How many Buc-ee’s is that? What Fort Worth’s 1 million population really looks like

It would take roughly 12 AT&T Stadiums to hold the entire population of Fort Worth.

As of 2024, Fort Worth is officially the 11th largest city in the U.S., and one of only 13 American cities to ever reach a population of 1 million, according to census data released Thursday. The new data shows Fort Worth’s estimated population was 1,008,106 as of July 1, 2024.

It may be hard to imagine just how large 1 million people is, especially because Fort Worth is so spread out — unlike many of America’s largest cities. So let’s put it into perspective with a few North Texas hallmarks.

Let’s say everyone in Fort Worth bought a ticket to a concert or sporting event. Here’s how many venues would be needed to fit the lot.

AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, can hold a lot of people, with about 80,000 seats. But it would take 12 AT&T Stadiums to seat all 1 million of us.

How about Amon G. Carter Stadium at TCU? Its capacity is 47,000 football fans.

If everyone in Fort Worth wanted to cheer on the Horned Frogs, you would need 21 stadiums.

Billy Bob’s Texas claims to be the world’s largest honky-tonk, and we believe it. The music venue in the Fort Worth Stockyards has been an iconic destination since 1981. You can squeeze 6,000 country music fans into the sprawling venue. But with 1 million of us, you’d need 168 honky-tonks.

Here’s how many other popular venues you’d need for a million folks:

• 25 Globe Life Fields
• 54 Farrington Fields
• 72 Dickies Arenas

Everyone loves H-E-B, right? At least that’s how it seems if you’ve ever tried to shop at Fort Worth’s H-E-B on a weekend (and survived).

It would take roughly 545 H-E-B grocery stores, packed to maximum capacity, to fit all 1 million Fort Worth residents. That’s based on the occupancy limits of the Alliance H-E-B at 451 Heritage Trace Parkway.

What if everyone in Fort Worth suddenly wanted to go to a Buc-ee’s?

We’re going to need a lot of Beaver Nuggets.

You would need more than 800 Buc-ee’s travel centers to accommodate everyone in Cowtown, based on the size and occupancy of Fort Worth’s Buc-ee’s at 15901 North Freeway.

Remember “Hands Across America”? Let’s say folks in Fort Worth decided to stage a “Hands across Loop 820,” in which all 1 million of us lined up along the interstate holding hands.

With 1 million people (ignoring, for the moment, that some among us are babies), we would circle Loop 820 more than 27 times.

Did you know that Fort Worth’s Trinity Trails have 100 miles of walking and biking paths throughout the city?

If we could get everyone in Fort Worth to line up holding hands along the trails, we’d span the entire length — nine times.

Finally, let’s think about Fort Worth’s population in terms of U.S. states.

As of 2024, we have more people living in our city than the entire populations of five states:

• Alaska: 740,133 people
• North Dakota: 796,568 people
• South Dakota: 924,669 people
• Vermont: 648,493 people
• Wyoming: 587,618 people

So if you ever start to feel as if Fort Worth is getting a little too crowded, there’s always one of those states where you might not run into anyone for miles.

This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 12:30 AM.

Brayden Garcia

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Brayden Garcia is a service journalism reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He is part of a team of local journalists who answer reader questions and write about life in North Texas. Brayden mainly writes about weather and all things Taylor Sheridan-related.