Rent Report

Dallas rents are the highest in Texas — and that's saying something

If you're renting in Dallas, it'll cost you.

Photo courtesy of Amli Quadrangle

Rents in Dallas didn't increase during the month of April, but hold off on celebrating just yet. It still costs more to rent a one- or two-bedroom apartment in Dallas than any other city in Texas, and some of our suburbs are starting to climb as well.

In its May Rent Report, Apartment List finds that Dallas rents have grown 5.4 percent year-over-year, which is higher than both statewide and national averages. A two-bedroom in Big D typically costs $1,580, and a one-bedroom will set you back about $1,220 a month. The median price for all of Texas is $1,230 for a two-bedroom and $1,000 for a one-bedroom.

Growth is even higher up north, where popular suburb Plano is experiencing the state's highest year-over-year rent growth, with a 6.9 percent increase over April 2015. To rent a two-bedroom apartment here, expect to shell out around $1,480 a month.

Over in Fort Worth, the numbers are only slightly calmer. The median two-bedroom rent is $1,130, which is a 4.2 percent increase over this time last year and the fifth largest rent increase in the state. It joins Dallas as one of the seven Texas cities where rent growth exceeds statewide and national averages.

Elsewhere in the Lone Star State, Houston and Austin are neck and neck for second place, with two-bedrooms going for around $1,500 a month. San Antonio and Arlington, meanwhile, feel like bargains at only $1,000 and $940, respectively.

If you're looking for a real bargain, however, you might want to move to Canyon, near Amarillo, where a two-bedroom apartment only costs $540.

rent reports

No Cap

Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

trends