Pros and Cons of Living in Dallas Texas
Before you move to any place in Texas, it is important to know what you are getting yourself into.
Living into Dallas is not different and therefore I believe you should know the pros and cons of living in Dallas, Texas before you make the actual move.
In this guide, I’ll explain the pros and cons of living in Dallas, Texas in 2022.
From housing costs to taxes, everything will be covered in this article.
I hope that after reading this guide, you’ll be able to make a well-informed and calculated decision of living in Dallas Texas.
But before explaining the pros and cons of living in the city of Dallas Mavericks, let me introduce you to the city.
Dallas: An introduction to the city
Dallas is a beautiful place in the state of Texas with some of the biggest urban parks in the world.
The DFW and the surrounding suburbs occupy multiple tourist attractions as well.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the light rail system, can take you to a number of tourist attractions in the city.
The Dallas Park System consists of almost 400 parks with more than 20,000 acres of green space.
People in Dallas also enjoy the Botanical Garden located adjacent to the White Rock Lake.
There are multiple sports fans in the city as well with most people enjoying Dallas Cowboys on Sundays.
Pros of living in Dallas, Texas
A Booming Economy
The first and biggest advantage of living in Dallas is its booming economy.
The city is seeing an unprecedented growth in almost every sector including finance, banking, manufacturing, aerospace, defense, energy, and pharmaceuticals.
Moreover, DFW has become a major destination for corporate headquarters in the past few years.
It is evident by the fact that DFW is home to 22 fortune companies, 500 corporate headquarters, and hundreds of other large companies.
Southwest Airlines and Exxon Mobil are some of he companies hiring thousands of employees in the DFW area alone.
Since 2018, more than 107 companies have moved from California to DFW and more companies are likely to follow suit. T
his is evidence that local businesses are also growing in the DFW area rapidly.
With such a big number of companies moving in Dallas, the big city presents countless opportunities to pursue a high-paying career.
And if that’s not enough to convince you, Dallas was recently ranked as the second best city for tech jobs and the first for starting a career in tech industry.
So, you can find your desired job in any industry in Dallas without any hassle.
Likewise, in 2020, Dallas Fort Worth area ranked first in the country in terms of raw population growth.
Moreover, two other Texas metro areas managed to land in the top four positions.
In short, Dallas’ booming economy is responsible for creating a large number of jobs and is ideal for you to pursue a successful career in the city.
Housing Costs
Although housing costs have increased over the past few years in Dallas, it is still one of the most affordable cities in the country.
Moreover, the housing prices have jumped almost everywhere in the past few years and Dallas is no exception.
When you compare DFW with other metro areas, the value that Dallas has to offer is unbeatable.
This is why an increasing number of people and companies for that matter are moving to Dallas each year creating a diverse culture as well.
So, if you are coming to Dallas from an area with high living costs, you’ll be amazed at how affordable the city can be.
So, lets compare the housing prices of some major cities in the country. For a normal-sized house, you will have to pay:
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$1.65 Million in San Jose,
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$1.35 Million in San Francisco,
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$1.1 Million in Orange County,
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$850,000 in San Diego,
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$861,000 in LA,
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$708,000 in Seattle,
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$615,000 in Denver,
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$564,000 in New York,
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$550,000 in Portland,
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$500,000 in Salt Lake,
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$498,000 in Austin,
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$430,000 in Phoenix,
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$412,000 in Las Vegas,
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$403,000 in Raleigh,
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$355,000 in Nashville,
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$345,000 in DFW
So, you can see from the above list that the housing costs in DFW are less than other areas.
Cost of Living
I have created a separate video explaining the living costs in Dallas.
You can visit my YouTube channel to see a complete breakdown of the costs.
When you live in Dallas, you have good chances of getting a high-paid job.
Dallas ranks 66 on the cost to live index score.
When compared with New York, one of the most expensive US cities, Dallas is 33% less expensive in terms of living costs.
Likewise, the rent is almost half and groceries are about 40% less expensive when compared with New York city.
People in Dallas love to eat great food at restaurants and this too is 27% less expensive in comparison with New York.
Now consider these costs with the fact that salaries in Dallas are much higher than other cities in the country.
Moreover, there are plenty of job opportunities in Dallas with many companies offering six figure salaries.
The number of companies moving to Dallas area is expected to keep increasing in the years to come.
With that being said, living in Dallas is only 2% expensive than the national average.
In short, Dallas offers the best value for money when compared with other major cities in the country.
Cons of living in Dallas, Texas
Property Taxes
The first disadvantage of living in Dallas is the property tax. In the DFW area, you have to pay 2.25% of your home’s value in property taxes each year.
For instance, if you buy a $400k home, you’ll have to pay $10k per year in property taxes.
Let’s compare these prices to Los Angeles where you can buy a home in $861k with only $6200 property taxes.
Although the property taxes in Dallas are high when compared to Los Angeles , you have to look at the bigger picture here.
Suppose you are earning $120k per year in California. you have to pay at least $8100 as state income tax.
The marginal tax rate in California on is 9.3% on that income whereas in Texas it is zero.
So, you have to pay almost $14k per year in income and property taxes in California compared to just $10k in the Dallas.
However, you can get an above average house in Dallas for less than $400k.
On the other hand, you can only purchase an average house in Los Angeles for even twice that price.
Taxes considered with mortgage payments
So, when you take the monthly mortgage payment into account, Dallas appears to be much cheaper than other cities like California.
The situation in other major cities including New York, New Jersey, and Chicago is even worse.
These cities have higher property taxes than DFW area.
Moreover, you have to pay personal income tax in these cities.
Traffic Congestion
Unless you live in Iowa or a similar place, you are going to see traffic pretty much everywhere these days.
The second con of living in Dallas is that traffic congestion in the DFW area can really disturb your life and increase the commute times.
The public transportation in the Dallas area is not dependable and you have to commute on your car on busy roads.
Although Covid-19 and work from home culture have brought some relief to the residents, it still is a factor to consider before making the decision to live in Dallas as the city has some of the most congested highways in the state.
Personally, I believe Houston and Austin are even worse when it comes to traffic congestion.
Things are not any different in New York, Philly, or Chicago where drivers spend 85 to 100 hours in a year in traffic.
In San Francisco and Los Angeles, people spend at least 45 hours in traffic each year.
Dallas, however, ranks 10th in the country among cities with the most traffic congestion with an average of 34 hours spent in driving each year.
The traffic can get even worse before and after work hours.
So, the best choice is to live near your work place so that you can commute without a hassle.
For instance, if you are working in Downtown Dallas or East Dallas, living in Mckinney and driving to your office from there every day isn’t a feasible option.
Weather
So, number three on the con list is weather which is debatable.
If you are coming from Northeast, Midwest, or even places like Las Vegas or Phoenix, you might find weather in Dallas somewhat of an improvement.
The winters here are mild as we don’t have a lot of snow here. Usually, snowfall happens once after a couple of years.
Snowpocalypse did happen in 2021 whereby the entire Lone Star State froze, but that was an exception.
In my entire life, I have never seen such a situation here in Texas and maybe that is why we were unprepared.
But you shouldn’t expect such extreme weather condition to occur in years to come.
The coldest month is January where the average high temperature is 56 and the average low temperature is 37 which is manageable, I would say.
Late September to early May is the optimal time of the year in Dallas.
Summers can get pretty hot in July and August where the average high is 96 and the average low is 77.
So, you should brace yourself to face the summers before coming to Dallas.
Nevertheless, the weather in Dallas is not terribly humid like you see in Houston, or like the feeling of being stuck in a hair dryer you get in Las Vegas or Phoenix.
So, if you are coming from the Pacific Coast, you need will need some time to adjust to the weather here.
Final Thoughts
Although there are multiple pros and cons of living in Dallas, I believe the advantages outweigh the cons.
I hope that this guide would make the decision of moving to Dallas much easier for you.
If you have any questions related to living in Dallas, please feel free to contact me and I’ll guide you about different areas of Dallas.
You can also reach out to me through texts or email and I’ll be more than happy to find you a suitable area in Dallas according to your requirements.
