Moving on Up
It's cheaper than you'd think to snag a bigger Dallas apartment
Feeling cramped in your tiny Dallas apartment? You're not alone — and it might be worth it to splurge on more space. According to a new report from RentCafé, it's surprisingly economical for residents to upgrade from a studio apartment to a one-bedroom unit.
The listing website looked at data from the 25 most populous cities in the U.S. to compare the average rent price and square footage of studios and one-bedroom apartments.
Dallas has the seventh cheapest rent increase from a studio to a one-bedroom unit. On average, local renters dish out an additional $125 per month to move on up, and, in return, they get an additional 184 square feet of space.
Austin offers the best bang for your buck among the Texas cities studied. There you only pay $118 to upgrade, and you get 234 square feet. At $123, Fort Worth is only a few bucks more than Austin, and San Antonio ($161), and Houston ($176) are the most expensive for upgrading. El Paso is also pricey, with the monthly rent going up by $166, but the apartment size increases by 252 square feet.
The jump in rent is a lot steeper when you move from one bedroom to two, locally and across the country. Dallas falls right in the middle, with renters coughing up an extra $258 per month to gain 331 square feet of space.