housing cost analysis

Here's how much Dallasites spend renting instead of buying a home

Owning a home in Dallas doesn't come cheap.

The affordability of homeownership seems to be a hot topic in 2025, and a new housing cost analysis has revealed that Dallas residents who are renting are getting a bargain: saving nearly $900 per month by renting rather than owning their homes.

The 2025 report, called "Renting vs. Buying: How Housing Costs Compare Across America," examined the median monthly homeownership and rent costs in 342 of the largest U.S. cities.

The study's findings revealed Dallas homeowners spend a median $2,381 on their monthly housing costs, whereas renters spend about $1,512 in comparison. That's an $869 price difference.

Dallas wasn't even the biggest city in terms of renters saving money — ranking No. 55 in the report's rankings of cities where homeownership is more expensive than renting.

This study compares median costs for each group of people regardless of what they're getting for that cost. Because of this, we only know how much more homeowners tend to pay in general — not how much more they'd pay for a comparable space.

Newark, New Jersey, ranked No. 1 on the list, with homeowners spending $2,641 per month on their homes, while renters only pay $1,341 a month, reflecting a whopping $1,300 difference.

As any Dallas-area resident knows, the real cost of living in the city doesn't just stop at the monthly mortgage or rent price. SmartAsset also factored in the cost of utilities, insurance, maintenance, and taxes to show the most accurate representation of the ongoing costs of renting versus owning a home.

"On the rental side, the cost of utilities can add a consistent, considerable amount to your costs," the report said. "For homeowners, mortgage costs are padded not only by utilities but homeowners’ insurance, property taxes and maintenance costs."

Housing costs in Dallas-area suburbs
The difference between Frisco (No. 57) renters and homeowners is greater than it is in Dallas, though both monthly costs are much higher in Frisco. The report found that homeowners' costs in the suburb outpace renters' by more than $1,200 per month, totaling $3,300. Renters pay only $2,099 a month.

Housing costs in Denton (No. 32) are similar to Dallas', though the city ranked higher on the list. Denton residents pay $2,291 a month to own their homes, while renters only pay $1,411. That means the gap between renters and owners is $880 per month.

In neighboring Fort Worth, residents are saving about $611 per month by renting rather than owning their homes. Homeowners are spending about $2,158 to maintain their homes, while renters only pay $1,547 a month.

The difference between home ownership versus renting is smallest in the far eastern suburbs of Mesquite and Garland.

Here's what the report says are the monthly housing costs in other Dallas-area suburbs:

McKinney – $2,626 for homeowners; $1,862 for renters = $764
Plano – $2,589 for homeowners; $1,848 for renters = $750
Grand Prairie – $2,247 for homeowners; $1,612 for renters = $635
Allen – $2,803 for homeowners; $2,064 for renters = $739
Lewisville – $2,278 for homeowners; $1,678 for renters = $600
Arlington – $2,005 for homeowners; $1,495 for renters = $510
Richardson – $2,454 for homeowners; $1,834 for renters = $580
Irving – $2,185 for homeowners; $1,650 for renters = $535
Carrollton – $2,314 for homeowners; $1,770 for renters = $544
Mesquite – $1,722 for homeowners; $1,487 for renters = $235
Garland – $1,896 for homeowners; $1,678 for renters = $218

Residents in any major city who are considering buying their first house must consider all monthly financial costs before deciding to leave the rental life behind. Potentially large bills, like property taxes, can sneak up on some homeowners if they don't educate themselves properly prior to buying a home. (Thankfully, there are ways to save money in that category.)

"These hidden costs can add up and change the dynamics of tradeoffs between the flexibility of renting versus the security of owning your own home," the report added.

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out of reach

This is how long it takes to save for a starter home in Dallas right now

Courtesy of Tri Pointe Homes

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A new national housing affordability report has confirmed something many renters already know: The possibility of owning a home is moving further out of reach for many renters across America.

Becoming a new homeowner is especially challenging for households in several major U.S. metros — including Dallas — where it now takes well over a decade to save enough money for a down payment on a starter home.

These findings were unveiled in a new study from The Julian Bond Institute for Financial Equity Research (JBI), a nonprofit research branch of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). The report comes as a result of its Project 2050 Survey that analyzed "Americans' financial aspirations across generations and racial groups and the obstacles they encounter in achieving them."

JBI said Americans of all generations, racial backgrounds, and ethnicities haven't given up on "this aspect of the American dream," but the journey towards becoming a homeowner is "grow[ing] exceedingly challenging." In addition to saving for a down payment and closing costs, renters must also navigate high mortgage rates and high home prices. All of these combined factors have pushed monthly payments out of reach for most families.

"There has been much coverage of the difficulty aspiring homeowners face in being able to afford the monthly payments on a home loan," the report said. "But less attention has been given to an equally important part of the housing affordability squeeze: The impact that higher home prices and the affordability crisis are having on the ability of families to save enough money to afford the upfront costs of homeownership."

Using the results from a previous 2019 survey and the most recent survey results, JBI examined how many years it would take a typical renter family to save enough money to cover a down payment and closing costs for a starter home in the U.S. and in its 10 biggest metros.

The report found that it now takes the typical Dallas renter household 12 years to save for a starter home in 2026, up from 7 years in 2019. And Dallas technically appears on the lower end of the spectrum out of the 10 biggest U.S. metros.

"Although there is some variation across these areas, even in Houston — where the years to save is the lowest — it would take the typical aspiring homeowner 11 years to save enough money to purchase a starter home," the report said. "At the opposite end of the spectrum, in Los Angeles, it would take 24 years. And in all these areas, there has been a sizable increase in the number of years required to save since 2019."

For the typical American household, it now takes 16 years to save for a starter home, a figure that has doubled since 2019. That's based on an American median renter household income of $57,991, and an estimated saving rate of 2.63 percent. The report defines the saving rate as the percentage of a family’s income that can be set aside for the purchase of a home after expenditures, assuming that aspiring homeowner families can devote 75 percent of their savings toward a home purchase.

"[This] translates to annual savings of roughly $1,525," the report found. "For such a family, it would take 16 years to accumulate enough savings to purchase a starter home [at the median price of $335,574]."

Renter households that made $42,750 in income at a 3.96 saving rate would result in $1,693 saved for the purchase of a home in 2019. By those metrics, it would take the typical renter household eight years to save for a starter home at the 2019 median price of $217,520.

This is how many years it takes to save for a starter home in the 10 biggest U.S. metros compared to 2019, from longest to shortest:

Los Angeles: 24 years, up from 14 years in 2019
New York City: 23 years, up from 10 years
Miami: 22 years, up from 10 years
Washington, D.C.: 16 years, up from 8 years
Chicago: 15 years, up from 8 years
Philadelphia: 15 years, up from 8 years
Phoenix: 15 years, up from 8 years
Atlanta: 13 years, up from 7 years
Dallas: 12 years, up from 7 years
Houston: 11 years, up from 8 years

real estate housing affordability housing market real estate report dallas houston

housing cost analysis

Here's how much Dallasites spend renting instead of buying a home

out of reach

This is how long it takes to save for a starter home in Dallas right now

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