A study released in 2021 crowned Dallas the fourth most diverse city in the U.S. So it shouldn't really come as a surprise that Dallas ranks among the country’s best cities for Black professionals.

A new ranking compiled by Black employees at Apartment List puts Dallas at No. 5 among the best cities for Black professionals. The Apartment List employees judged 82 cities in four categories:

• Business environment for Black professionals. Dallas ranks xx
• Black community and representation. Dallas ranks xx
• Economic opportunities for Black professionals. Dallas ranks xx
• Housing opportunities for Black professionals. Dallas ranks xx

Apartment List combined the scores in each of those categories to come up with an overall score for each city. Dallas' final score was 60.6, with 100 being the highest possible score. The company released the ranking in conjunction with Black History Month.

Apartment List lauds Dallas' showing in three of the four categories, but dings the city for its relatively low score for housing opportunities. The website points out that 42 percent of black households in Houston spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

In praising Dallas' environment for Black professionals, Apartment List cites the city’s fast-growing Black population: In 2010, 14 percent of the population was Black, today that share has risen to over 17 percent, the report says.

Of all businesses in Dallas, 14.5 are Black-owned. "Start your day off at Brunchaholics, then get your hair done at Pressed Roots, and end the day with a workout at BURN, the authors suggest.

Three other Texas cities join Dallas in Apartment List’s top 10:

• San Antonio, No. 3, final score of 66.08.
• Houston, No. 5, final score of 63.8
• Austin, No. 9 (tie), final score of 57.1.

In a 2019 post on Medium, digital marketer and Los Angeles native Shameen Yakubu placed Houston at No. 2 on his list of the six cities he’d considered moving to as a Black professional. (San Antonio topped his list, and his LinkedIn profile indicates he now lives there.) Yakubu cited Houston’s large Black population, diversity, and affordability as some of the factors in the city’s favor.

“One of the things that [attracts] me to Houston is the number of [Black] professionals and entrepreneurs. Texas, in general, is a very pro-business state,” Yakubu wrote.

In descending order, here are the top 10 cities for Black professionals, according to Apartment List:

• Washington, D.C.
• Atlanta
• San Antonio
• Houston
• Dallas
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Lakeland, Florida
• Orlando, Florida
• Austin (tie)
• Baltimore (tie)

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This article originally ran on our sister site InnovationMap.