What salary do you need to live in Dallas, TX?

Dallas housing costs at a glance

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro at $1,393 for a one-bedroom, $1,660 for a two-bedroom and $1,934 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $267 a month, and the third bedroom another $274.

Homeowners in Dallas report a median home value of $359,500. That works out to 4.0× the local median household income of $90,275, a mid-range ratio.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 103.1, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 3.1% more than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $97,003 would at average US prices.

The salary lines for a two-bedroom in Dallas

For two bedrooms, $233,000 is where Dallas turns Comfortable. Below that, $116,000 marks the start of Okay and $58,000 the start of Tight; under $58,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 9% of gross pay.

Reaching Royal takes $825,000 — 3.5× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Dallas

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Tight, with scores from 30 to 35.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 13% of income.

Dallas compared with every US metro

On price level Dallas is 48th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 38th, and on median home value 103rd. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices in the top quarter and rent in the top 10%.

Next to Dallas on the national rent ranking: Burlington-South Burlington, VT ($1,660) and Fort Collins-Loveland, CO ($1,656).

Comparing Dallas with Texas

Statewide, Texas's median two-bedroom rent is $1,395 and its median home value $283,800. Dallas's rent is +19% against that, and its home value +27%; the price parity is 103.1 versus 97.1 for the state.

The Texas figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $166,000 against $233,000 for Dallas.

The nearest matches in Texas, judged on rent and price parity together, are Midland, TX, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX, and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX.

Dallas's median income on the scale

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $90,275, which grades Tight (38) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. That falls $142,725 short of the $233,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. Statewide, the Texas median household ($78,476) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.