Dallas, TX

Cost of Living inDallas, TX, United States

Texas, United States8.1MHigh income

Image credit: Matthew Trader

Purchasing Power vs. United States

Your money goes 1.59x further

Based on GDP per capita (PPP). United States: $75,489/capita.

How Far Your Money Goes

Prices are 27% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).

Overall
1.4x further
Prices are 27% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Rent
2.3x further
Prices are 56% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Groceries
1.3x further
Prices are 24% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Restaurants
1.3x further
Prices are 25% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).

Income Category

High
World Bank GNI

Happiness

6.7 / 10

#22 globally

GDP per Capita

$75,489
PPP, International $

City Population

8.1M

Monthly Costs

Rent

1BR City Center$1,747/mo
1BR Outside Center$1,468/mo
3BR City Center$3,700/mo
3BR Outside Center$2,548/mo

Food

Cheap Meal$20
Mid-Range (2 people)$36
Milk (1L)$0.95
Bread (500g)$3.63
Eggs (12)$4.61

Transport

Monthly Pass$36
Taxi per km$1.75
Gasoline (1L)$0.77

Utilities

Basic (85m² apt)$221/mo
Internet (60+ Mbps)$72/mo

Education

Preschool$36/mo
Intl Primary School$36/yr

Child Education

Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.

Public schools

Public-schooling rules are set nationally for United States; Dallas, TX-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.

Mixed public-school option

Quality

Mixed public-school option

Expat access

Available to residents

conditional

Instruction

English

Language fit is more manageable.

PISA / outcomes

Qualitative only

Using curated quality notes for now.

Why this quality rating

The United States has many excellent public schools, but quality varies sharply by district and neighborhood.

Why the expat-access rating looks like this

Resident families can use local public schools, but school quality depends heavily on district assignment and housing location.

🗺️ Homeschooling

Varies by state

Homeschooling is legal in all 50 US states but regulations vary dramatically. Some states (TX, AK, ID) have minimal oversight; others (NY, PA, MA) require notification, testing, and curriculum approval. Most worldschooling families establish residency in low-regulation states.

Homeschool legality in United States — check current regulations before committing.

Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)

International & private schools

Median tuition
5 schools listed
$25,900/yr
American4IB1

Childcare & Domestic Help

Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Dallas, TX, United States.

Full-time nanny (5 days)

$2,450-$3,200

monthly · confidence 0.65

Live-in / 24-7 nanny

$3,000-$3,900

monthly · confidence 0.65

Source: curated family relocation research

Getting Around

The concrete mobility picture for Dallas: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.

Airport

Major international air hub

DFW is one of the world’s biggest airports, and Love Field adds dense domestic coverage across the metro.

Urban transit

Light rail, commuter rail, and bus

metrocommuter railbus

DART rail and bus make some core districts and airport-connected trips workable without a car, even though much of the metro still leans car-first.

Rideshare

Uber and Lyft available

App-hailed rides are a normal complement to DART for airport runs and lower-frequency suburb trips.

Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)

Healthcare

System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in United States.

Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.

382 facilities tracked
Facilities updated 2 months ago

Healthcare system

Strong

High national coverage, strong doctor availability, and deep nursing capacity support this rating.

Public care

Good

Broad public coverage and relatively low patient cost-sharing help, but the tracked facility mix leans away from public providers.

Private care

Good

A meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.

UHC coverage

88/100

2023

Physicians

3.68/1k

2022

Hospital beds

2.68/1k

2022

Out of pocket

11%

2023

Outcome signals

Life expectancy

78.9 yrs

2024

Maternal mortality

17/100k

2023

Neonatal mortality

3.7/1k

2024

International patient readiness

Good

A visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.

Pricing transparency

Limited

Multiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.

Facility coverage

Pharmacy: 119Dentist: 90Clinic: 88Doctor: 47Hospital: 30Laboratory: 4Physiotherapy: 4

Self-pay pricing visibility

No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in United States yet.

