4 April 2 - 8, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents But we aren’t exactly bringing home the big bucks either. Notably, $100,000 far outpaces Dallas’ area median income, which was $52,000 for a family of four as of last month, according to the Child Poverty Action Lab. Still, if the purchasing power of a six-figure salary is diminished by the cost of living in this town, the problem is trickling down. Based on an internal SmartAsset analyzer and data from the Council for Community and Economic Research, a $100,000 salary in Dallas was found to actually have the pur- chasing power of around $80,103 annually. In terms of how far our dollar stretches, we tied with Nashville and came in at spot No. 22 out of 69. We did manage to improve, a bit. In 2024, a $100,000 paycheck only went as far as $77,197. Perhaps predictably, Manhattan is the place where $100,000 is worth the least. That Big Apple salary has the purchasing power of $29,420 annually, thanks to the double whammy of a high cost of living and a high tax rate. And unlike Dallas, which ac- tually saw the dollar’s power grow stronger between 2024 and 2025, Manhattan is only getting pricier. Another Texas city is also lagging behind Dallas in affordability. In Plano, a $100,000 salary has the purchasing power of $72,653, making the Collin County town the most ex- pensive of the Lone Star State cities sur- veyed. Austin, Lubbock, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and Corpus Christi all beat Dallas’ rate, with Corpus coming in as the place where your dollar goes the furthest. Our peer cities, San Antonio, Houston and Aus- tin, came in at 8th, 10th and 17th, respec- tively. But the biggest bucks are down on the Gulf. If you can land a $100,000 job in Cor- pus Christi, it’ll feel like $91,110. The beach town was the second-best value city identi- fied in the survey, bested only by Oklahoma City. And that extra spending power will make buying bottled water easier. ▼ DALLAS ON A DIME TRACKING GEN-Z WHILE ONE BIG D ZIP CODE WELCOMES A BUNCH OF GEN- ZERS, A SUBURB NORTH OF TOWN HAS SEEN A TON OF THEM LEAVE RECENTLY. BY KELLY DEARMORE I n 2026, the members of Generation Z are in that sweet spot of life. Gen-Zers are in the midst of figuring out who they are while navigating new horizons and making many of life’s biggest decisions on their own for the first time. Getting your first car, graduating college, getting your first major job, finding your life’s great love and having kids are just some of the milestones people often experience in that pivotal span between high school and hitting their 30s. Although the younger folks of Gen Z may not have much choice when it comes to where they live as they are still likely under their parents’ roof, a large chunk of that group is out on their own. A new study says that members of Gen Z are increasingly choosing to move out of rural and suburban areas and into metropolitan areas. Drawn in by job opportunities and a qual- ity of life that offers more activity, such a trend is hardly revelatory in and of itself. But according to online relocation resource MovingPlace, such a trend is more than a nifty little tidbit on a generation’s likes and dislikes; it’s a statistic that yields wisdom for the future. “Gen Z functions like a friction test for the housing and job market,” said Moving- Place’s senior editor, Daniel Cobb. “Because they have the least financial slack, no reloca- tion packages and little tolerance for ineffi- ciency, they only move when a city removes enough barriers to make early adulthood vi- able. This includes high average salaries, lower living costs, plenty of affordable rental options and a booming job market to sup- port.” MovingPlace’s report is based on its pro- prietary analysis of 335,678 verified Gen Z moves in 2025, alongside broader U.S. mov- ing data covering more than 15 million relo- cations. For the purposes of this report, MovingPlace defined Gen Z as those born between 2001 and 2020, which is different from the more commonly cited range of people born between roughly 1997 and 2013. Flocking to This ZIP T he spot in town that many twenty- somethings are moving to is not shocking. In fact, it’s almost a classic Big D cliche: the young professional who moves to Uptown. Indeed, 75204 is the ZIP with the most Gen Z migration in Dallas. And why shouldn’t it be? The shops, sips and bites of West Village, the Katy Trail, easy access to U.S. Highway 75 and downtown, the mar- garitas of Las Palmas and the caffeinated concoctions of LDU Coffee all make for a highly appealing living situation. In its report, MovingPlace states the ob- vious to those of us who understand Dallas already, saying that Uptown and the parts of downtown included in the ZIP “have been transforming into dynamic urban environ- ments with new apartments, restaurants, and entertainment within walking distance. For younger generations, the combination of job