renter friendly

One Dallas suburb edges out another as a top city for renters in 2024

Only three other U.S. cities are better for renters than McKinney, a new report says.

Getty Images

North Texans looking for their next apartment or house to rent should consider living in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, which was just ranked the No. 4 best city in the nation for renters.

This is the first time the north Dallas suburb has appeared at the top in RentCafe's "Best Cities for Renters to Live in 2024" report. The apartment rental marketplace annually compares 150 U.S. cities based on their quality of life, local economy, and cost of living and housing opportunities.

Charleston, South Carolina maintained its position as the No. 1 best city for renters for the second consecutive year. Rounding out the top five top rental markets are Atlanta, Georgia (No. 2), Sarasota, Florida (No. 3), and Scottsdale Arizona (No. 5).

What made McKinney stand out above all other Texas markets is the suburb's "small town feel" and its community-focused residents, according to RentCafe. (No coincidence that it also took the top spot in WalletHub's 2023 report on the best real estate markets in the U.S.)

"...McKinney is an ideal choice for renters who want to escape the bustle of the city without compromising on urban comfort," the report said. "Boasting a variety of parks, farmers markets and local businesses — all centered around its historic downtown — McKinney is a big draw for both young professionals and students."

Out of the three main metrics in the study, McKinney performed the best in the "housing and cost of living" category, ranking No. 2 out of all 150 cities, and earned No. 9 in the "quality of life" category.

RentCafe ranked McKinney No. 3 nationwide for its high quality apartments, with the average apartment size coming out to a spacious 948 square feet. Approximately 35 percent of all apartments in the city have been built within the last five years, and the city's cost of living is nearly 3 percent lower than the national average, the report said.

Unfortunately, the city fell behind for its "local economy" ranking, only ranking No. 47 nationally.

"Despite ranking slightly lower in this category, McKinney has one of the highest shares of business applications, and 33.4 percent of its residents have at least one college degree," the report said. "However, the city ranks lower in the Local Economy category due to slower renter income growth at 24.1 percent."

Plano tumbles out of the top 10 rental markets
After ranking No. 2 in RentCafe's 2023 report (and No. 13 in 2022), Plano slipped out of the top five and landed as the No. 17 best city for renters in 2024.

Here's how Plano performed in the study's three main categories out of all 150 cities:

No. 7 – Quality of life rank
No. 32 – Local economy rank
No. 45 – Housing and cost of living rank

According to RentCafe's data, a significant hike in Plano's cost of living is primarily to blame for the tumble. The cost of living in the city is 16.6 percent higher than the national average, and only 12.6 percent of all Plano apartments have been built within the last five years. The average size of an apartment in the suburb is 938 square feet.

Other top cities for renters in Texas
Overall, it appears all cities in the Metroplex suffered in this year's rankings. Denton fell into No. 38 in 2024, slipping from its former No. 19 rank last year. Both Fort Worth and Dallas dropped out of the top 50 this year, ranking No. 53 and No. 57, respectively.

Meanwhile, Austin (No. 7) and its northern suburb Round Rock (No. 6) both held on to their positions among the top 10 best U.S. cities for renters for the second year in a row.

Here's how other Texas cities stacked up among the top 100 in RentCafe's report:

No. 31 – Conroe (down from No. 9 in 2023)
No. 52 – Midland
No. 55 – San Marcos
No. 58 – Lubbock (down from No. 43 in 2023)
No. 65 – San Antonio (down from No. 55 in 2023)
No. 71 – Houston (down from No. 53 in 2023)
No. 85 – Amarillo
No. 91 – Waco (unchanged from 2023)

RentCafe used data from their sister site Yardi Matrix to determine each city's ranking based on 20 metrics, including average apartment size, the cost of living and housing, the share of renter-occupied households, renter household median income growth, and more. Cities were chosen if they had an "apartment stock" of a minimum of 10,000 units, and any cities with lower apartment stocks were excluded.

The full report can be found on rentcafe.com.

mckinney dallas fort worth suburbs renting real estate reports

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