Rise of rentals

Dallas unlocks one of the highest rates of Airbnb growth in the U.S.

This urban warehouse loft in Deep Ellum is listed on Airbnb.

The number of Airbnb listings in Dallas is ballooning, a new study shows.

The study, released October 22 by real estate platform IPX1031, ranks Dallas fifth among major cities for growth in Airbnb listings since 2017 (95.2 percent ). One notch higher, at No. 4, is Fort Worth (101.5 percent). Eighth-place San Antonio (76.9 percent) joins Fort Worth and Dallas in the top 10 for Airbnb growth.

At 120.4 percent, Charlotte, North Carolina, tops the growth list.

An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 short-term rental properties operate in Dallas. Short-term rental properties in Dallas must pay hotel occupancy taxes but otherwise aren’t regulated.

An estimated 1,100 properties in nearby Fort Worth are marketed as short-term rentals. The City of Fort Worth allows short-term rentals everywhere but in residential areas. In September, the Fort Worth City Council directed city staff to study ways to regulate short-term rentals, including those posted on Airbnb.

Earlier this year, IPX1031 ranked Fort Worth as the 12th best place in the U.S. to invest in an Airbnb property.

At the other end of the spectrum in the new IPX1031 study, Austin ranks fifth among major cities for the least amount of growth in Airbnb listings since 2017 (7.19 percent). San Francisco leads this list, with a 16.6 percent decrease in Airbnb listings.

Restrictions on short-term rentals may be causing some cities to see limited or negative Airbnb growth, IPX1031 notes. Both Austin and San Antonio regulate short-term rental properties. Austin’s regulations regarding short-term rentals are considered among the strictest in Texas. San Antonio started regulating short-term rentals in November 2018.

“The rapid expansion of short-term rental platforms has spurred many cities to adopt new regulations to mitigate the loss of long-term rental units and to address more localized concerns such as the increase in transient residents and local spillover effects,” Ingrid Gould Ellen, faculty director of New York University’s Furman Center, told Urban Land magazine. “The responses run the gamut from outright bans, to caps on the number of units or nights, to an array of taxes and fees.”

For its study, IPX1031 analyzed Airbnb listing data from more than 350 U.S. cities. The data came from AirDNA, an analytics database for short-term rentals.

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Money Matters

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

Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash

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A new national report looking at the income it takes to live comfortably in each of the 50 states has revealed Texans need to earn slightly less now than a year ago.

SmartAsset analyzed what a single individual, as well as family of four, must earn to cover minimum basic needs adjusted using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. The resulting estimate represents the annual, pre-tax income needed to live comfortably in every U.S. state.

A single, full-time worker needs to make $90,563 to live comfortably in the Lone Star State, the report found, which is down a meager 0.2 percent from last year ($90,771).

Under the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, that means a single Texas earner would have $45,282 to spend on necessities like housing and utilities, $27,169 for discretionary spending, and $18,113 for emergencies or retirement savings.

Texas ranked 34th nationally in SmartAsset's list of states with the highest income needed for a single adult to live "in sustainable comfort" in 2026. Only five other states — Tennessee, Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi — saw a decline in the income needed to live comfortably this year.

For a family of four to live comfortably in Texas, income requirements change significantly, according to the findings. To support a two-child household, a family needs $203,424 in combined total household income to be considered financially stable. This is down slightly from 2025, when SmartAsset reported a family of four in needed $204,922 to live comfortably in Texas.

This is a comfortable lifestyle for a family of four in Texas, according to the report:

$101,712 dedicated to necessities and living expenses
$61,027 dedicated to discretionary spending
$40,685 dedicated to emergencies, savings, or debt repaymen

According to the report, a family of four now needs to make at least $200,000 to live comfortably in 40 U.S. states, a figure that is far out of reach for many American families.

"As housing, grocery, transportation and other essential costs pressure household budgets, earning a six-figure salary no longer guarantees financial comfort in much of the U.S.," the report said. "A single adult now needs at least $80,000 a year to live comfortably in every state, while the threshold exceeds $100,000 in nearly half of states. For a family of four, the income needed to live comfortably is as much as $329,000."

Still, earning the minimum income to live comfortably in Texas doesn't guarantee financial stability in the Lone Star State's major cities. Earlier this year, SmartAsset determined single residents in Dallas need to make nearly $97,000 to qualify as financially stable, while families of four need about $214,500.

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Money Matters

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