In the money

Affluent Dallas suburb makes bank as richest Texas county, report says

It was the only county in Texas to break the $100,000 mark.

Facebook/Rockwall Texas Homes

Based on its geographic size, Rockwall County is the smallest county in Texas, at just 149 square miles. But don’t let its size fool you when it comes to wealth. Rockwall County also is the richest county in the state.

Data analysis website Stacker compiled a list of the wealthiest counties in Texas based on median household income, and Rockwall County came out on top at $100,920. It was the only county in Texas to break the $100,000 mark.

Among all U.S. counties, Rockwall County ranked 32nd for the highest median household income, according to Stacker.

The continuing influx of people into Rockwall County is helping drive up the median household income.

Rockwall County was home to more than 116,000 residents in 2021. From 2020 to 2021 alone, the county’s population grew 7.94 percent, making it the state’s third-fastest-growing county during that period. Some of the population boom stems from East and West coast transplants fleeing higher-priced locales.

Additionally, residents of Rockwall County are highly educated, which contributes to their earning power. As of 2020, 93 percent of the county’s residents 16 and over had graduated from high school, and nearly 43 percent of residents 25 and over had earned at least a bachelor’s degree. Both of those figures are well above the statewide numbers.

There’s also the livability factor. Rockwall, the biggest city in Rockwall County, ranked fourth on Money magazine’s 2020 list of the best places to live in the U.S. — which almost certainly adds to the county’s allure for high-income households.

“Rockwall is only 25 miles outside [the] Dallas city limits. For us, it’s a good balance of small-town life, great schools, and reasonable access to a world-class city when we need a little more hustle and bustle,” Dallas Moms blogger Gabrielle Cullen wrote in 2017.

To come up with its list, Stacker used U.S. Census Bureau data from 2019 showing the five-year estimate for median household income in each of Texas’ 254 counties. Aside from Rockwall County, nine other counties in Dallas-Fort Worth made Stacker’s list of the 50 richest counties in Texas. The other counties, followed by their median household income, are:

No. 3 Collin County, $96,913
No. 6 Denton County, $86,913
No. 14 Parker County, $77,503
No. 15 Ellis County, $76,871
No. 26 Kaufman County, $70,107
No. 31 Tarrant County, $67,700
No. 38 Wise County, $64,536
No. 39 Johnson County, $64,359
No. 40 Hood County, $64,041

By comparison, the median household income for all of the U.S. was $68,703.

Among the state’s four major metro areas, DFW dominated in terms of the number of rich counties in Texas’ top 50. It’s worth noting, though, that DFW has more counties (11) than any other metro in Texas.

Here’s how the state’s three other major metros fared in the Stacker rankings for highest median household income by county.

Austin

No. 5 Williamson County, $87,337
No. 18 Travis County, $75,887
No. 29 Hays County, $68,717
No. 36 Bastrop County, $64,597

Houston

No. 2 Fort Bend County, $97,743
No. 4 Chambers County, $91,141
No. 9 Brazoria County, $81,447
No. 10 Montgomery County, $80,902
No. 22 Galveston County, $73,330
No. 34 Austin County, $66,206
No. 48 Harris County, $61,705

San Antonio

No. 7 Kendall County, $84,747
No. 11 Comal County, $79,936
No. 16 Wilson County, $76,692
No. 21 Guadalupe County, $74,496
No. 46 Medina County, $62,599

rankings

Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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