3 Dallas-area counties among the top 10 most expensive to live in Texas, report says

LIVING IS EXPENSIVE

Photo by Duncan Meyer on Unsplash

A new report explores just how pricey household bills are these days, and in Dallas-Fort Worth, it's not a pretty picture. Three local counties - Collin, Rockwall, and Denton - land among the top 10 most expensive in Texas, and Collin County leads the way as No. 1.

This, according to bill pay servicer Doxo, whose "DoxoInsights Explorer" calculates the average monthly payments for 10 of the most common household bills - mortgage, rent, auto loan, utilities, auto insurance, mobile phone, health insurance, cable and satellite, life insurance, and alarm and security - and compares them to the national average.

According to the website,the average household inNo. 1-ranked Collin County pays $2,747 in monthly bills, which comes out to $32,958 a year. When compared to the national average, which is $24,557 a year, the Collin County household is paying $8,401 more per year, or 34 percent more. (Find the monthly bill breakdown here.)

Nearby Rockwall County came in at No. 2 most expensive in Texas. There, household expenses are 29.7 percent higher (or $7,297) than the national average, at $31,854 per year.

Denton County also earned a spot in the top five most expensive counties, landing at No. 4. Household bills in the area are 27 percent higher than the national average at just under $2,600 per month, or $31,189 a year.

Dallas County ranked just outside the top 10 at No. 11, where household expenses are 10 percent higher than the national average. A Dallas County household pays $2,258 in monthly bills, adding up to $27,100 a year.

The good news is, residents of these counties might be able to pay their bills more easily. A SmartAsset report last year listed Collin, Dallas, Rockwall, and Denton counties among the wealthiest in Texas, based on per capita income, median home value, and per capita investment income. A separate report named Rockwall County the richest county in Texas based solely on median household income.

According to Doxo.com, the top 10 most expensive counties in Texas are:

No. 1 – Collin County
No. 2 – Rockwall County
No. 3 – Fort Bend County
No. 4 – Denton County
No. 5 – Kendall County
No. 6 – Williamson County
No. 7 – Travis County
No. 8 – Waller County
No. 9 – Galveston County
No. 10 – Hays County

Texas itself ranked No. 18 among all 50 states, with Texans paying $757 (or 3.1 percent) per year higher than the U.S. average. The average household in Texas pays $2,110 per month, or $25,314 per year on bills.

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Okla. favorite Hideaway Pizza tiptoes into Texas with first shop in Plano

Pizza News

A new pizza purveyor is coming to Texas where it will bravely enter the Dallas-Fort Worth market: Hideaway Pizza an Oklahoma-based chain serving pizza, craft beer, and cocktails, is making its DFW debut with a location in Plano, at 5410 SH-121.

According to a spokesperson, the restaurant will open in mid-October.

Based in Tulsa, Hideaway was founded in 1957 by Richard "The Big Kahuna" Dermer and his wife Marti in 1957 near the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater. They became known for making deliveries via a fleet of Volkswagen Beetles.

In 2006, the company was purchased by Brett Murphy and Darren Lister who've successfully retained the anti-chain irreverent spirit and laid-back atmosphere, with employees wearing tie-dye shirts. Their help-wanted ad, for example, says, "We're looking for Weirdoughs and Fungi's to join our team!"

There are now 23 locations across Oklahoma and Arkansas, each with its own look and feel. They recently made a list of the "10 Established Casual-Dining Restaurant Chains Consumers Love" by Nation's Restaurant News.

Expanding to North Texas made sense because the area has many OSU alumni as well as Oklahoma transpants. The owners also observed that many pizza concepts have moved to to-go only.

"The pizza casual dining space has been vacated by competitors chasing delivery and quick dining," Murphy said in a December 2022 interview. "Hideaway offers premium pizza and a fantastic dine-in experience you can’t find anywhere else."

For pizza, they have two crust options: thin and hand-tossed, slightly thicker and puffier. There are also two alternative crusts: GF and cauliflower.

Signature pies include 17 options, from chicken Florentine with alfredo sauce to the Capone, with sausage, pepperoni, Genoa salami, bacon, red onion, black olives, garlic, and their "Parmesan-herb shake."

