The seat of Dallam County in the Texas Panhandle, Dalhart is located northwest of Amarillo where US 87, US 385, and US 54 meet, near Rita Blanca Lake, and the Oklahoma/New Mexico/Texas state lines.
In 1990 Dalhart remained an agribusiness center for a wide area of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. In addition to cattle feedlots, a bottling plant, and feed and meat processing plants, Dalhart is noted for its schools, hospital, and nursing home. The Rock Island Railroad shops continue to help furnish the city's payrolls.
The city's population increased from 5,899 in the 1950s to 6,854 in the 1980s. In 1990 it was 6,246.