income woes

Here's what it takes to be a middle class earner in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2024

It's becoming increasingly difficult to be middle class earner in an area like Dallas-Fort Worth.

No one wants to hear that they aren't making enough money to be considered "middle class," and those income ceilings are getting more difficult to maintain year after year across all of Dallas-Fort Worth. And a new report has revealed Frisco has the No. 8 highest income ceiling for American middle class earners in 2024.

According to the 2024 edition of SmartAsset's annual "What It Takes to Be Middle Class in America" report, middle class households in Frisco would need to make between $97,266 and $291,828 a year to be labeled "middle class." Additionally, the city's median middle class household income comes out to $145,914 a year.

The report used a variation of Pew Research's definition of a middle class household, stating the salary range is "two-thirds to double the median U.S. salary." To determine income limits, the report analyzed data from the Census Bureau's 2022 one-year American Community Survey. New to the 2024 report, SmartAsset widened its analysis of income data from 100 to 345 of the largest American cities.

Frisco's middle class income thresholds are egregiously higher than the national average, the study found.

"In a large U.S. city, a middle-class income averages between $52,000 and $155,000," the report says. "The median household income across all 345 cities is $77,345, making middle-class income limits fall between $51,558 and $154,590."

In a shocking turn of events, Plano plummeted into No. 43 this year after ranking in the top 10 in SmartAsset's 2023 report. At the time, a Plano household needed to make between $63,651 and $190,004 a year to be considered middle class. But the latest findings from the 2024 report show the necessary salary range to maintain a middle class designation in Plano is now between $69,270 and $207,832 a year.

Irving, which ranked No. 38 last year with a middle class income range between $47,128 and $140,680 a year, also took a huge tumble in the 2024 report, falling out of the top 100 into No. 150. Households in Irving now need to make between $52,212 and $156,652 a year to be middle class.

In Dallas proper, the city fell from No. 72 to No. 213 in 2024, with households needing to make between $43,596 and $130,800 to maintain their "middle class" status. Last year, middle class earners would have needed to make between $38,857 and $115,990 annually.

The study's findings are shedding light on further growing financial stress and affordability struggles throughout the U.S., likely heightened by inflation and cost of living increases.

"As a middle-class American, there is some expectation for living a lifestyle of relative comfort," the report said. "But as costs have increased significantly over the last few years, the middle class is now feeling a squeeze in their finances."

Here’s what it takes to be middle class in other Dallas-Fort Worth cities:

No. 21 – Allen: between $80,743 and $242,254 a year
No. 40 – McKinney: between $69,739 and $209,238 a year
No. 78 – Carrollton: between $61,816 and $185,468 a year
No. 101 – Richardson: between $57,444 and $172,350 a year
No. 147 – Lewisville: between $52,631 and $157,910 a year
No. 178 – Grand Prairie: between $48,176 and $144,542 a year
No. 182 – Denton: between $47,803 and $143,422 a year
No. 184 – Fort Worth: between $47,680 and $143,054 a year (versus $45,717-$136,470 last year)
No. 185 – Garland: between $47,456 and $142,382 a year, (versus $41,277-$123,214 last year)
No. 192 – Arlington: between $46,951 and $140,866 a year (versus $40,126-$119,778 last year)
No. 203 – Mesquite: between $45,418 and $136,268 a year

Middle class income thresholds within the top 10 U.S. cities
Frisco wasn't the only Texas city to earn a spot in the top 10. The Woodlands, a suburb outside of Houston, ranked No. 10 in the national comparison of U.S. cities with the highest income thresholds to be labeled middle class.

Middle class households in The Woodlands make between $91,548 and $274,670 a year, with the median household income at $137,335, according to the report.

Unsurprisingly, half of the top 10 cities with the highest middle class income ceilings are in California. The report found households in four of the five cities could be bringing in over $300,000 a year in income and still be classified as middle class.

California’s overall high cost-of-living means residents in the No. 1 city of Sunnyvale would need to make between $113,176 and $339,562 a year to be labeled middle class. Sunnyvale overtook Fremont for the top spot in the report in 2024.

The top 10 cities with the highest middle class ceilings are:

No. 1 – Sunnyvale, California
No. 2 – Fremont, California
No. 3 – San Mateo, California
No. 4 – Santa Clara, California
No. 5 – Bellevue, Washington
No. 6 – Highlands Ranch, Colorado
No. 7 – Carlsbad, California
No. 8 – Frisco, Texas
No. 9 – Naperville, Illinois
No. 10 – The Woodlands, Texas

The full report and its methodology can be found on smartasset.com.

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Election results

Talarico, Hinojosa lead historic Democratic sweep in 2026 Texas election

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Gina Hinojosa has been elected Texas governor, and James Talarico has been elected U.S. Senator from Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrats finally got their wish in Texas.

Shut out of power for decades, Democrats on Tuesday, November 3 romped up and down the ballot in Republicans' most populous stronghold, flipping a U.S. Senate seat and retaking the governor's mansion in a history-making election that ushered in an overnight resurgence for a party that has spent much of the last 30 years fighting for scraps.

