By 1885, DeSoto was home to approximately 120 people, a cotton gin, and a general store. Soon after, the population declined to below 50. In 1930, there were 97 people living in the community and several businesses.

After World War II, DeSoto and surrounding areas began to grow. In order to improve the inadequate water distribution system, residents felt the need to incorporate the town. On February 17, 1949, a petition signed by 42 eligible voters was presented to the Dallas County judge requesting an election for incorporation. The vote took place on March 2. Of the 52 people who cast ballots, 50 voted in favor of incorporation and 2 were opposed. On March 3, 1949, the results were entered into the records of the Dallas County Commissioners Court, thereby creating the City of DeSoto. The new city was less than one square mile in size. On March 15, Wayne A. Chowning was elected mayor along with five aldermen. The first city council meeting was held two days later.

The first census conducted after DeSoto's incorporation occurred in 1950. There were 298 people and eight businesses in the city. Following a series of annexations in 1953, the city covered approximately 15 square miles. By 1960, the population had grown to 1,969. In 1970, DeSoto was home to 6,617 people and seventy-one businesses.

During the 1970s, continued growth brought about improvements to the municipal infrastructure, including road construction, and a new water/sewage system. Industrial, commercial, and residential construction also increased.

On October 26, 1974, an election was held to determine the status of Woodland Hills, a small incorporated community located northwest of DeSoto. The result was 221 votes in favor of a merger with DeSoto and 219 opposed. Woodland Hills had a population of 366 at the time of annexation.

The rapid growth that began in the early 1970s was sustained throughout the 1980s. 1980 census figures put the city's population at slightly over 15,000. By 1984, DeSoto had a total of 360 businesses - up from 168 in 1980.

The population surpassed 30,000 in 1990. City development progressed in the following years. A primary example of this was the creation of DeSoto's Town Center. Officials converted an abandoned strip center located at one of the city's main intersections into a unique central business district. Since its opening, the Town Center has become an anchor of the community, housing city hall, the public library and chamber of commerce, along with civic and recreation centers. There is also a 180-seat auditorium and outdoor amphitheater.

Throughout the 1990s, DeSoto experienced a significant change in the demographic composition of the city. In the 1990 census, Whites constituted 75.97% of the city's population, but that figure had declined to 48.83% in the 2000 census. By contrast, the African American population grew rapidly. In 2000, African Americans were 45.53% of the population, up from 20.83% in 1990. Hispanics accounted for 4.98% of the population in 1990 and 7.30% in 2000.

With approximately 45,500 residents as of 2005, DeSoto is the largest and most diverse city in southwest Dallas County.

On June 11, 2006, the National Civic League named DeSoto an "All-America City". The All-America City Award is the nation's oldest community recognition program and recognizes communities whose citizens work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 37,646 people, 13,709 households, and 10,459 families residing in the city. The population density was 673.5/km² (1,744.5/mi²). There were 14,069 housing units at an average density of 251.7/km² (652.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.83% White, 45.53% African American, 0.31% Native American, 1.29% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.56% from other races, and 1.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.30% of the population.

There were 13,709 households out of which 39.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.8% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $57,699, and the median income for a family was $66,986. Males had a median income of $41,847 versus $33,179 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,650. About 4.1% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.8% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's cattle market, and its prime location on trade routes with Indians to sustain itself. Dallas's real key to growth came in 1873 though with the building of multiple rail lines through the city. As Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon—by 1900 Dallas was the largest inland cotton market on Earth and led the world in cotton gin machinery manufacturing. By the early 1900s, Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southwestern United States and was selected in 1914 as the seat of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District; by 1925, Texas churned out more than ⅓ of the nation's cotton crop, and 31% of Texas cotton was produced within a 100 mile (161 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s, oil was discovered east of Dallas near Kilgore, Texas, and Dallas's proximity to the discovery put it at the center of the nation's oil market. Oil discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas's position as the hub of the market as it was roughly the geographic center of all 5 regions.

After World War II, Dallas was seeded with a nexus of communications engineering and production talent by companies such as Collins Radio Corp. The telecommunication and information revolutions that ensued still drive a great deal of the local economy. The city is sometimes referred to as Texas's Silicon Valley or the Silicon Prairie because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies—the epicenter of which lies along the “Telecom Corridor”, home to more than 5,700 companies. The corridor is also home to Texas Instruments and regional offices for Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, MCI, Nokia, Rockwell, Sprint, and Verizon, as well as the national offices of CompUSA and Canadian Nortel.

In the 1980s, Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with populations skyrocketing and the demand for housing and jobs soaring along with it. Downtown Dallas's largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation and the Savings and Loan crisis knocked the area to its knees. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, Dallas suffered a lengthy recession and has only recently bounced back—like much of the country, the real estate market has improved significantly in recent years.

Dallas is no longer a hotbed for manufacturing like it was in the early 20th century—partially due to constraints placed by the DFW Ozone Nonattainment Area—but plenty of goods are still manufactured in the city. Texas Instruments employs 10,400 people at its corporate headquarters and chip plants in Dallas and neighboring Richardson. Oak Farms Dairy also headquarters and has a plant in the city.

Companies headquartered in Dallas, Irving or Mesquite include ExxonMobil, the largest company in the world (by revenue), 7-Eleven, Brinker International, id Software, Blockbuster, ENSCO Offshore Drilling, Kimberly-Clark, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Southwest Airlines, CompUSA, Texas Instruments, Fluor, Zales and Comerica Bank. Corporate headquarters in the northern suburb of Plano include EDS, Frito Lay, Dr Pepper, and JCPenney.

