By Fort Worth Senior Advisor Care Team · July 18, 2026
Most of North Texas is covered by one large regional agency on aging. Tarrant County isn't -- and calling the wrong one first can cost a family real time during a hard week.
A quirk of the map that trips up a lot of families
If you've spent any time searching for senior care help online, you've probably run into the term 'Area Agency on Aging' without anyone explaining what it actually is or why the phone number seems to change depending on which website you land on. That confusion is worse than usual in the Fort Worth metro, and there's a specific reason for it.
Most of North Texas -- Collin, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell and Wise counties -- falls under one large regional agency, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Area Agency on Aging. Tarrant County does not. Tarrant County runs its own, separate Area Agency on Aging, administered by United Way of Tarrant County rather than through the council-of-governments structure that covers everywhere else in this part of the state.
That single fact explains a lot of the confusion families run into when they start searching. If you live in Fort Worth, Arlington, Keller, Southlake, Grapevine, Bedford, Hurst, Euless, Colleyville, Watauga, Haltom City or Mansfield, you are inside Tarrant County and the Tarrant-specific agency is the one to call. If you live in Burleson -- which straddles the Tarrant-Johnson county line -- or anywhere in Parker, Johnson, Denton or Wise County, you're actually covered by NCTCOG's much larger regional agency instead, even though it might feel like the same metro area.
What an Area Agency on Aging actually does
The name undersells what these agencies handle. An Area Agency on Aging is the local front door to a wide range of free services for people 60 and older: information and referral, benefits counseling, caregiver support programs, care coordination, and -- critically for anyone dealing with a licensed facility -- the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.
None of this costs a family anything. These agencies are funded through a combination of federal Older Americans Act dollars and state funding, and their entire purpose is to help people navigate exactly the kind of decisions this website covers: is it time for assisted living, how do I check a facility's record, what does Texas Medicaid actually pay for, who do I call if something feels wrong at a community my parent is already living in.
The Tarrant County agency, specifically
The Area Agency on Aging of Tarrant County operates out of two locations: a main Fort Worth office at 201 N. Rupert St., Suite 107, and a second office in Arlington at 401 W. Sanford St., Suite 2600. Both are reachable at the same number, 817-258-8000.
Because it's run through United Way of Tarrant County rather than a multi-county council of governments, the Tarrant agency tends to have a tighter, more locally-specific focus than a large regional agency covering sixteen counties would. Its Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program in particular recruits and trains volunteers who live in Tarrant County to visit residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the county, advocate for their rights, and help resolve concerns -- all free, all independent of any facility.
The NCTCOG agency, for everyone else in this metro
If you're in Parker, Johnson, Denton or Wise County, the agency to know is the North Central Texas Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging, headquartered at 616 Six Flags Drive in Arlington -- yes, physically located inside Tarrant County while serving a completely different set of counties, which is exactly the kind of detail that trips people up. Reach them at 800-272-3921.
NCTCOG's territory is large: sixteen counties across North Central Texas, of which Parker, Johnson, Denton and Wise are the ones that fall inside this site's coverage area. Families in Burleson, in particular, should know that even though Burleson borders south Fort Worth directly and functionally feels like part of the same city, Johnson County's line puts Burleson under NCTCOG rather than the Tarrant County agency.
Why this matters more than it sounds like it should
In an ordinary week, calling the wrong agency first isn't a disaster -- staff at either agency can point you toward the right one. But senior care decisions rarely happen in an ordinary week. They happen after a fall, during a 72-hour hospital discharge window, in the middle of a dementia diagnosis, or when a caregiver has hit a genuine breaking point. In those moments, every misdirected phone call is time you don't have.
Knowing in advance which agency actually covers your specific address means you can skip a step entirely. It also matters for anything involving the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program specifically: if you have a concern about how a Tarrant County facility handled a situation, you want the Tarrant County ombudsman program, not the statewide fallback line -- though that statewide line, 800-252-2412, will always get you routed to the right regional program if you're not sure.
What this means for STAR+PLUS and other Medicaid help
Both agencies can help a family navigate applying for Texas's STAR+PLUS HCBS Medicaid waiver, which pays for care services -- not room and board -- inside a qualifying assisted living facility or at home. The application itself goes through Your Texas Benefits or Texas 2-1-1 regardless of which county you're in, but the hands-on local help walking you through documentation and what to expect comes from whichever Area Agency on Aging actually covers your address.
This is also where the county-line quirk becomes more than academic. A Fort Worth family and a Burleson family filing the exact same STAR+PLUS application will get local support from two different agencies, even though both cities sit within a few miles of each other and most people would assume they're covered by the same regional office.
What this looks like when a family actually calls
Picture a fairly typical call: an adult daughter in Keller notices her father has missed several days of medication and can't quite explain why. She searches online, finds a mix of results mentioning both NCTCOG and a Tarrant-specific office, and isn't sure which to call. Because Keller is in Tarrant County, the right first call is the Area Agency on Aging of Tarrant County at 817-258-8000 -- not the larger regional NCTCOG line, even though NCTCOG's own office happens to be physically located just across town in Arlington.
A staff member there can talk through what she's observed, help her think through whether this looks like a medical issue worth ruling out first, and -- if it turns out her father needs an in-home assessment or a referral toward STAR+PLUS HCBS -- connect her with the right next step, all without the family paying anything for that initial guidance. Compare that to a Burleson family in a similar situation: because much of Burleson sits in Johnson County, that family's first call likely goes to NCTCOG's Area Agency on Aging instead, at 800-272-3921, for the same category of help.
A simple way to keep this straight
If you remember one thing from this article, make it this: Tarrant County is the exception, not the rule, in North Texas. Nearly every other county in this part of the state falls under one large NCTCOG umbrella. Tarrant County stands alone with its own dedicated agency. When in doubt, the county your address sits in -- not the metro area you think of yourself as living in -- is what determines which office to call.
And if you're ever unsure, either agency's staff can redirect you at no cost and with no judgment. The goal of both organizations is the same: to make sure families in this metro get free, local help navigating exactly the kind of decisions this site exists to walk you through.
