Photo by R Architecture for Unsplash
Of 50 major cities in a Storage Cafe study, Dallas ranks No. 2 in Texas and No. 13 nationwide for best places to live based on home size and a few other quality-of-life components, coming in behind Austin, Nashville, Omaha, Louisville, KY and eight other metros.
Here in Dallas the median house size is 1,794 square feet—200 square feet smaller than houses in Austin, the Texas city with the largest houses, the study reveals. Our median yard is 8,121 square feet, bringing us in at No. 16 nationwide for lot size.
Dallas’ median single-family home in 2023 is about 32% bigger than the median recorded 10 years ago, the researchers say. Yet the size of the lots on which they sit has shrunk by 29%.
Even with the dwindling lot size Dallas is bucking the nation’s overall shrinkage trend. “Sizes of both residential lots and houses have generally been on a downward slope during the last decade whereas prices have been trending up,” the study revealed.
Nationwide, house prices have shot up 70% in the past 10. Our big houses (and not-as-big houses) are more affordable than many urban hubs, with median home prices just above $300,000. (Albeit $749,760 in Lakewood’s 75214 ZIP and $529,855 in Old Lake Highlands and Lochwood/Dixon Branch’s 75218). In general Dallas home prices are about 43% less than those in Austin, according to the study.
Dallas suburb Arlington made a showing in the report for its balance between home and lot sizes (1,797 and 7,745, respectively).
Nationwide, “big homes with tons of outdoor space are getting harder to come by,” the researchers said.
“The typical American house is sitting at around 2,299 square feet, 4% smaller than 10 years ago,” they noted, “while the typical lot size dwindled by 8% to 8,891 square feet during the same period. In the meantime, the average price of a new home has soared since 2013.”
According to the researchers, pandemic-prompted lifestyle changes have contributed to the desirability of larger homes and yards.
“Something that has lingered for many people in the aftermath of the pandemic is the desire to live in airy spaces where we can live, work, play and have a sense of privacy – all under one roof,” Storage Cafe author Maria Gatea said. “With the normalization of remote work for a significant segment of the workforce, chasing big homes is gaining even more traction across the US.”
Seven southern cities made the top 10 of hotspots for spacious living, including Raleigh, NC; Atlanta and Charlotte, NC, which occupy the first three spots on the list.
Raleigh, North Carolina topped the list with residential lots covering roughly 10,500 square feet (about a fifth of a football field). Houses there are smaller, taking about only 18% of a hypothetical homestead.
The Storage Cafe study also factored in crime rate (Dallas ranked No. 42 of 50, bad), median resident income (ours is $58,200), commuting time to city center (27 minutes) and self storage rent prices (because they are predominantly storage company site, $115 monthly here in D Town) when figuring the rankings. Visit their site for the full report and methodology.
