Where the data comes from
What the profile measures
What the community can do
What goes into every profile
Where the data comes from
Including HUD rental assistance and homelessness counts, the American Community Survey, IRS migration, BLS wages and unemployment, home lending, and SBA small-business loans.
Community Development Profile
Dallas is one of the country's largest cities, home to about 1.31 million people, and its economy is broad and steady. Jobs are spread across many industries, and small businesses are opening at a good rate. Homelessness has come down.
The pressure is cost. Since 2020 the typical rent has risen about 32.5% and the typical home value about 53.7%, while the typical household's income rose about 28.8%. More than half of the city's renters now spend too much of their income on housing.
The city and its partners put real money toward these problems, and the work on homelessness is paying off. But affordable housing is not gaining ground.
In this profile
To afford the typical rent in Dallas, a household needs to earn about $58,880 a year, and many of the county's service workers earn less.
Countywide, a full-time food service worker comes up about $647 short of the median rent each month. A retail worker is about $222 short, and a care or social-assistance worker about $426 short.
The minimum household income needed to afford the local median gross rent under the standard 30%-of-income rule. Computed as median gross rent × 12 ÷ 0.30.
| Period | Income needed | Median rent | % of median income | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–2020 | $44,440 | $1,111 | 81.2% | $43,840 |
| 2017–2021 | $47,120 | $1,178 | 80.9% | $46,520 |
| 2018–2022 | $52,200 | $1,305 | 81.6% | $50,720 |
| 2019–2023 | $56,120 | $1,403 | 82.8% | $53,920 |
| 2020–2024 | $58,880 | $1,472 | 83.5% | $56,520 |
Where Dallas ranks highest or lowest among cities of about the same size and metro role.
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More than 15% of Dallas's existing affordable rental housing was built before 2000, so the affordability restrictions on these units are approaching expiration. The community is also losing affordable units faster than it is building new ones, and preserving what is already here is usually cheaper than replacing it.
Dallas should make preservation a top priority: identify properties whose restrictions expire in the next 5-10 years, offer owners incentives to extend affordability for another 30 years, and partner with mission-driven owners to acquire properties whose owners want out.
Questions to consider
Lower priorities right now
Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). The market can absorb more vouchers, but severe cost burden isn't currently at concerning levels, so standard voucher operations are enough for now. Revisit if severe cost burden rises.
Permanent Supportive Housing with Rental Subsidies. Chronic homelessness isn't currently at concerning levels here, so there isn't a group large enough to fill new deep-subsidy units. Revisit if the chronic count climbs.
Repair and Recapitalization of Failing Subsidized Housing. The area's federally subsidized and public housing is generally passing physical inspections. Keep monitoring; if failing scores rise, this becomes a higher priority.
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Every profile draws on 40 federal and private data sources.
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