u2019 distinctive Reunion Tower. Plano officials lured the company with a $20 million incentive package.<\/p>\n

Months later, the Stars, the city\u2019s National Hockey League franchise, said it too would move to Plano, setting up shop on the sprawling site of a flagging suburban mall, which the Stars plan to redevelop into a mixed-use development that includes an arena as well as apartments, shops and restaurants.<\/p>\n

The move puts the Stars at the center of the region\u2019s growth, Stars CEO Brad Alberts said in an interview. The team\u2019s base of ticketholders is there, and with the growth of cities further north like Celina, Prosper and Anna, they only expect that ticket base to grow, Alberts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans live up this direction, and we\u2019re betting that it\u2019s only going to increase over time,\u201d Alberts said.<\/p>\n

\"\"The new Aura 3Twenty housing development in McKinney, Texas, on Sept. 28, 2025. Manoo Sirivelu\/The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

While Dallas\u2019 population grew by 2% from 2020 to 2025, the Dallas-Fort Worth region grew by a whopping 10%, driven largely by the suburban explosion, according to Census figures. Six cities in the region \u2014\u00a0Fort Worth, Celina, McKinney, Frisco, Denton and Princeton \u2014\u00a0added more residents than Dallas in that span.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Companies \u201cwant a safe and secure environment, and they want to make sure that their employees are safe and secure,\u201d said John Muns, mayor of Plano, about the suburban attraction. \u201cThey want good education for their employees\u2019 children and they want a qualified workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

And among the state\u2019s five largest cities, Dallas has added the fewest residents since 2020.<\/p>\n

Given the city\u2019s growth woes, Dallas housing advocates want city officials to urgently pass a suite of potential reforms to make it easier for developers to build denser, more affordable kinds of housing including townhomes, duplexes and smaller apartment buildings. That would enable the city to absorb more of the region\u2019s growth, advocates posit, while bringing down the city\u2019s housing costs.<\/p>\n

For the past five years, Collin, Tarrant and Denton counties have consistently seen more homes permitted per capita than Dallas County, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of Texas A&M University building permit data. Last year, jurisdictions in Dallas County permitted about 4.7 homes for every 1,000 residents. In Collin County, that figure was 14.7. The amount of undeveloped land on the urban fringe has enabled suburbs and exurbs to quickly put up tens of thousands of single-family homes, though the other counties also build more apartments per capita than Dallas County.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a city, if we value having our workforce actually live in our city, we need to make it as easy as possible to build good quality housing close to jobs, transit and schools,\u201d said Dallas City Council Member Chad West.<\/p>\n

Weak growth has already compounded Dallas\u2019 budget problems, leaving the city with a potential $51 million hole in its upcoming budget<\/a>. Without enabling more housing, local governments of all stripes will find themselves in an increasing financial bind, putting the rising cost of government services like public safety and infrastructure on a stagnant tax base. If that base doesn\u2019t grow, homeowners and business owners may find themselves paying higher taxes to pay for crucial services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t see some growth, it\u2019s a really bad deal for businesses and homeowners,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

Downtown dreams<\/p>\n

Some see growing downtown Dallas as the road to more robust growth for the city. It\u2019s at the heart of the city and it\u2019s easier to build housing there because residents are less likely to fight it as they might in parts of town dominated by single-family homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we attract young professionals and people as they move and relocate to North Texas, if we\u2019re competitive as a place to live, we\u2019ll put forth the best chance to retain a robust employment sector,\u201d Scripps said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe view from a bedroom of an apartment at Santander Tower in downtown Dallas on Nov. 7, 2023. Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Downtown has steadily added residents since 2010, and is now home to about 16,000 residents bolstered by conversions of empty office spaces to apartments, according to a presentation by Downtown Dallas Inc., a nonprofit that oversees the area. Those conversions have produced more than 1,100 apartments since 2020, and another 1,975 are in the works, according to CBRE Group Inc., a commercial real estate services and investment firm.<\/p>\n

Some think downtown Dallas needs a big jolt to sustain the progress, eying the iconic City Hall, designed by the legendary brutalist architect I.M. Pei, as a site that could potentially serve as a catalyst for new development \u2014 if it were razed.<\/p>\n

