When you think of massive urban spaces, Manhattan likely comes to mind—the densely packed island that's home to millions of New Yorkers and the vertical forest of skyscrapers we all recognize. But here's something that'll mess with your sense of scale: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is actually larger than the entire island of Manhattan.

DFW sprawls across 27 square miles (17,207 acres), while Manhattan clocks in at about 22.7 square miles. That means you could fit all of Manhattan inside the airport property and still have roughly 4-5 square miles left over—enough space for Central Park twice.

Why Is DFW So Enormous?

DFW wasn't always this gargantuan. When it opened in 1974, it was designed with massive expansion in mind. The planners looked at the explosive growth of air travel in the jet age and said, "Let's make sure we never run out of room." The airport sits between Dallas and Fort Worth, built on what was largely undeveloped land, which meant they could spread out rather than build up.

The sheer size allows DFW to have:

Five terminals with 182 gates
Seven runways (more than most major airports)
Its own ZIP code (75261)
An internal road system longer than some highway networks

For perspective, if you tried to walk from one end of the airport to the other, you'd be hiking more than 8 miles. Manhattan, despite being smaller in total area, packs over 1.6 million residents into its space. DFW's property, by contrast, is mostly runways, taxiways, and terminals—optimized for planes, not people.

The Second-Largest Airport in America

DFW is the second-largest airport by land area in the United States, trailing only Denver International Airport (which is an absurd 53 square miles). But unlike Denver, which sits isolated on the prairie, DFW is sandwiched between two major metropolitan areas, making its size even more striking when you see it on a map.

The airport handles around 75 million passengers annually and serves as a major hub for American Airlines. That's more passengers than the entire population of France passing through 27 square miles of Texas every year.

Manhattan: Small But Mighty

Manhattan might be smaller, but it's dense. Those 22.7 square miles contain roughly 1.6 million people, plus millions more commuters and tourists daily. If DFW had Manhattan's population density, you'd have runways running through apartment buildings and planes taking off over bodega rooftops. The island is only 13.4 miles long and 2.3 miles wide at its widest point, yet it's one of the most influential pieces of land on Earth.

The comparison really hammers home how different types of infrastructure use space. Manhattan builds up—thousands of buildings stacked stories high. DFW builds out—runways, taxiways, and terminals spread across the ground like a sprawling machine designed to move planes, not people.

Next time you're stuck in a DFW terminal waiting for your connection, just remember: you're in something bigger than Manhattan. Though you probably won't find a decent slice of pizza anywhere on those 27 square miles.

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