Pocketbook pain

This desirable Dallas suburb led the way for sky-high rent hikes in 2021, says report

The higher the rent, the further out of reach a down payment can be.

Photo by Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty

A recent New York Times article suddenly shot Euless to superstardom as the best place to live in the U.S. But now it has another, more dubious claim to fame: It's the Dallas-Fort Worth city with biggest sticker shock for renters last year.

An analysis by the Zumper website of rents in 14 DFW cities found the typical rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Euless jumped a whopping 25.3 percent from December 2020 to December 2021. That ranks as the steepest increase among the 14 cities. A one-bedroom apartment in Euless currently rents for $1,140 (which is low compared to some other local cities, like Frisco — keep reading).

Irving and Lewisville weren’t far behind Euless for the year-over-year rise in rent for a one-bedroom apartment. In Irving, the typical rent went up 24 percent to $1,290. Lewisville saw the typical rent for a one-bedroom apartment climb 23.8 percent to $1,300.

Only one of the 14 cities witnessed a single-digit rise in the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in December 2021 compared with December 2020. In Fort Worth, rent increased 6.7 percent to $1,120.

By comparison, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas climbed 14 percent from December 2020 to December 2021, landing at $1,380.

Meanwhile, the Zumper analysis shows the region’s highest December 2021 rent for a one-bedroom apartment was in Frisco ($1,530, up 21.4 percent from December 2020). Next in line were Richardson ($1,460, up 15 percent) and Plano ($1,430, up 19.2 percent).

At the other end of the scale, Arlington claims the cheapest rent for a one-bedroom apartment — $1,000, up 11.1 percent from a year earlier. Arlington is preceded by Denton ($1,050, up 10.5 percent) and Garland ($1,090, up 17.2 percent).

The rise in DFW apartment rents reflects more demand than supply. From 2010 through 2020, North Texas has ranked first for apartment demand among U.S. metro areas, according to RealPage, a supplier of apartment data and analytics.

A new report from ApartmentData.com shows the December apartment occupancy rate in DFW stood at 93.4 percent. That was the highest occupancy rate among the state’s four major metro areas.

“In what has been a remarkable bounce-back year for the multifamily industry nationally, the Dallas-Fort Worth market has been the leader in both new supply and apartment demand,” ALN Apartment Data reported in October.

rent reports

Bang for Buck

Surprising Dallas neighbor unlocks biggest apartments in DFW for $1,500

Photo courtesy of RentCafe

Mesquite has the biggest apartments on a budget in DFW.

Budget-conscious renters searching for the roomiest apartments in the region should look no further than Mesquite. According to a new study, the Dallas suburb boasts the most bang for your buck in terms of space in North Texas.

In 2026, Mesquite residents can rent just shy of 1,000 square feet (a 988-square-foot apartment) for $1,500 per month. That's eight square feet more than what they could get with the same budget last year.

RentCafe's annual report analyzes the places where renters can find the largest apartment sizes across 200 of the most populous U.S. cities for a monthly budget of $1,500. The price per square foot was calculated using the average apartment rent and size per city based on "multifamily properties" containing 50 or more units.

Mesquite offers the most spacious apartment size in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for $1,500, and the city boasts the 10th biggest apartments in Texas on that budget.

Elsewhere in the area, Denton saw the second biggest leap in apartment size nationwide since 2025, the report found. Renters there could lease an 835-square-foot apartment for $1,500 last year, and that has jumped to 862 square feet in 2026.

Dallas renters, on the other hand, will only net an 803-square-foot apartment for the same monthly cost, which is down 11 square feet from last year. Dallas ranks third from the bottom in the statewide list of cities that offer the largest apartments for the $1,500 price tag, with Frisco and Austin ranking even lower. Apartment hunters in Frisco will get only 798 square feet for $1,500.

Here's how much space you can get for $1,500 elsewhere in Dallas-Fort Worth this year, from largest to smallest:

Arlington – 927 square feet
Garland – 924 square feet
Fort Worth – 913 square feet
McKinney – 885 square feet
Grand Prairie – 873 square feet
Irving – 859 square feet
Plano – 820 square feet

Apartment sizes across Texas
For the second year in a row, South Texas is the region that has the most spacious apartments for a $1,500 monthly budget, RentCafe found.

McAllen leads the nation with the biggest apartment size – at 1,378 square feet – which is large enough for a three- or four-bedroom unit.

"With rents averaging just $993 and the typical apartment measuring 912 square feet, McAllen renters get a lot more space for their money than most Americans do within that monthly budget," the report said. "Still, that figure is down slightly from last year’s 1,393 square feet — a sign that even the most affordable markets are starting to tighten."

McAllen neighbor Brownsville ranks fourth statewide with apartments spanning 1,213 square feet for the same budget.

These are the top 10 Texas cities that offer the biggest apartments for $1,500 in 2026:

No. 1 – McAllen (1,378 square feet)
No. 2 – Amarillo (1,237 square feet)
No. 3 – Lubbock (1,217 square feet)
No. 4 – Brownsville (1,213 square feet)
No. 5 – El Paso (1,128 square feet)
No. 6 – Pasadena (1,125 square feet)
No. 7 – Corpus Christi (1,115 square feet)
No. 8 – Killeen (1,058 square feet)
No. 9 – San Antonio (1,023 square feet)
No. 10 – Mesquite (988 square feet)

real estate apartments housing rentcafe study dallas fort worth mesquite arlington frisco denton