The website CardHub.com recently released its list of the year’s best and worst cities for “wallet wellness” to show how the 30 largest markets fare in financial and emotional prosperity. Two Texas cities landed in the top three.
Dallas grabbed the third slot, while Houston placed second behind Minneapolis, thanks to high rates of annual job growth and low average transportation costs.
The study found the average commute for Dallas workers was only 11.88 minutes. Maybe there are people taking jetpacks to work.
Dallas had the second highest job growth at 2.24 percent, just 0.04 percent behind Atlanta. Houston’s 2.11 percent growth rate was third best.
Houston and Dallas also have strong income-to-cost-of-living ratios that help a dollar go farther than places like New York City or Los Angeles. But you already knew that.
CardHub also looked at transportation costs and found that Houstonians spend a little less than 28 percent of their income on commuting, while Dallasites spend just more than 30 percent. That appears to be about the average. But the study also found that the average commute for Dallas workers was only 11.88 minutes.
Granted, this study only focused on those within Dallas proper, but that still seems incredibly short by any metric. The article doesn’t say, but maybe all those people working from home skewed the stat. Or maybe there are people taking jetpacks to work.
The third Texas market to make the list, San Antonio, didn’t fair nearly as well. It landed at No. 23, due to a job loss rate of 0.03 percent and less desirable income-to-cost-of-living ratio. In spite of that, the city has a bunch of romantics.
San Antonio did not fare as well as Houston and Dallas. It ranked No. 23.
