children don't come cheap

This is how much the cost to raise a child in Dallas climbed in a year

It costs more than $22,000 to raise a child in the Dallas area in 2025.

A new national study has revealed it now costs $411 more to raise a child in the Dallas area than it did last year.

SmartAsset's report "Cost of Raising a Child in Major U.S. Metros – 2025 Study" compared data from MIT's Living Wage Calculator to determine the annual costs for raising a child in 2024 and 2025 across the 48 biggest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Factors that contributed to each metro's total included the cost for childcare, additional housing costs, food, transportation, medical costs, and "other necessities."

In 2025, it will cost $22,337 annually to raise a child in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington region, the report found. That amount has risen 1.87 percent since 2024, when childrearing in the Dallas area cost $21,926 a year.

Dallas has the second-highest costs for raising a child out of the four biggest Texas metros, right behind Austin.

"The cost of raising a child can change quickly, making it important for budding families to keep an eye on trends in their locale," the report said. "Between 2024 and 2025 alone, the average projected annual cost of raising a small child changed by a range of -15 percent to +22 percent, depending on the metro area."

Even though the cost of raising a child in Dallas has increased slightly in the last year, it's still on the low end nationally. The Dallas metro only ranked 38th (out of 48) in SmartAsset's ranking of metros where the cost of raising a child is the highest.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts led the nation with the highest annual cost for raising a child, totaling more than $39,000, up from $37,758 in 2024.

Costs for raising a child in other Texas metros
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is – unsurprisingly – the most expensive Texas metro for raising a child, with costs surging nearly eight percent from 2024. It now costs $24,188 to raise a child in the Austin area, compared to $22,406 the year before.

There's better news for families in San Antonio. The San Antonio-New Braunfels area clocks in as the fifth most affordable U.S. metro in the study. In 2024, it cost $21,014 to raise a child in the Alamo City, but in 2025, it costs 0.33 percent less, at $20,945.

This is how much it costs to raise a child in San Antonio, according to SmartAsset:

Cost of childcare: $9,123
Housing costs: $3,232
Food costs: $1,644
Medical costs: $2,590
Transportation costs: $3,090
Civic costs: $474
Other costs: $791

Raising a child in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands now costs $21,868 per year, which is only $472 more than it did in 2024.

childcare costs reports smartasset families dallas fort worth arlington

equality news

Texas ranks as 3rd worst state for women's equality in 2026, per report

Photo by DEAD GOOD LEGACIES on Unsplash

We expect better of Texas.

Texans have many reasons to brag on their state, but one study that annually ranks Texas near the bottom of the pack could use some forward momentum: WalletHub's annual report, "Best & Worst States for Women’s Equality," ranks the state as the third worst for women's equality in 2026.

Texas ranks No. 48 for the second year in a row, which is only one place better than its No. 49 place in 2024. A decade before that, in both 2014 and 2015, Texas ranked No. 47.

WalletHub's 2026 report determined where women receive the most equal treatment in the U.S. by comparing all 50 states using 17 key indicators for women's workplace environment, education and health, and political empowerment. For all metrics, analysts compared the differences between women and men, and certain states were treated as having gender equality in the metrics where women showed an advantage over men.

Only Utah (No. 50) and Oklahoma (No. 49) rank lower than the Lone Star State in 2026.

Hawaii still leads as the No. 1 best state for women's rights nationwide, followed by Maryland (No. 2), Alaska (No. 3), Maine (No. 4), and Vermont (No. 5).

Texas ranked 37th in the report's "workplace environment" category, which compared gender disparities in income, unemployment rates, entrepreneurship rates, job security, economic security, and the share of men versus women in executive positions, among others.

In the "political empowerment" category — which compared the disparity in the share of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state legislature, and state-elected executives — Texas ranked 39th nationally.

House Republican Leadership Speaks To The Media After Conference Meeting Kay Granger, first Republican woman from Texas to serve in the House, died on August 2, 2026. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Overall, Texas' worst performance was in the national "education and health" ranking, which examined gender disparities in math test scores, doctor-visit affordability, and advanced educational attainment — meaning the share of the population aged 25 and older with an advanced degree higher than a bachelor's. In this category, Texas ranked 49th.

Here's how the Lone Star State fared in other rankings in the study:

No. 19 – Entrepreneurship rate gap
No. 31 – Work hours gap
No. 34 – Earnings gap
No. 36 – Executive positions gap
No. 39 – Political representation ga

Texas hasn't been ranking particularly well in other recent WalletHub studies that measure various aspects of livability. In 2026, Texas has ranked as the fourth-worst state for women, the ninth-worst state for working mothers, and the seventh-worst state to have a baby. It was also named one of the worst states to live in general.

"Ensuring women’s equality requires more than simply giving men and women the same fundamental rights," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo in a statement. "States also need to work to make sure that women receive equal treatment to men when it comes to financial opportunities, education, and politics. The best states for women’s equality have drastically reduced the disparities between men and women on multiple fronts."

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