Nearly a quarter of households in the city of Dallas devote over 50% of their income to rent, while about half spend over 30%, according to new 2023 census data.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers households to be cost-burdened when they spend more than 30% on their income in housing, whether it is rent, loans or mortgage payments. If these homes pay more than 50% of their income, they’re severely cost-burdened.
“The reason it becomes a problem if a household is paying more than 30% of their income towards rent is that households have to juggle other expenses,” said Ben Martin, research director at Texas Housers. “Are they going to pay rent, or are they going to have enough money to take the bus to work? These are impossible trade-offs.”
The numbers align with a new report by local organization Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL). According to their analysis, the city of Dallas is short almost 40,000 affordable rental units.
Black households in Dallas face the largest income-to-housing gaps. Almost 56% of these households spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Another 31%, or over 31,000 households, spend over 50% on rent.
“We know that the wage growth has been quite uneven for different residents in the city,” said Ashley Flores, chief of housing at CPAL. Black residents had the slowest income growth from 2012 to 2022; they had an 8% change when adjusted for inflation, compared with 17% for all people in the same same time period.
According to census estimates, the city of Dallas has over 530,000 households. Renters make up 312,000 of them.
In 2023, Dallas County had a median rent of $1,597 ($165 more than in 2022), compared to $1,747 for Denton, $1,569 for Tarrant and $1,866 for Collin, according to census data. These costs are higher than the national median rent of $1,406 for 2023, even though the national median housing costs for renters rose from $1,354 in 2022.
The median annual household income in Dallas County was $74,350 in 2023, or $6,195 monthly. But household incomes differ greatly by race, ethnicity and household size. Black households make roughly $58,700 per year, compared to over $104,000 per year for Asian households in Dallas County. In turn, the median household income in Texas is $75,730, or $6,315 per month.
But in a closer look, families with four members in the city of Dallas earning at or below 50% of the area median income make only $48,700 annually. The typical non-housing expenses for one adult in Dallas are $1,536, according to CPAL. This includes food, transportation and healthcare, among other expenses. These are the areas where people have to cut costs when stretching to pay rent.
“Maybe they’re sacrificing medical expenses, nutritious food, or other necessities to keep a roof over their head,” said Flores.
Cost-burdened rented homes in the city of Dallas are distributed disproportionately. In Districts 4 and 8, more than three in 10 renters pay over 50% of their income in rent, according to the CPAL report. Districts 3 and 10 also report rates higher than average.
“The median rent is unaffordable for 71% of Dallas’ residents,” the CPAL report reads. For the organization, despite improvements in educational attainment and wage growth, the problem won’t be solved unless more affordable housing is added.
