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This is how much more Dallas workers earn with a graduate degree, study finds

Graduate degrees aren't in the cards for everyone.

One of the biggest decisions new college graduates face after earning their bachelor's is whether to continue their education with a graduate degree, or enter the professional world without one. The Education Data Initiative reports graduate degrees can cost between $30,000 and $120,000 after a bachelor's, so it's important to consider the financial benefits depending on an individual's chosen field of study.

In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, graduate degree holders earn $16,859 more than they would with just a bachelor's degree, according to a new study by SmartAsset.

The average annual income of a Metroplex resident with a bachelor's degree is $65,694, the study says. Those with graduate degrees make $82,553 per year, SmartAsset says.

A graduate degree holder's salary in Dallas-Fort Worth is much higher than the national average of $72,000 per year. The study further determined that (nationally) a graduate degree nets workers $16,000 more per year than those with a bachelor's.

Those with advanced degrees from one Dallas graduate school do particularly well.

"Amid the high expenses of education and ever-changing job markets, it’s important to weigh the opportunity costs of a graduate degree with the additional earning potential," the study's author wrote. "A graduate or professional degree nets an extra $484,000 over a career, on average... This assumes a 30 year career in a medium or large metro area."

SmartAsset's study used 2021 U.S. Census Bureau 1-Year ACS S1501 data to determine the income for individuals aged 25 and older with varying professional degrees in 281 of the biggest metropolitan areas.

The Texas city where a graduate degree nets a resident the most amount of money is Midland, with a massive $24,394 difference between graduate degree and bachelor's holders. Average graduate degree pay in the West Texas city is $90,559 versus $66,165 for an individual with a bachelor's degree.

The metro that landed at the top of the national ranks is San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California. A bachelor's degree holder makes an average salary of $102,214 in the area, whereas a graduate degree holder earns more than $48,000 more, totaling $150,281.

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

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Dallas climbs back up in ranking of 'World's Best Cities' for 2025

Photo by Bryan Dickerson on Unsplash

Dallas had made a major leap back into the top 50.

Dallas has made a big rebound in its status among the top 100 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Dallas the 55th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

A ranking of 55 might not seem all that, but it represents a major rebound after Dallas plummeted to No. 73 in last year's report. (Let's ignore the fact that, in 2022, Dallas ranked No. 47.)

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Dallas in the top 20 – when explaining the city's successes. The report praised Dallas' booming population, a thriving corporate economy, and its diverse culture.

"From 2021 to 2022, Dallas experienced the largest population increase of any U.S. metro area, with a net increase of more than 170,000 people, according to the Census Bureau," the report's author wrote. "Home to more than 10,000 corporate headquarters — the largest concentration in the U.S. — the city ranks No. 33 globally for Fortune 500 companies."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Houston also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Houston moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 40. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

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