The City Council voted in June to stop making repairs on the building and explore options to relocate, citing estimates that it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make various repairs to the current building as the city faces a budget crunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must fight for the city of tomorrow rather than worship decaying, outdated government buildings from bygone eras,\u201d Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who declined an interview through a spokesperson, said in June.<\/p>\n

That opens up the opportunity to help bring life to a long-dormant section of downtown, proponents argue. The area around City Hall is pock-marked by half-empty parking lots and vacant land as well as some low-lying commercial buildings and warehouses.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Hall is iconic,\u201d Cheves, the Dallas Regional Chamber head, said. \u201cIt\u2019s not historic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DallasDallas City Hall on July 11, 2024. Azul Sordo for the Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Others aren\u2019t convinced such a move is necessary, and that razing what they see as an architectural gem without a clear plan for what happens to the site after would pose a huge risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our seat of government,\u201d Blackmon said. \u201cYou don\u2019t dispose of your seat of government like it is a disposable building.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible to reinvigorate downtown Dallas without tearing down City Hall, said Zaida Basora, an architect and co-leader of the Save Dallas City Hall Coalition. A proposal put together by architectural students at the University of Texas at Arlington shows that new high-rises, hotels and arenas could theoretically fit into the section of downtown occupied by City Hall without demolishing the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s room for everybody,\u201d Basora said.<\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 name still carries weight<\/p>\n

The Dallas name still has power, business groups said. It\u2019s what created the city\u2019s burgeoning financial sector, luring the Texas Stock Exchange and a raft of the country\u2019s biggest financial firms<\/a> to the city including Goldman Sachs, whose home in Uptown Dallas will become the financial giant\u2019s largest presence outside New York City. Morgan Stanley is weighing a $1.3 billion office tower that would bring 4,800 jobs to Dallas proper.<\/p>\n

Boosters see areas where Dallas outshines the suburbs, including in its presence of the arts and neighborhood character that can\u2019t be found in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a diversity of communities and neighborhoods in Dallas that they don\u2019t have in other communities,\u201d said Linda McMahon, executive director of Dallas Economic Development Corporation.<\/p>\n

There are also signs that the city\u2019s population is ticking up this year. Population estimates from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the agency in charge of transportation planning for the region, project the city\u2019s population has surpassed 1.4 million as of Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas in 2022. The convention center is getting a major renovation. Kylie Cooper for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Signs of vitality, too, abound. Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is undergoing a $3.8 billion overhaul. A half mile away, the Dallas Farmers Market boasts more than 1,800 apartments and 200 townhomes as well as restaurants and shops.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s newest deck park, the name for a greenspace built over a freeway, opened in May in southern Dallas over a portion of Interstate 35. Since then, the 2.8-acre Halperin Park has hosted a Fourth of July celebration along with musical performances and classes.<\/p>\n

The park came about as a way to restitch a community divided when the highway was first constructed and bring renewed vibrancy to the community, said April Allen, who led the effort to build the park and now oversees it. The hope is that the park is also a proving ground for development in southern Dallas, which has long gone underdeveloped.<\/p>\n

Allen said she\u2019s bullish on Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the future of our city is going to be decided by whoever\u2019s leaving,\u201d Allen said. \u201cIt\u2019s really going to be shaped by the people that are here, the places that we\u2019re investing in, and the momentum that we\u2019re creating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials and the city\u2019s boosters admit that the city needs to be proactive to sustain the momentum Allen speaks of and to offset the big-name economic departures and population drop. Waiting-and-seeing is what can kill cities.<\/p>\n

\u201dWe don\u2019t want to wait 10 or 15 years to where we\u2019re circling the drain to deal with it,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

\"CarsCars drive on Interstate 35 East with the downtown Dallas skyline in the distance on July 27, 2025. Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os\/The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Disclosure: AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Linda McMahon and Texas A&M University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6861,102,104,103,4376,430,160,6473],"class_list":["post-379438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-att","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-eric-johnson","tag-north-texas","tag-plano","tag-well-a-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}