 Portions of Denton County sit atop the Barnett shale, a geological formation believed to contain large quantities of natural shale gas.Between 1995 and 2007, the number of natural gas wells in the county increased from 156 to 1,820, which has led to some controversy over the pollution resulting from hydraulic fracturing.As of the 2015 Texas Population Estimate Program, the population of the county was 778,846, non-Hispanic whites 459,448 (59.0%).