Pets News

Dallas ranks as 2nd most pet-friendly place to rent in 2024

Pet friendly apartment, cat, tortoiseshell

This cat has tortie-tude.

A new market trend report from Zillow has confirmed that pet-friendly rentals are leasing much faster than non-pet-friendly units, and Dallas' rental market had the second most pet-friendly rental listings on Zillow in 2024.

The report, called "Saying Yes to Pets Helps Landlords Find a Tenant Faster," analyzed more than 11 million rental listings that appeared on Zillow last year to discover the share of pet-friendly rental listings in the biggest U.S. metros. The report also calculated the median number of days it took for pet-friendly units to find a tenant faster than those that did not allow pets.

The Lone Star State led the nation with the most pet-friendly rental listings on Zillow out of all 50 states last year. Nationally, only 57 percent of rental listings in the U.S. allowed pets, which is a disappointing amount when compared to the major Texas cities.

The data revealed Dallas has a deep appreciation for pets, with 79 percent of rental listings in the city allowing tenants to have furry best friends.

Dallas fell second only to Austin, where pet-friendly rentals accounted for 80 percent of all citywide listings on Zillow in 2024. San Antonio ranked right behind Dallas with the third highest share of rentals that allowed pets, at 78 percent. Don't mess with Texas pets, y'all.

Surprisingly, Houston appeared at the bottom of the list as the U.S. metro with the smallest share of rental listings that allowed pets, at just 38 percent.

The report additionally found that pet-friendly rentals in Dallas were leased three days faster than units that don't allow pets. For comparison, it took about eight days for the median U.S. pet-friendly rental to lease sooner than its non-pet-friendly counterpart.

In a separate survey of the "typical American renter," Zillow discovered more than half of renters declined to lease a certain property because it didn't allow pets.

"Renters have more leverage than in quite some time after last year's multifamily construction boom, and the data show allowing pets can make a difference in leasing out a unit quickly," the report said. "The median renter is getting older, and more renters now have a pet. Nearly six in 10 renters are pet owners, up from 46 percent before the pandemic."

In Austin, rentals that allow pets lease 10 days sooner than non-pet-friendly units, and that number slows down to six days sooner in San and just one day faster in Houston.

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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