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Texas Metro Areas Are Coming for Chicago

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Texas Metro Areas Are Coming for Chicago


The nickname “Second City” wasn’t bestowed upon Chicago as a title of distinction. When author A. J. Liebling bestowed that sobriquet in writings that were later published in his 1952 book, Chicago: The Second City, he didn’t mean “second only to New York.” He meant “secondary,” or maybe “second-class.” He lived in Chicago, and he hated it. Chicagoans eventually embraced being the Second City, especially after they fell to third, when Los Angeles surpassed the metro in the early eighties.

Chicago is still the nation’s third-largest metropolitan area, according to U.S. census data released this week that estimate population totals for the year 2025—but, looking at the trends since 2020, it’s likely that Dallas–Fort Worth will supplant Chicagoland before too long. Let’s explore the takeaways from the newly released data. 

Dallas–Fort Worth Is Poised To Surpass Chicago

According to the census data, as of 2025, 9,434,123 residents are spread across the Chicago region. The Metroplex, meanwhile, is home to 8,477,157.

While that million-person difference is a lot, Chicago’s population has been stagnant for years; the area has actually lost a couple thousand residents since 2020, with fluctuations year over year. DFW, meanwhile, has a rocket strapped to its proverbial back; in 2020, only 7,667,416 folks lived in the region, which means the Metroplex has added an average of just over 160,000 people each year. If Chicago remains anemic and DFW continues to boom at the same rate, that means Dallas–Fort Worth would be the nation’s third-largest metro area around 2031 (at which point, presumably, Chicagoans will cling even tighter to the “Second City” moniker). 

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And DFW isn’t the only metro on Chicago’s heels. The Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands metropolitan area added nearly as many residents as DFW over that same five-year period. There are half a million fewer Houston-area residents than DFW ones, but if current trends hold, by around 2036, Houston should slide into fourth place. (As some consolation to depressed Chicagoans, they should hold on to fifth place for a while after that, as the metro areas currently behind Houston are quite a bit further back, and they aren’t growing at nearly the same rate as the Texas cities.) 

We Hit Peak Austin a Few Years Back

Austin has been heralded as a tech-utopian dream city by some folks in the capital, and while it remains a growing area, it’s not the juggernaut it once was. For years, Austin and San Jose, California, ran neck and neck for the spot of the nation’s tenth-largest city, but they’re now at numbers twelve and thirteen, respectively—and it’s Fort Worth that rounds out the top ten, with Jacksonville, Florida, behind it. 

That’s because Fort Worth, which grew by nearly 2 percent between 2024 and 2025, is the fastest-growing of Texas’s big cities, and by a considerable margin. Austin, meanwhile, grew by just 0.4 percent—which isn’t nothing, but the era of constant, accelerating growth in the state’s capital appears to have ended, perhaps putting slightly less strain on the city’s infrastructure. 

The rapid rise of Fort Worth isn’t a new story—the trend got noticed back in 2022—but the fact that Austin is growing more slowly than Houston and San Antonio might change the narrative of the city as an ever-growing hub of creative- and tech-minded talent that emerged over the past decade. 

What the Heck Is Going On in New Braunfels?

In addition to being outgrown by the other big cities in Texas, Austin is also being outpaced by a much smaller city nearby, and not just statistically. New Braunfels has a gaudy year-over-year growth rate of 5.1 percent, but it also added more total residents between 2024 and 2025 than Austin did—and by a lot. The year saw 4,025 newly minted Austinites, while New Braunfels exceeded that number by nearly 50 percent, adding 5,969 newcomers. There are now 122,492 New Braunfellas. That is more than six times what the city’s population was back in 1970.

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It makes sense: New Braunfels is between San Antonio and Austin, relatively affordable, and charming as heck. 

The Boom Among New Suburbs Is Bonkers

The fastest-growing city in the United States? That’s Celina, Texas, a spot on the map north of U.S. 380 at the tip-top of the Metroplex. (To get to a Cowboys game from Celina, you’re facing a hundred-mile round trip.) Celina grew by 24.6 percent between 2024 and 2025, which means that statistically, one out of every four people you see shopping for groceries at the Brookshire’s moved there last year. 

What accounts for Celina’s boom? Mostly, it’s that the city basically didn’t exist fifteen years ago; Celina, currently home to 64,427 Texans, was a town of just 6,028 in 2010. According to The Texas Tribune, the city’s 36-year-old mayor moved there with his wife from Allen in 2017, “seeking a quieter, family-oriented neighborhood with good schools and a slower pace.” Celina: For when a bedroom community like Allen is too much of a bustling metropolis! 

Celina’s neighboring towns aren’t far behind it. There are five other DFW suburbs—Princeton, Melissa, Anna, Forney, and Greenville—among the ten fastest-growing cities in the country. (All but Forney are similarly situated on or above U.S. 380.) The Houston suburb of Fulshear (which grew by a similarly enormous 21 percent) and the Austin suburb of Hutto (a more modest 7.9 percent) are among the top ten too. 

