homes on a budget

4 affordable North Texas cities are booming with homes under $500,000

1360 Winnipeg Drive, Lewisville home for sale

This two-story home in Lewisville is on the market for $480,000.

Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs have been soaring in popularity in 2024 as more residents escape the bigger cities. Now four more North Texas neighbors – Lewisville, Waxahachie, Midlothian, and Wylie – are earning accolades on a new list of the top 50 most affordable housing markets for homes under $500,000.

The study by personal finance website GoBankingRates.com evaluated the two-year numerical and percent change in total population for all U.S. cities with a population between 25,000 and 200,000. Cities were ranked based on two defining characteristics: A nine percent (or more) change in population from 2020 to 2022; and cities whose home values fell below $500,000 as of July 2024.

Lewisville ranked No. 11 out of all 50 cities in the report, with homes valued at $410,904 as of July 2024. The suburb is situated between Dallas and Fort Worth, and is conveniently north of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The city's population grew 16.05 percent from 2020 to 2022, from 107,740 to 125,028 residents. The city's steady growth rate has simultaneously brought more development to the area, including a new coffee shop, discount bin store, and even eight new dining options at The Realm at Castle Hills.

Located 60 miles south in the opposite direction of Lewisville is Waxahachie, which landed at No. 20 on the list. With home values in the city adding up to $363,709, Waxahachie is the most affordable North Texas suburb in the report. The city's population grew 13.79 percent from 2020 to 41,801 residents in 2022, the report found.

Waxahachie's nickname as the "Crepe Myrtle Capital of Texas" was earned thanks to the city's beautiful scenery and its annual Crape Myrtle Festival, where tourists and residents from all over North Texas flock to see the fully bloomed trees in the summer.

"The charm of the historic homes and buildings brings thousands of visitors to the city each year," the Waxahachie Convention and Visitor's Bureau website says. "While here, visitors enjoy numerous unique shopping opportunities, including antiques, specialty shops and boutiques."

Waxahachie’s legendary Ellis County Courthouse is the most photographed courthouse in the state of Texas. Photo courtesy of Visit Waxahachie

Midlothian ranked just seven spots behind Waxahachie, with home values reaching $454,929 in July. This far-flung suburb is 26 miles southwest of downtown Dallas, and is a next door neighbor to Waxahachie.

From 2020 to 2022, Midlothian's population grew by nearly 4,000 people to 35,460 total residents. Locals should expect that number to continue growing over the next few years (along with the city's home values) as Google invests over $1 billion into its Midlothian data center campus.

In a statement, Google Cloud VP Yolande Piazza said that "expanding [Google's] cloud and data center infrastructure in Midlothian and Red Oak reflects [the company's] confidence in the state's ability to lead in the digital economy."

Meanwhile, Wylie (No. 34) rounds out the list of North Texas suburbs with the most affordable housing markets for under $500,000. According to the report, home values in Wylie amounted to $441,105 in July 2024.

Wylie had the smallest growth by percentage out of the four DFW cities, at just 11.40 percent. But that resulted in 5,812 new residents moving to the city from 2020 to 2022, bringing the total population to 57,063 residents.

In 2022, Fortune Magazine rated Wylie the No. 2 best place in the U.S. for families to live, hailing the city "a fast-growing, modern community that doesn’t skimp on the amenities."

Wylie, Texas Wylie is one hot 'burb. Wylie Facebook

"With its start as a stop on the Santa Fe Railway in the 1880s, Wylie has always been a gathering place," the magazine wrote at the time. "In fact, because shops stayed open late to accommodate the railway visitors and business, one of the town’s nicknames became 'Wide-Awake Wylie.' The historic downtown continues that tradition of community today..."

Other affordable suburbs in Texas
Only eight total Texas suburbs earned spots on GoBankingRates list of fastest-growing suburbs with home values under $500,000. Two San Antonio suburbs, Canyon Lake and New Braunfels, ranked No. 5 and No. 44 nationwide. Baytown, which is located 26 miles east of Houston, ranked No. 36. The Austin suburb of Hutto fell towards the bottom of the list as No. 42.

The top 10 fastest-growing American suburbs with home values under $500,000 are:

No. 1 – Mooresville, North Carolina
No. 2 – Hamtramck, Michigan
No. 3 – Buckeye, Arizona
No. 4 – Union City, Georgia
No. 5 – Canyon Lake, Texas
No. 6 – Olive Branch, Mississippi
No. 7 – Maricopa, Arizona
No. 8 – Clermont, Florida
No. 9 – Leesburg, Florida
No. 10 – Goodyear, Arizona

For the purpose of the study, GoBankingRates analysts focused on U.S. cities that are part of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with more than one million in total population.

The full report and its methodology can be found on gobankingrates.com.

real estate housing markets dallas fort worth suburbs

living single

Dallas lands among 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living alone

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In DFW, renters can afford to live solo.

Not everyone is cut out for living with roommates, but finding an affordable place to live alone can be tricky. Luckily, Dallas-Fort Worth sits among the top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living by yourself, according to a new report.

Analysts at Apartments.com discovered North Texas renters spend the seventh lowest share of their monthly income on single-bedroom rent out of the 50 biggest metros in the U.S.

The study used a 30 percent "common budgeting guideline" to calculate the share of median renter household income spent on one-bedroom asking rents across the 50 largest U.S. metros, and determined renters can only afford to live alone in 24 of the 50 metros without crossing the 30 percent threshold.

The median annual income of a DFW renter household is $63,172, and the findings show the typical asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment comes out to $1,348 per month. The study determined single renters spend 25.6 percent of their monthly income on rent based on the budgeting suggestion.

Texas' favorable rental market also extends outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex: Austin surprised as the No. 1 most affordable metro for living alone, and San Antonio appeared among the top 10.

Austin renters spend the smallest share of their income on single-bedroom apartment rent, at 23.1 percent. That's based on a median renter household income of $70,008 and a $1,348 monthly one-bedroom asking rent price.

Dwindling rent prices and the prevalence of major tech employers are also attracting new renters, and the city has an 11.6 percent apartment vacancy rate.

"The average rent in Austin has decreased year over year, and construction of new housing increased by 30 percent over the past decade," the report's author wrote. "Tax incentives in Texas draw large tech corporations, like Google and Apple, to the Austin area, which has increased average wages, added more jobs to the local economy, and attracted renters in the process."

San Antonio ranked right above DFW in sixth place nationwide with solo renters spending 25.4 percent of their monthly income on single-bedroom rent, coincidentally the same share as single renters living in Raleigh, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah.

This is the income and one-bedroom rent data in San Antonio:

$51,029 – median renter household income
$1,082 – one-bedroom monthly asking rent

A separate Apartments.com survey found 39 percent of U.S. adults would never feel comfortable living with a roommate, and 16 percent of renters would rather pay more in rent to live alone than consider living with a roommate.

"Factors contributing to lower rents may include recent high levels of construction, rising vacancy rates as renter demand catches up to supply, and fewer regulations, such as flexible zoning and lower development costs compared to other parts of the country," the report said. "Living alone has become a non-negotiable for many renters, and some renters are willing to make tradeoffs to afford this lifestyle."

The top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for living alone are:

No. 1 – Austin
No. 2 – Oklahoma City
No. 3 – Phoenix
No. 4 – Raleigh, North Carolina
No. 5 – Salt Lake City, Utah
No. 6 – San Antonio
No. 7 – Dallas-Fort Worth
No. 8 – Denver
No. 9 – Portland, Oregon
No. 10 – Columbus, Ohio

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