There are sandwiches, pastas, salads, meatballs, and garlic cheese bread. Their fried mushrooms are a big customer favorite, and beer is served in frosty cold mugs. They also have a full bar.

Following Plano, they'll open a location in McKinney at 2101 N. Hardin Blvd. in early 2024, and have Fort Worth penciled in next.

Famed Seattle piroshky bakery makes stop in Dallas on Texas-wide tour

Meat Pie News

A Seattle bakery is coming to Dallas for a special pop-up: Piroshky Piroshky Bakery, which specializes in handmade piroshki, AKA Russian hand pies, will stop in Dallas on a national tour.

The bakery will be at Outfit Brewing, 135 John W. Carpenter Fwy, on October 5 from 5-7 pm, with luscious offerings, both savory and sweet.

Piroshkis are small pies of Russian origin, made from an enriched yeast dough, with savory fillings like meat, vegetables, or cheese, the most traditional being meat and rice or potato and onion.

Piroshky Piroshky Bakery was founded in Seattle in 1992, and offer their pastries in all sorts of delectable fillings: from beef & cheese to cabbage & onion to vegan-friendly mushroom & potato. They make authentic pastries, as well.

Their piroshky are individually made from scratch and hand-formed into unique shapes that help differentiate the flavors and fillings inside.

The company has five locations across Seattle, and also sells their products online. Their original location at Seattle's Pike Place Market serves more than 20 varieties.

But they also make annual tours, just like a rock band, to bring their goods to towns across the U.S. They last came through Dallas in November 2022.

The tour features options such as:

Smoked salmon pate piroshky
Beef & onion piroshy
Impossible beef & onion piroshky
Ham, spinach, & cheese piroshky
Potato & cheese piroshky
Veggie chipotle piroshky
Chocolate cream hazelnut roll
Cinnamon cardamom braid
Pumpkin toffee braid
Caraway cheddar cheese stick
Poppyseed cinnamon roll

The full menu is online, and pre-ordering is required. The cutoff order date for Dallas is October 3 at 4 pm. There's a minimum of $50; individual items run between $5.25 to $7.25.

In addition to Dallas, they're also making three other stops in Texas:

Fort Worth at Martin House Brewing, 220 S Sylvania Ave. on October 4, from 5-7 pm. You must order by October 2; pre-order here.
Austin at Twin Creeks Park, 2303 Dervingham Drive, Cedar Park, on October 6, from 5-7 pm; pre-order here.
Houston at Elks Lodge, 10150 W Airport Blvd, Stafford, on October 7, from 5-7 pm; pre-order here.

Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas initiates action to save birds from dying

Bird News

Reunion Tower, the little ball on the Western edge of downtown Dallas, is famous for its sassy light shows illuminating the Dallas skyline. But in recent years, the building has followed a bird-friendly policy of dimming its lights, and that dimming is about to get underway.

From October 1 through October 21, Reunion Tower will observe the following lighting schedule:

Sundown to 11 pm: lower its lights
11 pm-6 am: go completely dark
6 am-sunrise back to dim

The building enacts these changes to protect birds that are migrating through Texas.

Dallas is on the path of the Central Migratory Flyway, which extends from the Northwest and heads diagonally southeast through Mexico.

Every fall and spring, nearly two billion birds travel through Texas. The bird migration is one of the largest on the planet, and takes place at night. Light attracts migrating birds, making them vulnerable to collisions with buildings and causing them to become disoriented and distracted.

Birds get pulled into urban areas, collide into buildings, and die. Volunteer surveys - in which people go out and count actual dead bodies - in cities such as Dallas, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth, finds hundreds of dead birds every night. It adds up to nearly a billion birds killed in the U.S. each year.

Dallas-Fort Worth is the third most dangerous area in the U.S. for migratory birds to travel through; Chicago is No. 1, followed by Houston which is No. 2.

As this map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows, Dallas and Houston are both massively lit, representing major obstacles to the success and survival of the birds' migration.

Lights Out Texas was initiated as a statewide effort in Spring 2020 to protect birds from light pollution by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and BirdCast, with the essential support of founding Texas partners Houston Audubon, the Dallas Zoo, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

According to Audubon, the actual critical migration period through Dallas is September 6 through October 29. A glittery skyline is surely pretty, but downtown should just shut it down during those times.

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