Texas remains booming, in other words, even if the distribution of that boom has shifted somewhat—that looks like a slower Austin, steady growth in San Antonio and Houston, an even more massive Metroplex, and suburbs that envelop small towns.

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Oregon Baseball vs. Texas: Starting Pitchers, How to Watch Elimination Game

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Oregon Baseball vs. Texas: Starting Pitchers, How to Watch Elimination Game


The Oregon Ducks baseball team is facing elimination vs. the Texas Longhorns in the Austin Super Regional. Will the Ducks’ shot at the College World Series end on Sunday night?

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The No. 11 national seed Oregon Ducks fell flat in game one vs. the No. 6 national seed Texas at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. In prime time on Saturday night, Oregon stranded a season-high 17 runners while going 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a 11-3 loss to the Longhorns.

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Jun 6, 2026; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns pitcher Dylan Volantis (99) reacts after completing the top of the fifth inning against the Oregon Ducks during a Super Regional game at UFCU Disch-Falk field in Austin, Texas. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Oregon Faces Elimination vs. Texas

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The rowdy Texas crowd grew louder and louder as Oregon could not bat in their runners, the Ducks left at least one runner on base in each of the first six innings. Longhorns coach Jim Schlossnagle started his ace Dylan Volantis and then surprisingly elected to bring in his No. 2 starting pitcher, Luke Harrison, in relief. It was clear just how aggressively the Longhorns were managing game one.

Meanwhile, Texas jumped out to a 7-0 lead in front of a record-setting 8,550 fans. At the plate, the Longhorns were led by Adrian Rodriguez, who finished with a career-high five RBI. Oregon starting pitcher Cal Scolari (5-1) was charged with the loss and allowed five runs on two hits with six walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 inning.

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Jun 6, 2026; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns outfielder Anthony Pack Jr. (6) slides in to second base ahead of the tag from Oregon Ducks second baseman Ryan Cooney (12) during the sixth inning of a Super Regional game at UFCU Disch-Falk field in Austin, Texas. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

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Will Oregon baseball be able to turn it around in time to save their season? Schlossnagle feels confident in his Texas team, who is looking to clinch their first trip to Omaha in four years.

“I felt like there were a lot of awesome bats all the way through the lineup,” Schlossnagle said. “Again, we scored 11 runs without two of the best players in the country getting a hit, so if we can get them going tomorrow, I like our chances.”

Only eight teams will advance to the College World Series in Omaha and there are three teams who have already earned their way in by winning their Super Regionals: West Virginia, Troy and Ole Miss.

If Oregon wins on Sunday night, it will force a game three on Monday. Then, the Ducks will be only one win away from punching their ticket to the CWS for the first time since 1954.

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Sunday, June 7: 6:00 p.m. PT, ESPN
Monday, June 8: TBD – if necessary

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Oregon’s Angel Laya celebrates a triple against Yale in the fourth inning of the NCAA Eugene Regional Baseball Tournament game at PK Park n Eugene May 29, 2026. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Fans can also tune into the Ducks’ radio broadcast to listen to the series on the Oregon Sports Network.

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Starting Pitchers For Oregon and Texas

For Sunday’s game, Oregon starter Will Sanford will be on the mound. Sanford is fresh off a career performance, striking out a career-high 14 batters vs. Washington State in the Eugene Regional, while surrendering just one hit across 6.1 scoreless innings and earning the tournament’s MVP.

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Oregon pitcher Will Sanford celebrates a strikeout against Washington State during the first inning of day two of the NCAA Eugene Regional Tournament at PK Park n Eugene May 30, 2026. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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The Ducks feed off his infectious energy and Oregon will need every bit of it on Sunday.

For Texas, on the mound will be Ruger Riojas, who is an Austin native. The veteran right-hander did battle an injury earlier in the season but helped the Longhorns clinch their regional, limiting UC Santa Barbara to three hits and one run in five innings of work while striking out six.

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What Oregon Said After The Loss

Oregon infielder Maddox Molony hit the nail on the head with his breakdown of the defeat.

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“We did a good job of setting the table,” Molony said, “But the moment got too big a couple times. We need a better job of staying within ourselves and trusting in our abilities.”

Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski was dissappointed in the game one loss but remains optimistic the Ducks can right the ship.

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Oregon head baseball coach Mark Wasikowski gives a thumbs up to the stands after the Ducks defeated Oregon State on day three at the NCAA Eugene Regional Tournament at PK Park in Eugene May 31, 2026. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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“I think we’re a whole lot better than what we showed tonight, but what we showed tonight was what we all saw, and that wasn’t reflective, in my opinion, of how we got this far,” Wasikowski said after the loss.

