Nextiva
Loves Fort Worth

The city of Fort Worth originally grew up along the Chisholm Trail, a cattle driving trail through Texas to Kansas. The area became known as “Cowtown” and eventually grew into a center for the ranching industry. The town was named for William J. Worth, an officer in the War of 1812. The city of Fort Worth was incorporated in 1873.

Two meatpacking companies, Armour and Swift, moved into the city and helped with the population boom in the late 19th century. The early 20th century brought oil to western Texas and Fort Worth profited from the increased demand and oil fields in the area. Now, the city sits as the 16th largest in the country.

The Fort Worth area code has only one Fortune 500 company. American Airlines Company was listed at 67 on the 2017 round up. Pier 1 Imports is also headquartered in the city and comes in at 967 on the Fortune 1000 list. Other major companies with headquarters in area code 682 and 817 are RadioShack, BNSF Railway, ACME Brick, GE Management Solutions, and D.R. Horton Inc. which was the largest homebuilder in the United States in 2017.

The biggest employer in the Fort Worth area code is Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which employs over 13,000 residents in the aerospace defense industry. Other major players are Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth which employs 11,500 residents, and the Fort Worth Independent School District that employs over 10,000 people in the city. The Fort Worth Chamber reports that “With more than 80,000 businesses, Fort Worth ranks among the top business destinations in the world.”

The unemployment rate in area code 682 and 817 is 4.2% which is under the national average of 5.2%. The projected job growth in the city is 38% over the next ten years and the average household income in the Fort Worth area code is $52,000, which is about equal to the US national average. Over 20% of the population makes over $100,000 per year and the top three occupations in the city are health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and retail trade.

In the early 21st century Fort Worth was repeatedly listed as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. Forbes also listed the Fort Worth area code at #13 on their list of “America’s Coolest Cities” in 2012 and #3 on their list of “America’s 20 Most Affordable Cities.”

Additionally, the city was named as one of the “Best Data Center Locations in Texas” by Southern Business & Development in Winter 2016 and the same publication listed the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce as one of Texas’ “Top Four Large Local Economic Development Agencies.”