Unincorporated Tarrant County Is Mostly Inside City ETJs

An ETJ (extraterritorial jurisdiction) is a band of land right outside a city's official limits. The city can set rules for how land is divided there. You are not inside the city, but the city's subdivision rules still apply. In Tarrant County, cities including Fort Worth, Azle, Crowley, Haslet, Kennedale, and Mansfield have ETJ areas. Together they cover nearly all unincorporated land in the county.

If you want to build or develop inside an ETJ, you must meet both city and county rules. You do not pay city taxes. But the city still controls how the land is divided and developed. Landowners can ask a city to release their land from its ETJ. Call Tarrant County Development at 817-212-7202 to find out which ETJ your land falls in.