“I thought we kind of shot ourselves in the foot tonight and that’s why we came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard…. We’re 0-1 and it’s the first team to win two,” Wasikowski said. “It’s like a regular conference weekend where you have to win two of three. Nothing got won tonight and nothing got resolved tonight in terms of who goes to Omaha.”

The Ducks have a great challenge in from of them: beating the Longhorns on a hot Texas evening, with their season on the line.

The College World Series begins on Friday, June 12, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.

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No. 6 Texas blasts No. 11 Oregon, 11-3, to open Austin Super Regional

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No. 6 Texas blasts No. 11 Oregon, 11-3, to open Austin Super Regional


In front of the largest crowd to ever watch the burnt orange and white at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the No. 6 Texas Longhorns delivered an impressive performance, thrashing the No. 11 Oregon Ducks 11-3 to open the Austin Super Regional behind 10 strikeouts from sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis and five RBI supplied by sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez.

Oregon out-hit Texas nine to eight, but the Horns were patient at the plate and delivered timely execution, drawing eight walks, getting hit by three pitches, and driving in three runs on sacrifice flies, adding home runs by junior third baseman Casey Borba and junior designated hitter Ethan Mendoza.

Clutch pitching mattered, too, as Volantis battled persistent command issues, but combined with three other Texas pitchers to strand 17 base runners as Oregon went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-20 (.100) with runners on base. Two Ducks — right fielder Angel Laya and catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus — each stranded six runners.

“I didn’t think he was sharp tonight, compared to a lot of the other outings that we saw, and yet he gutted it out. He showed the makeup that a true warrior shows when he needed to in the big spots,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said of Volantis.

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After Volantis retired the Ducks in the first with a strikeout to strand runners on first and third, walks drawn by junior right fielder Aiden Robbins and freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. set the Horns up to strike, and Rodriguez took advantage with two outs and two on when he lashed a 2-1 cutter into the left-center gap. With the Oregon outfielders playing shallow, the hit got to the fence and Pack scored from first to make it 2-0.

In the second, an opposite-field approach by Oregon designated hitter Junior Lauaki produced a bloop double down the field, but Lauaki was too aggressive trying to take third on a chopper to Volantis and got caught in the run down. Another softly-hit ball challenged Pack and Rodriguez with the Texas left fielder getting a good jump to make the catch and avoid a collision.

With one out in the bottom of the inning, Longhorns junior third baseman Casey Borba extended the lead to 3-0 with a 395-foot blast to right-center on a 97-mph fastball, a rare opposite-field shot for the pull-heavy slugger who took focused work in batting practice to that direction on Thursday.

A walk issued to redshirt senior center fielder Dariyan Pendergrass also came back to haunt the Ducks when Pendergrass stole second and third, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Robbins.

Up 4-0, Volantis dealt with a massive jam in the third, giving up an 0-2 single to lead off the inning before briefly losing his command, issuing one-out and two-out walks, then falling behind 3-1 with the bases loaded before beating Brayden Jaska swinging on a fastball and the type of big-time curveball expected from Volantis. The Texas ace left the bases juiced by inducing an inning-ending groundout to second.

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Through the first three innings, Volantis held Oregon scoreless despite issuing three walks and throwing three wild pitches by stranding six runners. The Californian dealt with more traffic in the fourth after allowing a leadoff single up the middle by Lauaki and a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third with no outs.

But Volantis’ curveball got him out of two more at bats, his fourth and strikeouts with a runner in scoring position, and a groundout to first to end the inning sparked a rare explosion of emotion from the lanky lefty.

One-out and two-out walks drawn by the Horns put runners on first and second for Robbins in the fourth, who worked a full-count walk to bring up junior catcher Carson Tinney. For the big at bat, the Ducks brought in seldom-used lefty Jonah Barkoff for his sixth appearance this season. After throwing a first-pitch strike to Tinney, Barkoff’s balk sent Borba home from third, but a 3-2 breaking ball in the dirt was enough to get Tinney to offer and end the inning.

After retiring the first two batters in the fifth, Volantis looked like he was finally at cruising speed before consecutive singles increased the stress again before another big-time curveball stranded two more runners by retiring Lauaki for the first time.

With Oregon out-hitting Texas 7-3 entering the bottom of the fifth, the Longhorns put one-out hits together with Becerra doubling to right center and Rodriguez singling to left center to make it 6-0.

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Texas scored another run after Mendoza was hit by a pitch, junior first baseman Ashton Larson drew a walk, and Pendergrass was hit by a pitch to force in Rodriguez.

At 96 pitches, Volantis came out for the sixth, but his command faltered again by allowing a leadoff double down the right-field line, a full-count walk, and spiking a first-pitch curveball off the foot of the next batter. For a final time, Volantis recovered, striking out Laya with three swings before departing to a deserved standing ovation as junior right-hander Thomas Burns came on in relief.

