Dallas-Fort Worth Job Growth Holds at 1.3% as Finance Turns Negative

Dallas-Fort Worth job growth held at 1.3% through July 2026, with the metro adding 54,000 jobs over the year and Professional and Business Services accounting for 23,500 of them, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Last month I said I wanted to see another month before calling it anything, since these numbers get revised. July came in at 1.3% again, 54,000 jobs against June’s 54,600. Two months at the same rate is worth paying attention to.

Is Dallas-Fort Worth job growth holding at 1.3%?

Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics compares employment to the same month a year earlier. That year-over-year view filters out seasonal swings like summer hiring, so what is left is the underlying direction. Here is how that number has moved since the start of last year.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dallas-Fort Worth Area Economic Summary, published September 2, 2026.

From November through May, that number sat between 0.3% and 1.0%. June and July both came in at 1.3%, about four times what it was in December.

Which Dallas-Fort Worth sectors are hiring?

Seven of the ten major sectors added jobs over the year through July 2026.

The growth leaders:

• Professional and Business Services added 23,500 jobs, up 3.0%.
• Leisure and Hospitality added 13,300 jobs, up 3.0%.
• Education and Health Services added 10,500 jobs, up 2.0%.
• Trade, Transportation, and Utilities added 8,000 jobs, up 0.9%.

Professional and Business Services is a broad label for most office work. It covers accounting and finance, administrative, customer service, and executive roles, which makes it the sector that matters most to the employers I serve. It added more jobs than any other sector this month and tied Leisure and Hospitality for the fastest growth rate.

Something worth knowing about these numbers is that the BLS files a job under the employer’s industry rather than the job title. An accountant at a CPA firm counts under Professional and Business Services. That same accountant at a bank sits under Financial Activities. It is why two sectors that hire similar skills can move in opposite directions, which is what happened this month.

Where Dallas-Fort Worth lost ground

Three sectors shrank, and one of them changed character.

Financial Activities covers banks, insurance carriers, and real estate firms. In June it finished the year exactly where it started, at zero change. In July it was down 4,100 jobs, a 1.0% decline.

Information fell 2,500 jobs, down 2.8%, the steepest percentage drop among the ten sectors. Manufacturing gave up 2,200 jobs, down 0.7%, after a 0.8% decline in June.

Sector data does not follow individual people, so it cannot tell us where anyone went. What it does show is that fewer finance and accounting seats sit inside banks and insurers than a year ago, while more of them sit inside professional services firms.

What is the unemployment rate in Dallas-Fort Worth?

The Dallas-Fort Worth metro unemployment rate was 4.6% in July 2026, up from 4.2% in July 2025. The national rate moved the other way and eased to 4.4% from 4.6%.

Job growth and unemployment can climb at the same time, which is what happened here. A metro adds jobs, and its rate still rises when the number of people looking for work grows faster than the openings being filled.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dallas-Fort Worth Area Economic Summary, published September 2, 2026.

County rates for July 2026:

• Denton County: 4.3%, the tightest of the four.
• Collin County: 4.6%
• Tarrant County: 4.6%
• Dallas County: 4.7%, the loosest of the four.

These are the four largest counties in the metro and the four BLS charts in its summary. A lower rate means a smaller share of that county’s workforce is looking for work, so Denton is where an opening competes hardest for attention and Dallas County is where the pool runs deepest.

Two caveats. None of these figures are seasonally adjusted, and metro rates tend to climb through the summer. The comparison that holds up is to last July, when this metro ran tighter than the country. It runs looser now.

What does this mean for Dallas businesses hiring right now?

Three things to act on:

• More finance and accounting candidates are in the market. Financial Activities went from zero change in June to down 4,100 jobs in July. Those seats existed a year ago and do not now.
• Office hiring is still competitive. Professional and Business Services added 23,500 jobs at a 3.0% rate, so that growth is chasing the same people you are. Settle your decision timeline before interviews start.
• Know your wage benchmark. Average weekly wages across the Dallas-Fort Worth area ran $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. Consumer prices here rose 2.9% over the 12 months ending July 2026 against 3.4% for the U.S. city average. You pay above the national wage, and your cost pressure runs below it.

Ready to fill your accounting and administrative roles this quarter?

Job growth held at 1.3%, unemployment climbed to 4.6% while the country eased to 4.4%, and finance started shedding jobs. Those three rarely line up in the same month, and they will not stay lined up.

Send us the accounting, finance, or administrative role you need filled and we will start sourcing this week.

Are you moving on fourth-quarter hires now, or waiting to see if 1.3% makes it three months?