Budget-friendly abodes

5 Dallas-Fort Worth cities raise the roof as top places for affordable homes

This charming five-bedroom home in Arlington is listed for just $348,300.

Photo courtesy of Realtor.com

Good news for bargain-minded homebuyers: Five of the best 25 big cities in the United States to buy an affordable family home are right here in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Personal finance website SmartAsset analyzed data for 100 of the largest U.S. cities to come up with its list of the top 25 cities for purchasing an affordable family home. Arlington ranked sixth in the country, claiming the No. 1 spot in DFW. Plano came in at No. 7, Garland at No. 12, Fort Worth at No. 16, and Irving at No. 22.

Chesapeake, Virginia, ranked first overall.

Other Texas cities in the top 25 were El Paso (No. 14), Laredo (No. 15), Lubbock (No. 19), and Corpus Christi (No. 23).

SmartAsset published its study July 8.

Data that SmartAsset considered for the ranking included percentage of homes with at least two bedrooms, five-year change in homeownership rate, down-payment-to-income ratio, housing costs as a share of income, and high school graduation rate.

Arlington ranked 15th best overall for its down-payment-to-income ratio, at 0.60. In other words, a 20 percent down payment on the median-value home in the city makes up only 60 percent of the median household income. Arlington also ranked in the top 15 for housing costs as a percentage of income (21.93 percent) and high school graduation rate (90.5 percent).

Ranking and review website Niche.com puts Arlington at No. 45 on its list of the best places to buy a house in the U.S. and ranks it 11th among the most diverse U.S. cities. Realtor.com praises Arlington as a “thriving city” cozily situated between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Plano, the other Texas city in the top 10, scored especially well on a couple of fronts, according to SmartAsset’s analysis. Data shows 96.8 percent of students in Plano graduate from high school, the highest number for any city in the study. In addition, Plano ranked well for low rates of property crimes and violent crimes.

Niche.com ranks Plano as the fourth best city to buy a house in the country and the fifth best city to live in the U.S. Home improvement website BobVila.com lauds Plano as one of the 12 best cities for first-time homebuyers, describing the city as “a sprawling financial and commercial hub … with vast parkland and an eclectic food scene.”

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in demand

Dallas ranks among top 10 U.S. metros for surge in millionaire renters

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The number of millionaire renters and homeowners in the U.S. has surged over the last five years, and Dallas has cracked the top 10 metros with the largest growth rates among these affluent renter households.

Nationwide, the number of millionaire renter households grew 229 percent from 2020 to 2024, far outpacing the 193 percent growth rate among millionaire homeowners, a new RentCafe study found.

In Dallas, the number of millionaire renter households has more than quintupled, from just 30 in 2020 to 165 in 2024. That represents a renter growth rate of 450 percent, which - surprisingly - is only the 8th highest nationwide.

Houston leads the nation with the No. 1 increase in millionaire renters. The number of these wealthy households increased from 18 to 232 over the last five years, representing an impressive 1,189 percent growth rate.

The top 10 U.S. metros with the biggest surge in millionaire renters are:

No. 1 – Houston
No. 2 – Naples, Florida
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Seattle
No. 5 – Los Angeles
No. 6 – Denver
No. 7 – St. Louis, Missouri
No. 8 – Dallas
No. 9 – Boston
No. 10 – Phoenix

But when it comes to the largest populations of millionaire renters, New York City and San Francisco still lead the way. New York claimed the No. 1 spot with nearly 7,300 millionaire renters living in the city in 2024. Dallas ranked 17th on that list.

Elsewhere in Texas, Houston and Austin ranked as the 12th and 16th, respectively, for the largest population of millionaire renters. There were 232 millionaire renters living in Houston in 2024, and 206 in Austin.

This is who the typical millionaire renter is
The report also revealed a surprising statistic about the typical millionaire renter in the U.S. — a lot of them are millennials working in "white-collar, high-earning fields."

"Nearly half (49 percent) of millionaire renters are Millennials, and the number of affluent Millennial renter households surged 392 percent during the five-year period," the report said. "Gen X follows with 33 percent of millionaire Gen X households renting after increasing by 147 percent."

The report continued, "Although Gen Z still represents a small share of millionaire renters (just 2 percent of the total), no generation has expanded faster: Gen Z millionaire renter households leaped from fewer than a dozen to more than 400 — a tiny cohort today, but one that was virtually nonexistent five years ago."

The top three most common professions for millionaire renters are chief executives, software developers, and managers, the report additionally found.

"These roles tend to generate steady, substantial income without necessarily tying workers to one location, making renting a practical fit, rather than a financial necessity," the report said.

Hotspots for millionaire homeowners
In RentCafe's separate list comparing the top 10 most popular U.S. metros for millionaire homeowners, Dallas ranked 10th nationally with 4,731 millioniare homeowners living in the metro as of 2024. These wealthy Dallas residents are most likely working as chief executives, physicians, managers, and lawyers and judges.

Dallas has already proven to be a hotspot for millennial homebuyers, and the latest RentCafe data says millennials make up 19 percent of all millionaire homeowners in the U.S. Gen Xers and Baby Boomers still maintain the largest shares of millionaire homeowners nationwide, at 45 and 33 percent, respectively.

Houston (No. 12) and Austin (No. 20) appeared further down the list among the hottest metros for millionaire homeowners.

Only one Texas city appeared among RentCafe's list of the 20 fastest-growing metros for millionaire homeowners: College Station ranked 13th nationwide with a growth rate of 1,329 percent. From 2020-2024, the number of millionaire homeowners residing in College Station grew from 14 to 200.

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