Media News

Dallas Morning News finally posts help wanted ad for editor position

Hey look it's a young person reading a newspaper.

Zackary Drucker/The Gender Spectrum Collection

The Dallas Morning News is in hiring mode, finally posting a help-wanted ad for its top editorial position of Executive Editor.

The slot has been empty since the 2020 departure of previous editor Mike Wilson, who resigned after nearly six years — and two months after the newspaper staff formed a union, which was surely not connected in any way to his resignation.

Wilson said at the time he was recharging. He subsequently joined his daughter's employer, the New York Times, as a deputy editor in Sports.

The DMN has the position posted on Linked In, which seems very egalitarian, right next to back-waiter jobs at Eataly. No headhunter firms?

The job description says that "the ideal candidate will approach this unique era in journalism with a sense of optimism and a willingness to make bold decisions to help us reach our digital destination."

The paper currently has a total of 48,903 digital subscribers — almost as many as our CultureMap Digest daily email! Just kidding. But not nearly as many as the NYT, which has more than 6 million digital subscribers.

In three days, the job has only three applicants. The field is still wide open.

According to a post on the union's website, Dallas Morning News publisher Grant Moise emailed the newsroom in February and said he was gathering "internal and external feedback" to determine what the paper needed. (As the post notes, that feedback search did not include members of the Dallas News Guild, who go on to list their priorities such as accountability, diversity, and inclusion.)

Seems like bad timing, right on the heels of the company's reported loss of $6.9 million for the year, as well as its plan to initiate a reverse stock split, which companies do to try and boost their stock price.

The DMN is not the only Texas media entity posting an open position: NPR is hiring a statewide managing editor for what they say is an "innovative new system of regional news hubs designed to reshape the journalism landscape."

This would be a collaboration between KERA in Dallas, KUT in Austin, Houston Public Media, and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio.

They're forming an entity in which they connect those cities into one news organization, and they're calling it innovative.

There is a news organization that already connects Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio: CultureMap, which connects not only those four cities, but Fort Worth, too. C'mon, NPR don't leave out Fort Worth.

Anyway, that position has drawn two applicants in three days. It lists lots of requirements and says it's based at KERA in Dallas, without mentioning that half the people who work there are ex-Dallas Morning News Arts Department oldsters; the new hire will get to see what it was like working at the DMN in 2001.

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in this economy?

This is the salary you need to live comfortably in Dallas in 2026

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Single Dallasites need to make nearly $97,000 to live comfortably in the city, the report found.

A 2026 report analyzing how much it costs to live "in sustainable comfort" in the biggest U.S. cities has found Dallas residents need to make $1,040 more than they did last year to live comfortably in the city.

Dallas is tied with neighbors Garland and Irving at No. 72 in SmartAsset's national ranking of the cities with the highest salary needed to live comfortably in 2026, with single adult residents needing to make $96,970 a year to qualify as "financially stable." Last year, single Dallasites needed to make $95,930 to be considered financially stable.

Families with two working parents and two children need to make a household income of $214,490 to have a financially stable life in Dallas, the report found. That's only $749 higher than what families needed to make last year.

To determine the rankings, SmartAsset's analysts examined 100 of the largest U.S. cities and used the latest cost of living data – such as the costs for housing, food, transportation, and income taxes where applicable – from the MIT Living Wage Calculator for childless individuals and for two working adults with two children.

For the purpose of the study, the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy was used to determine "comfortable lifestyle" costs for both individuals and families: 50 percent of income to cover needs and living expenses, 30 percent for "wants," and 20 percent for savings or paying down debt.

Here's breakdown of a Dallas resident's comfortable lifestyle based on SmartAsset's findings:

$48,485 dedicated to needs and living expenses
$29,037 dedicated to wants
$19,358 dedicated to savings or debt repayment

This is SmartAsset's interpretation of a comfortable lifestyle for families of four:

$107,245 dedicated to needs and living expenses
$64,347 dedicated to wants
$42,898 dedicated to savings or debt repayment

SmartAsset said single individuals and families should compare the fluctuating local cost of living and their long-term goals to fully "understand the context" of their respective household incomes. But it's worth pointing out that a financially stable life in Dallas isn't quite attainable for many residents: The city had a median household income of $74,323 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Elsewhere in North Texas, the report found that families in Frisco and McKinney "are closest to a comfortable salary."

"In Frisco, [Texas], the median household earns $145,444 – substantially higher than the national median of $83,730," the report's author wrote. "This figure also accounts for 63.1 percent of the $230,464 income a family of four in Frisco needs to live comfortably. In McKinney, TX, the $124,177 median household income accounts for 53.9 percent of the $230,464 needed."

The two suburbs also tied with Plano for the 29th highest salary needed nationally to live comfortably in 2026. Single adults living in these cities need to make $109,242 a year to live a financially stable life this year.

Fort Worth and Arlington tied for No. 68 overall, with single adults needing a $97,552 salary to live comfortably, and $217,235 for working families of four.

cost of living reports salaries smartasset money