insiders know ...

[october 2024 roommates]

SO, roomiematch.com's DFW roommate rundown:

If you've never visited Dallas or even the great state of Texas . . . Dallas (DFW, the greater Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area) is probably larger than you think.

Like quite a bit larger.

Greater DFW is larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, and larger than New Jersey.

Dallas/Fort Worth is one of the largest metro areas in both Texas and the US, with about 1.3 million in the city and 7.5 million in the greater metro.

Since 1/4 of all Texans now live inside the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, it has a very diverse population. Almost all ethnic and religious backgrounds are represented to some extent in Dallas.

Meanwhile, about 20% of the overall area of Dallas is parkland - the Trinity River Project Land Use Plan, about 10,000 acres? And it's lovely.

But weirdly, there's not a lot of trees elsewhere? But as the Trinity River canopy spreads, that may continue to change.

The expansively successful local economy along with the vast expanse of land that Dallas has consumed has been referred to as "Silicon Prairie." Which makes sense, because you're really going to need a reliable air-conditioned car to be anything like comfy driving across it.

As Texas has been described as a "car culture" and Dallas has so much urban sprawl, most Dallasites drive everywhere. It has been suggested that not only are many native Dallasites unable to assist you with navigating their public transport system (DART), they may not even know it exists at all.

You must drive a decent car to deal with Dallas.

And keep that car maintenance in check.

There's much celebration of DFW affluence . . . more retail stores per capita, more luxury hotels, fine dining, exclusive posh retail shopping, larger homes in larger lifestyle communities, golf courses, high end air travel (from one of the world's busiest airports) and fancy cars . . . which have in and of themselves literally driven Dallasites toward their own urban sprawl.

BUT in the meantime, the rent is still relatively affordable . . . in large part due to aforementioned urban sprawl. All of those exciting options are really spread out!

That also means a whole lotta land that's all Dallas with roommate rental options all over it. Many roommate options. In so many neighborhoods with different vibes.

Just not the option to access most of them easily without your own reliable car.

The rest of the Dallas - Fort Worth roommate lowdown:

• Dallas has been surveyed as the Most Christian City in the nation with the highest percentage of self-declared devoted Christian adults in the metro area
• Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is a light rail network with connected bus routes. They go most places in the greater urban area, but are slow and frequently unreliable.
• Greater DFW is often referred to as "Silicon Prairie," with its concentration of banking, telecommunications, internet technology, energy, logistics, and transportation, including a large concentration of Fortune 500 companies
• Typical American South climate, with mild winters, very hot and very long and humid summers, and a spring that tends to get wet and stormy. Frozen precipitation is relatively rare - Dallas can but usually does not experience any extreme weather
• Dallas is home to Northwood University, Paul Quinn College, Amber University, Criswell College, Dallas Baptist University, East Texas State University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Women's University, University of Dallas, University of North Texas, and the University of Texas SW Medical Center
• Fort Worth is home to Southwestern Adventist College, Texas Wesleyan University, Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center
• All roommates moving to Dallas: If you want to go along to get along, you'll learn to love the Dallas Cowboys, possibly even prior to your arrival. Also probably the Dallas Texans, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Dallas Wings as well . . . but get your Cowboy fandom going first, then you can deal with the others after that.

After you're settled down, you and your roommates should experience DFW's:

• Dealey Plaza: Site of the assassination of JFK. Dallas feels so badly about any part it may have played that there are Xs in the road marking each time JFK was hit, and the Grassy Knoll has been restored to resemble its appearance that fateful day. Many local conspiracy theorists continue conspiring nearby. Plus there's a museum and a Memorial Plaza.
• Dallas Museum of Art: World-class museum featuring art from ALL historical periods. General admission is free!
• The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum (The Samurai Collection): It's a small museum overall, but with a relatively large collection of Samurai arms and armor! Also free!
• Beltline Road: Said to host more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the US. You can probably find whatever food you like best right on this road.
• Half-Price Books: Popular and beloved used bookstore chain. The flagship is in East Dallas, with several other locations in the area.
• Mesquite Championship Rodeo: It's a rodeo. It's in nearby Mesquite.
• Southfork Ranch: The ranch from the TV show "Dallas." You can still get a tour any day except Christmas.
• White Rock Lake, Joe Pool Lake, and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden: Reservoirs, water features, and places to chill after navigating/boating/rowing water features beloved by locals
• Dallas Zoo: Texas's largest at 106 acres - Since 1888!
• Deep Ellum: Hipster haven for college students with tattoos, plus music and dancing and even more tattoos for everyone else. Home to about a thousand artists in lofts and studios and bars and pubs. Named after being on the far ("Deep") end of Elm Street ("Ellum").
• Arts District: Northern section of downtown, largest geocontiguous arts district in the US, including: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Wind Symphony, Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, and the Nasher Sculpture Center
• Cowgirl Hall of Fame: In Fort Worth, they "celebrate women, past and present, whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience, and independence that helped shape the American West, and fosters and appreciation of the ideals and spirit of self-reliance they inspire."
• State Fair of Texas: This state fair lasts three weeks! Along with the expected fried delights (including fried peaches, fried Jello, and fried Dr. Pepper), there's a 55-foot-tall cowboy named Big Tex, who smiles and waves. There's also a car show, a rodeo, many games and rides, livestock demos, and pig racing!
• The Texas Woofus: Also, in Fair Park and originally created in 1936 for the Texas Centennial Exposition - a mythical chimerical creature made of different parts of the main animals of Texas: a sheep's head, the neck and mane of a horse, a pig's body, a duck's wings, a turkey's tail and finally . . . a pair of Texas longhorns!
  
  (The original mysteriously disappeared back in 1941 and was never recovered. But a replacement Woofus was supplied by David Newton and the Friends of Fair Park in 1998, who continues to preside today, while spouting water from his nozzle.)

Here's the city of Dallas's official Resident page with lists of community resources

Notes

1.   The non-traditional roommate rent average for this city we've experienced over the last 3 years. We can't predict future rental availability, because we're neither in control of any rental market nor psychic, sorry!

But in most cities most of the time, the recent and relatively recent past are the best predictors.


2.   This idea came from smartasset.com's ranking of what a roommate saves you in 50 cities. They ranked where roommates will save you the most money, based on the average cost of a 1BR as opposed to a 2BR ÷ 2. Unsurprisingly, the more expensive the city, the more you can save, but the savings are significant in all larger metros. So we got the data for the rest of our cities from Zumper too.

This is really the minimum you could save, as you could live with more than one roommate, split more services, share food or other supplies, etc. More sharing tends to lead to more savings too, as per our roommate roadmap.

As per the rest of the description at the top of this page, we're calling this "traditional" roommate rent.


3.   From zumper.com.


4.   Directly quoted from the Trust for Public Land's parkland rating system.

"The ParkScore index awards each city up to 100 points for acreage based on the average of two equally weighted measures: median park size and parkland as a percentage of city area. Factoring park acreage into each city’s ParkScore rating helps account for the importance of larger “destination parks” that serve many users who live farther than ten minutes’ walking distance."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual ParkScore, nature lovers might like to see all roommate cities ranked for parkland.


5.   Directly quoted from Walk Score's Cities and Neighborhoods Ranking. They've ranked "more than 2,800 cities and over 10,000 neighborhoods so you can find a walkable home or apartment."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual Walk Score, dedicated pedestrians might like to see all roommate cities ranked for walkability.


6.   From various lists here on our own best roommate cities.


7.   From hoodmaps.com: a collaborative map where residents use tags describing social situations you're likely to find. Other users can thumb up or down, so the largest tags have been thumbed up the most.