NO SPACE TO WASTE

This is how big an apartment renters get for $1,500 across Dallas-Fort Worth

Dallas renters can find apartments that span 805 square feet for $1,500 a month.

Photo courtesy of Simpson Property Group

We all know what renters dream about when they’re not thinking about the logistics of owning a home: low rent prices with the perfect amount of space. In cities across Dallas-Fort Worth, that’s getting harder and harder to come by.

In fact, for renters who have a budget of $1,500 a month, the average apartment size they can get in Dallas spans about 805 square feet. That’s according to a new study by apartment rental marketplace RentCafe.

If you head to a suburb like Mesquite, Garland, or Arlington, residents can get the most bang for their buck with an average apartment size well into the 900-square-foot range.

Mesquite residents, by far, get the most space, at 999 square feet, whereas renters in the latter two cities get an average of 937 and 928 square feet for the same budget.

Renters might consider looking to Fort Worth as well, where they can get an apartment that’s an average of 909 square feet (almost 100 more than Dallas) with $1,500 a month.

The worst offenders that have the smallest space for the price are Plano and Frisco. Plano renters have to make do with an average apartment size of 766 square feet, while Frisco renters get even less space, at 740 square feet. That’s more than 200 square feet less than an apartment in Mesquite.

RentCafe’s study looked at data from their sister site, Yardi Matrix, to determine the average size and price per square foot for a $1,500 monthly budget in 200 of the largest American cities.

Here’s how much space you can rent for $1,500 in other Dallas-Fort Worth-area cities:

Grand Prairie – 873 square feet
Denton – 868 square feet
Irving – 848 square feet
McKinney – 809 square feet

Elsewhere in Texas, apartments in the Rio Grande Valley have the best price per square foot in the state. McAllen residents get the most space out of any other Texas city with an average apartment size of 1,471 square feet. Renters in Brownsville, which is 60 miles east on the border, can get a similarly sized apartment that’s 1,307 square feet for the same $1,500 a month budget.

Much like Mesquite, Houston residents can find apartments that are just under 1,000 square feet for the same budget. But that doesn’t go nearly as far in Austin, where renters can find apartments that are an average of 714 square feet.

The full report can be found on rentcafe.com.

rent rent prices reports dallas mesquite garland arlington fort worth frisco plano apartments

Dallas Got Robbed

The richest small town in Texas is surprisingly not in Dallas

Facebook / City of Bellaire, Texas

Houston neighbor Bellaire is the richest town in Texas.

A survey of affluent small towns has found one town in Texas to be at the top of the list, but shockingly, it is not in Dallas. The town of Bellaire, a small enclave within the Houston metro area, has earned the top spot as the richest small town in Texas for 2025. Boo.

The report, "The Richest Small Town in Every State," from GoBankingRates, selected one city from each state, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey to determine the 50 richest small towns based on their median household income.

Describing Bellaire as a "small town" might be a misnomer. It's located less than 10 miles from downtown Houston and is fully surrounded by the City of Houston. It's really more of a wealthy enclave within Houston, with a population of just over 17,000 residents.

Those affluent citizens earn a median $236,311 in income every year, which GoBankingRates says is the 11th highest household median income out of all 50 cities included in the report.

The average home in this city is worth over $1.12 million, but Bellaire's lavish residential reputation often attracts properties with multi-million-dollar price tags.

Bellaire also earned a shining 81 livability score for its top quality schools, health and safety, commute times, with an abundance of exceptional local amenities.

Those include conveniently located grocery stores, coffee shops, diverse dining options, and spacious parks.

It's not the first time that Bellaire has caught the eye of GoBankingRates, which previously ranked it as the No. 23 wealthiest suburb in America, and it's been named on similar lists comparing the richest American cities.

Dallas can take comfort in the fact that a different survey found Lewisville to be of the cities attracting the most high-income households, meaning those that make more than $200,000. However, census data places the most recent median income in Lewisville at $85,002 — so it's nowhere close to catching up to Bellaire.

suburbs houston bellaire affluent households