Dallas is one of the most unequal cities in Texas. While there are well-known billionaires in the area of Fort Worth, University Park, and Plano, there are worrying rates of child and race poverty in the south of the city, according to D Magazine.
While some areas continue to grow, increasing the building of apartment towers, expanding real estate, and food and lifestyle services, southern areas are stuck with the same poor access to opportunities.
Storage Cafe recently stated that a big part of the boom in real estate in states like Texas and Arizona goes back to the incessant migratory flow that arrives at the big cities. Dallas is in 7th place among the 10 cities in the United States with more luxury apartments.
As well, Houston it’s the city that has built more luxury apartments in the past 10 years. 72,000 exactly. This figure exceeded the city of New York. By luxury, Storage Cafe means apartments with a gym, pool, pizza oven, and other included services.
In the midst of an economic crisis, there are more luxury apartments than ever. In 2021, 375,495 luxury buildings were built in the country while only 41,255 non-luxury apartments popped out. The gap between one figure and the other raises questions about how many people will use those luxury apartments and why there is so much supply.
According to Storage Cafe in the area of Dallas and Plano Texas -located an hour’s drive away from Dallas- the incessant building of apartments comes from great school districts in the north of Dallas and Plano, and lots of well-paying jobs from companies like Siemens, Cigna, and PepsiCo. The average salary in Plano is $66 K per year.
Only 3,9% of the South Dallas population earns $66K, the average salary is around 22K. According to Area Vibes, South Dallas residents’ income is 45% below the national average.
There are also substantial rates that show poverty in Dallas is above the average state rate. While in Texas 13,6 % of the population are residents with incomes below the poverty level, in Dallas this figure it’s up to 17,5% of the population, usually in the same southern neighborhoods, according to City Data.
The Census Bureau proved that kids born in southern counties in Dallas have almost no opportunities to overcome poverty. While in the northern areas, kids born in precary situations have the chance to go to college and improve their incomes as adults.
We would have to ask ourselves why the seventh city with more luxury apartments has such high poverty figures…