Apart from the rest

Boomers move up the ranks of apartment renters in Dallas-Fort Worth

Renting is not just a thing you do in your 20s.

Photo via duol.hu

Move aside, millennials. Boomers are leading an apartment-rental boom in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Among the country’s 30 largest cities, Fort Worth saw the third biggest spike in the share of renters age 60 and older, soaring 95 percent between 2007 and 2017. In Dallas, the share of 60-and-over renters grew 62 percent, putting it at No. 6 for growth among the largest cities. Those numbers come from a new report published by RentCafé.

Despite those enormous increases, seniors accounted for just 16 percent of renters in Fort Worth (almost 20,800 households) and 14 percent in Dallas (more than 43,500 households) in 2017, the report shows.

RentCafé says Austin witnessed the biggest gain in 60-and-over renters from 2007 to 2017, with the city’s share rising 113 percent. However, senior renters made up only 12 percent of all renters in Austin in 2017, or nearly 25,000 households.

In a separate report, rental platform SpareRoom says the number of people 50 and over living with roommates is growing at nearly twice the rate of any other age group. About 90 percent of renters 50 and over say they live with roommates to save money.

“People think of apartment sharing as a young person’s game, but that’s no longer the case,” Tom MacThomas, SpareRoom’s U.S. general manager, says in a release. "The over-50s might not be the biggest group of roommates, but they’re definitely the fastest-growing.”

“There are two main reasons for this, but both have their roots in affordability,” MacThomas adds. “Rents have risen far more over the past decade than salaries. That means some people are lifelong renters, while another group are coming back to sharing, or even sharing for the first time, in their 50s. It’s a trend we see continuing well into the next decade, if not further ahead.”

lists rankings

homebuying news

Texas ranks among the top 20 markets for homebuyers under 35

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

In 2025, Texas had more mortgage applicants under 35 years old than any other state in the country, the report found.

The Lone Star State is emerging as a top destination for young adult homebuyers, a new report has confirmed, with nearly 23 percent of all mortgage applications submitted by individuals under 35 years old.

Texas ranked No. 18 in SmartAsset's new study, "Where Young Adults are House Hunting," making it one of the most sought-after U.S. states "where the next generation of homeowners may be gaining the strongest foothold."

To determine where younger Americans are most actively pursuing homeownership, SmartAsset's analysts examined mortgage application data in all 50 states in 2025, and calculated the share of applications filed by buyers younger than 35 relative to all applicants.

A total 259,737 Texas homebuyers under 35 submitted mortgage applications in the last year alone — making Texas the state with the highest number of young adult applications in the country.

California and Florida, respectively, had the second- and third-highest numerical rate of young adult homebuyers with 170,434 and 159,429 applications in each state. But they still ranked at the bottom of the national list with the lowest percentage of young adult applications relative to all applicants in 2025 — at 14.7 and 14.8 percent.

North Dakota leads the nation as the top state for young homeowners with over 28 percent of all mortgage applications in 2025 submitted by homebuyers under 35, making up 6,551 applications.

SmartAsset also revealed something many homeowners might already know: younger Americans are more likely to pursue homeownership in states with lower housing costs.

"In each of the four states with the highest share of mortgage applications from adults younger than 35, the typical home value is less than $300,000: North Dakota (No. 1), West Virginia (No. 2), Nebraska (No. 3) and Iowa (No. 4)," the report's author wrote.

In Texas, the typical home is worth $302,187, which is the 18th highest in the U.S. Meanwhile, West Virginia and Mississippi are the only two states with home values under $200,000, the lowest nationwide.

Young potential homebuyers looking for a home in Dallas need to make about $83,000 to afford a starter home. Many surrounding suburbs also have high appeal for first-time homebuyers, such as McKinney and Plano, which offer a high quality of life for homeowners that want to start a family.

High home prices aren't the only challenges keeping young Americans from becoming homeowners, the report said. Other challenges like high interest rates and limited supply are also plaguing would-be homebuyers.

"According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, nearly 9 in 10 younger Americans say it is harder for them to buy a home than it was for their parents," the report said. "Nonetheless, younger buyers continue to aspire to homeownership, navigating an uneven landscape of affordability and opportunity."

real estate homebuying housing market smartasset reports