Living Outside Fort Worth City Limits Still Means City Rules May Apply

An ETJ — extraterritorial jurisdiction — is a zone around a city where it can control how land is divided and developed, even though the land is not inside city limits. Fort Worth has a large ETJ that covers much of the unincorporated land near the city. Inside that ETJ, you still must follow Fort Worth's subdivision and plat rules if you want to develop.

The Fort Worth city limits and ETJ boundary lines are on the city's open data portal at data.fortworthtexas.gov. Check where your property falls before you buy or plan to build. Being inside the ETJ can affect what you are allowed to do with the land.