access, nightlife, cultural venues and central location ticks the boxes for lifestyle and convenience. It’s also connected by transit and bike infrastructure that supports urban living without heavy reliance on cars, a key draw for Gen Z residents.” Leaving the Northern Suburbs O ne of the central points of the survey is that many Gen-Zers are moving toward the action, so it stands to reason that quieter suburban areas where some might argue less action occurs find themselves on the other end of this contin- uum. In North Texas, the slowest-growing ZIP code for Gen-Z migration can be found in the northern suburbs. Aubrey, a little north- east of Denton, has Lake Ray Roberts nearby, and, apparently, is considered by some to be the horse capital of Texas, thanks to a high number of horse farms. But that’s not enough for many Gen-Zers, it seems. “ZIP 76227 in the Aubrey area has seen a low number of Gen-Z migration, likely be- cause it lacks the dense urban amenities, strong public transit and concentrated pro- fessional networks found in central Dallas or Fort Worth,” MovingPlace notes. “Younger prospective residents often gravi- tate toward ZIPs with tighter walkability, more nightlife and stronger local job mar- kets, driving relocation away from more sprawling, car-dependent neighborhoods.” Uptown might be where many Gen-Zers are moving in North Texas, but an affluent suburb known for its expensive high school football stadium is a location that sees many young folks leave once they’ve left that cam- pus. The 75013 ZIP code in Allen has seen one of the biggest Gen Z exoduses anywhere in the United States. “These ZIP codes are seeing the largest outflows of Gen Z, indicating neighbor- hoods losing younger residents,” the reports stated. “Areas with fewer career opportuni- ties, limited amenities, or higher housing costs like 43065 Powell, OH and 93536 Lan- caster, CA are being left behind.” Thanks to the recent population explo- sion and increase in development in Allen, it’s doubtful that people are moving away because of a lack of jobs or amenities, how- ever, with home sales averaging more than $500,000 and monthly rent averaging more than $1,600, it’s not hard to see how some Gen-Zers might want to look for a better deal elsewhere. ▼ DALLAS ON A DIME HELP WANTED THESE 3 DALLAS SUBURBS AMONG THE TOP ‘SMALL CITIES FOR BIG JOBS’ IN AMERICA. BY KELLY DEARMORE H ave you driven up the Dallas North Tollway through Plano and past Frisco lately? You’ve surely noticed that many once undeveloped parcels of land have somehow become even more crowded with towers and complexes in just the re- cent past. The stretch between IKEA, at the nexus of the DNT and the Sam Rayburn Tollway and Toyota Stadium a few miles to the north, once felt like an empty few miles connected the two Frisco landmarks but now is so filled it’s shocking to see there was so much space for development to begin with. A lot of relocated and newly opened cor- porate headquarters have helped take up those miles, which is why Frisco is among what a new survey says are the hottest places in the U.S. for career opportunities for so-called “small cities.” Seems big things come in relatively smaller packages when it comes to prime opportunities outside of major cities includ- ing Dallas and Fort Worth. “Across the U.S., a new wave of cities with a more concentrated urban footprint is qui- etly turning into career powerhouses, even though we tend to associate that success with the big, bustling cities,” reads the report from Coworking Cafe, an online coworking direc- tory. “Some of the best opportunities are pop- ping up in tight-knit communities where innovation, affordability and a great quality of life all come together.” Frisco sits at No. 11 on the list, with Flower Mound (No. 15) and McKinney (No. 20) trailing not far behind on the list that The New York Times labeled as “the best small cities for big job opportunities.” To arrive at their results, Coworking Cafe reviewed 298 cities across the U.S. with less than 250,000 people, taking into account a range of economic, workforce and quality- of-life factors, including some income and affordability metrics, labor market and re- mote work trends, as well as other factors including healthcare access, education lev- els and commute times. One of the report’s listed key findings says that “In Frisco and Pflugerville [Texas], the Sun Belt’s hidden edge shows itself as an engine of growth accelerating faster than almost anywhere else.” Later, when referring to the cities between No. 11 and No. 20, which includes Frisco, Flower Mound and McKinney, the report notes that “the strongest small-city economies tend to cluster in fast-growing Sun Belt metros, high-performing central U.S. hubs and affluent tech-oriented suburbs. These cities share a distinct economic profile: broad, two-digit wage growth over the past five years.” Adobe Stock Gen Z is claiming Uptown as their spot. Unfair Park from p3