This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.

Notable facilities

Select Specialty Hospital - Dallas Downtown
Hospital · Emergency
Website
North Central Surgical Center
Hospital · Emergency
Website
Vibra Specialty Hospital of Desoto
Hospital · Emergency
Website
First Baptist Medical Center
Hospital · Emergency
Website
Children's Medical Center of Dallas
Hospital · Emergency
Website
paediatrics
Medical City Dallas
Hospital · Emergency
Website

System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01

Safety & Governance

Street Safety

Safety Index49/100
Crime Index51/100

Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.

Political Stability

Political Stability+0.39

World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.

Wages by Sector

SectorMedian
Information & Technology$166,529/yr
Finance & Insurance$132,969/yr
Professional & Scientific Services$128,398/yr
Utilities$123,918/yr
Manufacturing$108,460/yr
Transport & Logistics$102,174/yr
Mining & Quarrying$100,287/yr
Healthcare & Social Work$84,617/yr
Real Estate$83,608/yr
Other Services$82,498/yr
Retail & Wholesale Trade$80,106/yr
Education$80,066/yr
Construction$77,130/yr
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation$76,494/yr
Administrative & Support Services$70,743/yr
Agriculture & Farming$53,115/yr
Hospitality & Food Service$41,925/yr

2025 annual wages in Dallas, TX, United States · Source: BLS OEWS (MSA-adjusted)

Price Comparison vs. US

abs gasoline regular
$3.17EstimatedSame
beer
$7.75EstimatedSame
big mac
$6.12EstimatedSame
bread 500g
$3.63Estimated7% more
budget hotel
$36.29EstimatedSame
budget hotel night
$35.00EstimatedSame
childcare preschool
$36.00Estimated98% cheaper
cinema
$16.50EstimatedSame
coca cola
$2.15EstimatedSame
eggs dozen
$4.61Estimated4% cheaper
gasoline liter
$43.81Survey-verified4153% more
inexpensive meal
$20.00Estimated5% cheaper
internet 60mbps
$71.65Estimated6% more
iphone
$999.00EstimatedSame
jeans
$51.25EstimatedSame
latte
$5.31EstimatedSame
luxury hotel
$477.94EstimatedSame
luxury hotel night
$450.00EstimatedSame
mcmeal
$10.13EstimatedSame
milk liter
$0.95Estimated22% cheaper
monthly pass
$43.81Survey-verified37% cheaper
nike shoes
$91.25EstimatedSame
regional price parity
$95.10EstimatedSame
rent 1br
$1747.25Estimated4% cheaper
rent 2br
$4300.00EstimatedSame
rent 3br
$3699.55Estimated16% more
subway fare
$43.81Survey-verified1718% more
taxi km
$1.75Estimated6% cheaper
utilities basic
$220.50Estimated3% more

Visa Information (US passport)

Long-Term Visa Programs

Quick comparison FAQ

Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.

How far does your money go in Dallas compared with the US?

Your money goes about 1.6x further in Dallas than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate.

Is Dallas cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?

Dallas is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 27% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Dallas.

How does rent in Dallas compare with New York City?

Rent in Dallas is about 56% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).

How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Dallas?

Groceries in Dallas are about 24% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 25% cheaper than the same benchmark.

About Dallas, TX

Dallas is the ninth-largest city in the United States and a 1.33-million-resident core of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, a north Texas conurbation that ranks among the country's largest metro economies. The local economy is unusually diverse, concentrated in banking and finance, telecoms, airlines (American Airlines is headquartered nearby), tech, healthcare, and a heavy professional-services base, with a notable corporate-relocation inflow from higher-tax states over the past decade. Relocators should weigh hot, humid summers with regular triple-digit days, no state income tax, generally affordable housing compared to coastal US peers (though prices have risen sharply), a sprawling car-dependent geography, and a power grid that has shown stress during winter cold snaps. DFW International is among the busiest airports in the world.