Exclusive enclaves
3 affluent Dallas-Fort Worth neighbors cash in among country’s wealthiest suburbs
The quiet, mansion-dotted enclave of Westover Hills is even more well-to-do than the Park Cities, a new study confirms. The affluent Fort Worth neighbor ranks as the fifth wealthiest suburb in the United States, edging out Dallas' University Park and Highland Park.
RenoFi, a marketplace for home renovation loans, studied data for more than 600 suburbs of 50 major U.S. cities to come up with its list.
The data shows Westover Hills has a median household income of $228,750. The four suburbs that rank above it boast a median household income of at least $250,000, with the Kansas City suburb of Mission Hills, Kansas, claiming the top spot.
But UP and HP aren't far behind:
- No. 8 University Park has a median household income of $214,477.
- No. 10 Highland Park has a median household income of $207,019.
They are the only three Texas communities to make the list.
RenoFi’s study shows the median household income in Westover Hills rose 26.1 percent from 2017 to 2018, putting it at No. 5 for growth among the more than 600 suburbs examined.
The town also saw its median home price climb 21.1 percent during that period, earning it 10th place in that category.
Westover Hills is an exclusive 455-acre enclave with a population of less than 600. On his website, Fort Worth real estate broker Tim Young describes Westover Hills as “ground zero” for Fort Worth oil and cattle families in the 1930s and ’40s.
“More like the Hollywood Hills than a typical Fort Worth neighborhood,” Young says, “the place has a very definite feel of old money that was once very brash and young.”
It’s among the country’s “Million Dollar Cities,” as described in January by real estate platform Zillow. The town achieved this distinction thanks to a typical home value of $1,677,514 in November. Not surprisingly, University Park ($1,468,731) and Highland Park ($1,695,262) join Westover Hills in that club, along with the DFW suburb or Westlake ($1,752,752).
RenoFi collected data about Westover Hills, University Park, and Highland Park as part of a study of the most livable suburbs in the U.S. While those three communities rank highly for wealth, they failed to break into RenoFi’s list of the top U.S. suburbs. The ranking also took into account factors such as property tax rate, unemployment rate, and crime rate.
“One of the most important parts of finding the perfect home is the neighborhood,” Justin Goldman, co-founder and CEO of RenoFi, says in a release. “In this report, we’ve looked at some of the major contributing factors to what makes a good neighborhood.”
Taking RenoFi’s crown for the most livable suburb is the Atlanta suburb of Druid Hills. It’s followed by the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Falls Church and Pimmit Hills, both in Virginia; Melrose, Massachusetts, near Boston; and Pleasant Ridge, Michigan, near Detroit.