Top 10 Industries in Dallas-Fort Worth
If you’re thinking about a move to Dallas-Fort Worth, one of the first questions is usually about work. Will there be jobs in your field? How steady is the local economy? The good news is that DFW doesn’t depend on any one industry, and that’s a big part of why the region has held up so well through ups and downs.
Below are the region’s 10 largest industries, ranked by the number of jobs, using the most recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The numbers are for September 2026 and cover the full Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area, which had about 4.35 million jobs in total.
The top 10
- Trade, transportation, and utilities: about 894,000 jobs. This is the region’s biggest employer by far. It covers retail stores, wholesale distribution, trucking, warehousing, and air travel. DFW’s central location and major airports make it a natural hub for moving goods and people.
- Professional and business services: about 810,000 jobs. Think accounting, legal, engineering, consulting, tech support, and corporate offices. It’s also one of the fastest-growing sectors here, up 3.7% over the past year.
- Education and health services: about 527,000 jobs. Hospitals, clinics, private schools, and universities. Health care tends to grow along with the population, and DFW’s population keeps growing.
- Government: about 484,000 jobs. This includes federal, state, and local jobs, and public school districts are a big part of it.
- Leisure and hospitality: about 434,000 jobs. Restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, and sports. With major league teams and a steady stream of conventions and visitors, this sector stays busy.
- Financial activities: about 391,000 jobs. Banking, insurance, investments, and real estate. Several large financial companies have built major campuses in the area.
- Manufacturing: about 313,000 jobs. Aerospace and defense, electronics, food production, and vehicles are all made here.
- Mining, logging, and construction: about 275,000 jobs. In DFW, this is mostly construction, from new homes to highways and commercial buildings. It grew 2.8% over the past year.
- Other services: about 142,000 jobs. Repair shops, salons, dry cleaners, churches, and nonprofit organizations.
- Information: about 83,000 jobs. Telecommunications, publishing, broadcasting, and data processing. It’s the smallest of the 10 and has been shrinking, down 4.3% over the year.
The numbers are preliminary and not seasonally adjusted, so they can shift a little when BLS revises them.
How to check the numbers yourself
You don’t have to take my word for any of this. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes these figures every month on its free Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Economy at a Glance page. It shows jobs by industry, the unemployment rate, and local inflation, and it’s updated as new data comes out. If you work in a specific field, the same site has wage and job data by occupation, so you can see what your job pays in this area.
For a closer look at the month-to-month movement, see my September 2026 jobs report. To put names to these sectors, see the biggest employers in DFW. And if you’re curious how the region ended up this diversified, the answer goes back to cattle, cotton, and oil.
If you’re thinking about a move to Dallas-Fort Worth, I’m happy to help.
Sources
About the Author
Christina Kang is a broker associate with CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company, serving buyers and sellers across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, from Denton County to Johnson County. A former state certified residential appraiser, she holds the GRI, MCNE, and CLHMS designations and brings a hands-on understanding of how homes are built, updated, and valued. She lives in Grand Prairie, where she has renovated much of her own home.