Doing Good

Generous Dallas-Fort Worth communities named among the most charitable places in Texas

Donations upon donations.

North Texas Food Bank/Facebook

One bright spot during this difficult time has been watching people up their charitable contributions, whether that means giving money to causes they support or donating goods that didn't make the cut during a quarantine deep clean.

But even before the pandemic, certain counties in Texas were making a noticeable impact with their generosity. SmartAsset recently released its 2019 ranking of the top 10 most charitable-minded Texas counties, and Dallas-Fort Worth is well represented. Collin, Tarrant, Denton, and Parker counties are all in the top 10.

The site used two equally weighted factors to index the findings. It looked at how much people donate as a percentage of their net income, and the proportion of people in a given county who made charitable donations.

To find the first number, they calculated the net income of all people in each county (by looking at tax return data and accounting for federal, state, and local taxes paid). They also accounted for deductible entries like mortgage interest, mortgage points, and mortgage insurance payments. Then, they divided each county's total charitable donations by its total net income to see how much county residents are donating relative to their income.

For the second factor, they took the total number of tax returns with charitable contributions and divided them by the number of total tax returns for each county. That produced the proportion of people in each county who make charitable donations.

Claiming the top spot is Kendall County, located just north of San Antonio and home to Boerne. Though technically fourth in the donation index, its residents made up for it with their contributor rate of 67.7, the highest on the list.

Fort Bend County, home to Houston neighbor Sugar Land, had similar results to grab its No. 2 finish, with middling donations being rescued by the second-highest rate of contributors, 66.4

Dallas-Fort Worth takes the next three spots, with Collin (home of Plano), Tarrant (Fort Worth and Arlington), and Denton (where University of North Texas' main campus is located) counties showing wildly varying results.

Tarrant County is pretty evenly split, with 40.6 for donations and 46.4 for contributors, but Collin and Denton deliver lower donation scores. At 25.1, Collin is the fourth-lowest, and Denton's 24.6 is next to last.

At No. 6 overall is Gillespie, where you'll find Fredericksburg, and No. 7 is Montgomery, home of Lake Conroe and The Woodlands. Brazoria County, on The Gulf, has the lowest donation index in the top 10, at 23.7, but its contributor score of 55.1 pulls it up to No. 8.

Coming in at No. 9 is Smith, found east of DFW and the county seat of Tyler. Its 38.6 contributor index is closely matched by 38.9 for donations. Wrapping up the list at No. 10 is Parker County, west of Fort Worth, where Weatherford is located. Its total score clocks in 15 points below the most charitable county on the list, with a donation index of 24.8 and contributor index of 52.7.

In the spotlight

Dallas stars as one of the 10 best cities for filmmakers in 2026

Filmmaking, best places to live and work as a moviemaker

Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

Dallas has made its debut in the top 10 best cities for filmmakers.

Dallas has just snapped up new recognition as the No. 7 best place to live and work as a filmmaker in North America.

Dallas made its top-10 debut on MovieMaker Magazine's annual report, "The Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2026."

The city was snubbed entirely in the magazine's 2025 list, but previously ranked as the 25th best place to live and work as a filmmaker in 2024 and 20th in 2023.

The annual list ranks the best cities in the U.S. and Canada for individuals to live while working in the film industry, based on production spending, tax incentives, cost of living, the prevalence of "local film scenes," and additional factors. The list is divided into two categories: 25 big cities and 10 smaller cities or towns.

The final list of highlighted cities are the places where the publication believes filmmakers "have the best chance of both succeeding in the famously difficult entertainment industry, and making [their] own art."

Dallas' eye-catching skyline, public art displays, and its "vast green spaces" are just a few of the attributes that make it an appealing place for filmmakers to thrive, but MovieMaker also noted that Dallas' film scene has "always been about commerce as much as art."

"In addition to hosting many of the same Taylor Sheridan productions as nearby Fort Worth, including Landman and The Madison, it also does brisk business with commercials for a bevy of major brands," the report said. "The state’s grant rebate of up to 31 percent is a major boon, as is Dallas’ deep crew base: Seasoned crew members go back to the days of Walker, Texas Ranger and the soapy classic Dallas."

The report gave a special shout-out to The Dallas Film Commission and its free production assistant bootcamp, which first launched in July 2025 in partnership with Pegasus Media Project. The commission also supports and collaborates with film schools, unions, local organizations, and festivals like the Dallas International Film Festival, Oak Cliff Film Festival, and more.

Dallas edged out neighboring Fort Worth, which ranked as the 12th best place to live and work as a moviemaker in 2026, up seven spots from its 2025 ranking. MovieMaker said Yellowstone director and honorary Fort Worth resident Taylor Sheridan is to thank for Cowtown's jump in the report. Sheridan has shot many of his TV shows in North Texas, such as Landman; Special Ops: Lioness; 1883; and a new anticipated Yellowstone spinoff called The Madison, which will premiere on March 14, 2026.

"SGS Studios, which Sheridan founded, recently partnered on a new 450,000-square foot production campus at Fort Worth’s 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development," the report said.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin was named the No. 5 best place to live and work as a filmmaker in North America, Houston ranked 10th, San Antonio appeared as No. 14, and El Paso landed at No. 25 on the list.

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