Burns got three swings and misses for the second out, but couldn’t find the zone on back-to-back walks on some pitches wildly out of the zone, ending his outing in favor of redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison in his second consecutive relief appearance. Despite getting squeezed on a 2-2 curveball, Harrison left no doubt with a swing and a miss on a cutter to strand three and leave the Horns with a 7-2 lead.

A single by Pack and a walk by Becerra put runners on first and second for Rodriguez in the sixth before both advanced on a wild pitch. Rodriguez made the Ducks pay after Pack was nearly picked off on a pitch out, hitting a sacrifice fly to center. And then Mendoza caught a hanging breaker up and over the plate, launching it 438 feet to left center for his 10th home run of the season.

Harrison went 1-2-3 in the seventh to end his effective outing and remains available to start on Monday if necessary or appear out of the bullpen again on Sunday. Freshman right-hander Brody Walls came for the eighth and worked around a solo home run.

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In the ninth, Texas added a run on a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez, whose execution at the plate followed a single by Pack and a double by Becerra.

The Longhorns can advance to the College World Series on Sunday with first pitch at 8 p.m. Central on ESPN with senior right-hander Ruger Riojas (5-2, 3.86 ERA) set to take the mound against Ducks right-hander Will Sanford (9-2, 3.46 ERA).



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Witnesses in Karmelo Anthony murder trial confirm Austin Metcalf’s words immediately after attack

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Witnesses in Karmelo Anthony murder trial confirm Austin Metcalf’s words immediately after attack


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Harrowing new witness testimony shed light on the desperate final moments of 17-year-old Texas high school athlete Austin Metcalf’s life following a fatal April 2025 stabbing at a crowded track meet.

Taking the stand Saturday during the high-profile trial, a recently graduated 18-year-old from Memorial High School broke down in tears as he recounted the chaotic aftermath of the attack, testifying that he heard Metcalf “screaming for help.”

A second witness, a 16-year-old Memorial High School student from the class of 2027, told the court that immediately after the attack, some of Metcalf’s final words were, “he f—— stabbed me.”

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SURVEILLANCE VIDEO SHOWS FATAL STABBING OF AUSTIN METCALF AT TEXAS TRACK MEET, OFFICIALS SAY

A courtroom sketch depicts Karmelo Anthony and his defense team as jurors view surveillance video during Anthony’s murder trial in the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a Frisco, Texas, track meet. (Pat Lopez)

The new emotional accounts build on earlier testimony from another student who recalled hearing Metcalf say, “Oh my God,” as the reality of the stabbing set in.

Karmelo Anthony, 19, faces a first-degree murder charge for the death of Metcalf, who was unable to be resuscitated by high school staff who attempted CPR as he lost consciousness. He later died at a local hospital.

Anthony has pleaded not guilty to the charge, with his defense team maintaining that he acted in a “split second of fear and chaos” and stabbed Metcalf in self-defense, Fox News Digital previously reported.

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According to background details presented by prosecutors, the deadly encounter was sparked by a dispute over seating at the track meet. 

Multiple witnesses testified that Anthony arrived uninvited and sat down inside the Memorial High School team tent. Fellow students reportedly asked Anthony to leave the tent as many as 15 times, but he allegedly refused.

Demonstrators show support for Austin Metcalf outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, on the first day of jury selection in Karmelo Anthony’s trial on June 1, 2026. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

TRAIN ATTACK VIDEO REIGNITES FURY OVER WITHHELD FOOTAGE OF AUSTIN METCALF KILLING

As the situation escalated, witnesses testified that Anthony warned Metcalf, telling him, “Touch me and find out,” and “Touch me, see what happens.”

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During the confrontation, Anthony sat with a backpack on his lap and one hand inside it, leading some students to warn Metcalf not to touch him because they suspected he was gripping a concealed weapon.

The verbal dispute turned physical when Metcalf reportedly shoved or touched Anthony, prompting Anthony to stand up and stab the high school captain with a 3.5-inch folding knife.

Witnesses on Saturday described Anthony as “the aggressor,” noting Metcalf was “unwilling to fight.”

A courtroom sketch shows prosecutors delivering opening statements in the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony at the Collin County courthouse in McKinney, Texas. (Pat Lopez)

ACCUSED AUSTIN METCALF KILLER WON’T FACE DEATH PENALTY OR LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE: DA

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Body-camera footage and officer testimony revealed that a cooperative Anthony made admissions to police immediately following the incident. 

“I’m not alleged. I did it,” Anthony allegedly told a responding school resource officer.

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He then repeatedly defended his actions to the police, saying, “He put his hands on me. I told him not to.”

Fox News’ Peter Cuddihy and Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

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