The Dallas metroplex has more shopping centers per capita than any other United States city or metro, and is also home to the second shopping center in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931. The city itself is also home to 12 billionaires—concentrated in the Preston Hollow area of north Dallas—placing it 9th worldwide among cities with the most billionaires. When combined with the 8 billionaires who live in Dallas's neighboring city of Fort Worth, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is one of the greatest concentrations of billionaires in the world.

Attractions
Cuisine
Dallas is renowned for barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the frozen margarita and the restaurants La Calle Doce, Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, Enchilada's, Mi Cocina, Bone Daddy's Barbecue, and The Mansion on Turtle Creek. The French Room at the Hotel Adolphus in downtown Dallas was named the best hotel restaurant in the US by Zagat. Several nationally ranked steak and chop houses can be found in the Dallas area including Bob's Steak & Chop House which is currently ranked #3 according to the USDA Prime Steakhouses chart. On average, Dallasites eat out about four times every week, which is the third highest rate in the country, behind Houston and Austin, and Dallas has more restaurants per capita than New York City.

Arts
The Arts District in downtown is home to several arts venues, both existing and proposed. Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center,The Dallas Contemporary, The Dallas Children's Theatre. Venues under construction or planned include the Winspear Opera House and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. The district is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which is currently being expanded.

Deep Ellum originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hotspot in the south. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs such as The Harlem and The Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts and operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues. One major art infusion in the area is the city's lax stance on graffiti; consequently, several public ways including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets are covered in murals. One major example, the Good-Latimer tunnel, was torn down in late 2006 to accommodate the construction of a light rail line through the site.

The Cedars has a growing population of studio artists and an expanding roster of entertainment venues. The area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, a Sears warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail. Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Avenue near Cedars Station in September 2005 and locals speculate that he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.

The Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is home to a number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals and the surrounding streets contain many eclectic restaurants and shops.

Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is responsible for six cultural centers located throughout the city, funding for local artists and theatres, public art projects and running the city owned radio station WRR.

Parks and Recreation
The City of Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km²) of parkland. Its flagship park is the 260 acre (1.05 km²) Fair Park which was originally developed to host the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936. The city is also home to Texas's first and largest zoo at 95 acres (0.38 km²) — the Dallas Zoo, which opened in 1888.

The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km²). The city is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of bike & jogging trails, including the Katy Trail, and is home to 47 community and neighborhood recreation centers, 276 sports fields, 60 swimming pools, 232 playgrounds, 173 basketball courts, 112 volleyball courts, 126 play slabs, 258 neighborhood tennis courts, 258 picnic areas, six 18-hole golf courses, two driving ranges, and 477 athletic fields.

To the west of Dallas in Arlington is Six Flags Over Texas. Hurricane Harbor, a large water park, is also in Arlington.

Events
The most notable event held in Dallas is the State Fair of Texas which has been held annually at Fair Park since 1886. The fair is a massive event for the state of Texas and brings an estimated US$350 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout (UT-OU) game at the Cotton Bowl and other Cotton Bowl games also bring significant crowds to the city.

Other festivals in the area include Cinco de Mayo festivities hosted by the city's large Mexican population, Saint Patrick's Day parades in Irish communities especially along east Dallas's Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, and an annual Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road.

Education
Most of DeSoto lies within the DeSoto Independent School District. The district has 12 schools (7 Elementary, 3 Middle, a High School and Freshman Campus) that serve approximately 8,000 students. The district's mascot is the eagle.

A small portion of the city is located in the Duncanville Independent School District. Another small portion is in the Dallas Independent School District.

There are several private and parochial schools in or near the city.

Transportation
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas area public transportation authority, providing buses, rail, and HOV lanes. DART began operating the first light rail system in the Southwest United States in 1996 and continues to expand its coverage. Currently, two light rail lines are in service. The Red Line travels through Oak Cliff, South Dallas, downtown, Uptown, north Dallas, Richardson and Plano. The Blue Line goes through south Dallas, downtown, Uptown, east Dallas, Lake Highlands, and Garland. The Red and Blue lines are conjoined in between 8th & Corinth Station in Oak Cliff and Mockingbird Station in north Dallas. The two lines service Cityplace Station, the only subway station in the Southwest. DART has also begun construction on its Green and Orange lines, which will serve DFW Airport, Irving and Las Colinas, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, the Stemmons Corridor, Victory Park, downtown, Deep Ellum, Fair Park, south Dallas and Pleasant Grove.

Dallas is served by two commercial airports: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (known as DFW International) and Dallas Love Field. In addition, Dallas Executive Airport (formerly Redbird Airport), is a general aviation airport located within the city limits, and Addison Airport is another general aviation airport located just outside the city limits in the suburb of Addison. Two more general aviation airports are located in the outer suburb of McKinney, and two more general aviation airports are in Fort Worth, on the west side of the Metroplex.

DFW International Airport is located in the suburbs north of and equidistant to downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW is the largest airport in the state, the second largest in the United States, and third largest in the world. In terms of traffic, DFW is the busiest in the state, third busiest in the United States, and sixth busiest in the world. The headquarters of American Airlines, the largest air carrier in the world, is located less than a mile from DFW, in Fort Worth. Love Field is located within the city limits of Dallas, 6 miles (10 km) northwest of downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines.