Does it take a six-figure income to live ‘comfortably’ in Dallas and other Texas cities?

By José Sánchez Córdova
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Website: https://www.dallasnews.com/

Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth ranked No. 27, 30, and 32 in a recent study to find the cost of living comfortably in America’s 50 most populous cities.

The study from the personal finance publication GoBankingRates found Dallas residents need to earn $93,482 a year to live comfortably. That number ranked 27th nationally, but came in as the second most expensive in Texas, after Austin at $122,229.

The number was calculated using a variety of factors, among them were median household income statistics from the U.S. Census American Community Survey, average expenditures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, and average single-family home values from Zillow’s Home Value Index.

Those statistics were combined to find the cost of living which was then doubled based on the idea that essential costs should only be 50% of income.

Using those statistics, the study found that an average Dallasite is spending $46,741 annually or $3,895 monthly on essentials.

Arlington ranked 30th on the list with a cost of living comfortably at $92,096, around $1,500 less than Dallas. Fort Worth was 32nd at $90,043, ranking as the cheapest major city in North Texas.

Houston (No. 35), San Antonio (No. 39), and El Paso (No. 45) were the other three Texas cities on the list, all ranking as more affordable than North Texas’ representatives. El Paso was the most affordable in the Lone Star State with a cost of living comfortably at $74,721 and ranked as the sixth most affordable among the country’s 50 largest cities.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, California’s major cities are rated as the most expensive in the nation, taking up the entire top five on the list. Bay Area cities San Jose and San Francisco topped the list with the cost of living comfortably more than twice that of Dallas at $258,255 and $245,527, respectively.