The stunning victories showed how voters, frustrated over high prices and concerned about government corruption, soundly rejected President Donald Trump's party and handed Democrats a decisive foothold in a fast-changing state of nearly 32 million residents that is one of the world's 10 largest economies. The dominant showing included winning back counties along the border with Mexico — where Republicans had been making inroads with Hispanic voters — and flipping congressional seats even though Republicans gerrymandered the map to give them an upper hand.

“This win is for every Texan who has ever wondered if anyone is ever listening,” Democrat James Talarico said after handily winning his Senate race over Republican Ken Paxton, the state's scandal-plagued attorney general.

“I heard you. We heard you. And tonight, the world hears you," Talarico said.

Texas Democrats hadn’t won a statewide campaign since 1994 and now have breakout stars in Talarico and Gina Hinojosa, who ousted Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in a victory that will make her Texas' first Latina governor. They also won the powerful offices of lieutenant governor (Vicki Goodwin unseated longtime Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick) and attorney general (Nathan Johnson defeated Mayes Middleton), widening the validation for Democrats’ long deferred dream that demographic changes in the state would be followed by a shift in political power.

Spotlight on Talarico
Talarico, the 37-year-old state legislator, former middle school teacher, and Presbyterian seminarian, will become Texas’ first Democratic senator since 1993.

A large crowd erupted in cheers at Talarico's watch party in downtown Austin after the race was called.

“We just took back Texas,” Talarico told supporters upon taking the stage.

Talarico will become the Senate’s youngest member and replace longtime Sen. John Cornyn, 74, who lost a bruising GOP primary to the scandal-plagued Paxton, whose nomination bolstered Talarico’s appeal to Republican and independent voters.

Speaking briefly to supporters in Dallas, Paxton acknowledged GOP losses across the map. “We’ve had a difficult night tonight across the country, but it’s not over,” he said.

The heated campaign in Texas, one of the most expensive of the midterms, became partly a referendum on Paxton’s legal, personal and ethical troubles that have shadowed much of his three terms as the state’s attorney general.

Talarico, the grandson of a Baptist preacher, ran a campaign that sidestepped culture-war battles and instead emphasized an economic populist message while skewering Paxton’s history of scandal.

He told crowds that the biggest divide in the U.S. “is not left versus right, it’s top versus bottom.” Rarely maligning the Republican Party as a whole, the Democrat, whose path to victory required converting GOP voters, focused on the top issue of a frustrated electorate: the rising cost of living.

Hinojosa makes history
Hinojosa will become Texas' first Latina governor — and the first Democrat to hold the office since Ann Richards in the 1990s — following a groundbreaking victory that topples one of the nation's most prominent Republican governors and steadfast supporters of President Donald Trump, possibly accelerating the state’s shift to an emerging battleground.

Hinojosa's win served as validation for Democrats' long deferred dream that demographic changes in the state would be followed by a shift in political power. It also elevates Hinojosa, a 52-year-old state legislator from a liberal Austin district since 2017, into a breakout Democratic star, even as she did not have significant support from the national party for her campaign.

“It never bothered me that they doubted me. It bothered me that they doubted us,” Hinojosa told supporters at her victory party in Austin. “Texas, my faith in you never wavered.”

Jumping in the race with little money or name recognition, Hinojosa engineered a plucky and populist challenge, railing against artificial intelligence data centers and corruption to down Abbott. She also proved that money in politics has clear limits. Billionaire Elon Musk had spent tens of millions of dollars to back Republicans, and Abbott's campaign had spent $180 million since last year in what was thought to be a safe path to a fourth term.

But Hinojosa proved durable while simultaneously riding the tailwinds of Talarico's hard-charging Senate campaign, one of the nation's marquee races.

Abbott, who had been seeking a record fourth term, said he called Hinojosa and pledged to help her transition into office.

“Leading this state has been the greatest honor I’ve ever had,” Abbott told supporters as he conceded the race.

Putting the victory into action
How Hinojosa governs is likely to open a dramatic political and cultural shift in the Texas Capitol, which over the last decade has passed one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws, increasingly aggressive immigration crackdowns, and relaxed gun laws even as Texas was the site of some of the nation's worst mass shootings over the past decade.

Democrats didn't win in Texas with promises to turn back the clock on issues like abortion, guns, transgender rights, and diverting public tax money to private education. Instead, they ran on more populist ideas of affordability and railing against artificial intelligence data centers and corruption.

Hinojosa, a state legislator who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley along the border with Mexico, distanced herself from the proud progressive brand she carried in the statehouse. She instead batted away culture war issues for populist stances on an economy battered by Trump's tariffs and an unpopular war with Iran.

“The voters have delivered a mandate for change, and it is change they will get,” Hinojosa said. “We will lead with politics of courage, not convenience. Progress will not be halted by partisanship and Texas will bow to no one.”

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