City comparison · 1,787 km apart

Miami vs Dallas: which should you move to?

Miami or Dallas? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.

The city from the water
Florida · United States

Miami

Photograph: The city from the water · P. Hughes · CC BY 4.0 · source
Downtown across the Trinity
Texas · United States

Dallas

Photograph: Downtown across the Trinity · Tony Webster · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
The short answer

Both cities price in US dollars and neither state taxes income, so the figures net directly and a single filer on $100,000 pays the same $13,449 in federal tax in each. The difference is the house. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,404 a month on Miami's typical home and about $3,529 on the Dallas single-family median, and the $875 gap would be about $987 with Miami's payment priced at Dallas's September rate of 7.03% rather than August's 6.67%. Against local pay that is roughly 80% of the City of Miami's median household income against 57% of Dallas's. Crime is Miami's on the FBI's own counts: 358.6 violent offenses per 100,000 against 577, and 26 homicides, 5.2 per 100,000, against 140 at about 10.5. Dallas has the larger labor market and the larger airport. Choose Miami for a 20.3 C January, a car-light life along Metrorail and the lower crime rates. Choose Dallas for a house local pay can carry, a two-bedroom at $1,853 rather than $3,004, and the corporate job market.

Population
MeasureMiamiDallasAdvantage
City population489,812 (2025)1,329,491 (2025)Not directly comparable
Metro population6,391,072 (2025)8,477,157 (2025)Not directly comparable
Five-year growth
Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner.
10.8% (2020-2025)1.9% (2020-2025)Not directly comparable
01: Housing

What a home costs in each

The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.

Housing costs
MeasureMiamiDallasAdvantage
Benchmark home price
MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's.
$582,621 (June 2026)$469,900 (August 2026)Dallas
Detached house benchmark
Miami and Dallas publish a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat.
$582,621$469,900Dallas
Apartment or condominium benchmarkNot published$310,000Not directly comparable
Two-bedroom rent$3,004/mo (median, June 2026)$1,853/mo (average, August 2026)Dallas
One-bedroom rent$2,583/mo$1,416/moDallas
Two-bedroom rent against median income
A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies.
54.3% of a year's income29.9% of a year's incomeDallas
Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down
30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both.
$2,998/mo at 6.67%$2,509/mo at 7.03%Dallas
Price to household income
Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not.
8.8×6.3×Dallas
Property tax on the benchmark home
The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars.
$10,808/yr (1.855%, 2025)$7,448/yr (1.585%, 2025)Dallas
Transfer tax on the benchmark home
Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving.
$3,496 (seller pays)NoneDallas
Rent control
A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better.
Forbidden by state lawForbidden by state lawNot directly comparable

Miami: About 1.86% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.9878 mills charged here, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the school district, which levies 6.4990 of the 19.9878. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $10,808 on the $582,621 typical home value here. Miami runs its own fire department, so it pays none of the county's 2.3965-mill Fire Rescue district levy. One of only five municipalities in Miami-Dade in that position, and worth more than most municipal rates on this table. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is. Dallas: About 1.58% of value for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $469,900 median single-family sale price. A house in the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD is taxed by five units for 2025, which add to 2.22671 per $100 before any exemption. Each takes its own homestead exemption off the appraised value first: Dallas ISD the state's $140,000 and a further 10% of its own, and Dallas County, the City, Dallas College and the Parkland Hospital District 20% each. So Dallas County levies 0.2155 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $810; City of Dallas levies 0.6988 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $2,627; Dallas ISD levies 0.993835 per $100 on $282,910 after a $186,990 exemption, $2,812; Dallas College levies 0.106575 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $401; Parkland Hospital District levies 0.212 per $100 on $375,920 after a $93,980 exemption, $797. The five come to $7,446 a year, 1.58% of the price. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $10,463. The appraisal district's own typical homestead is cheaper than the typical sale: its certified median market value for a City of Dallas homestead was $364,530 for the 2025 appraisal year, the value on 1 January 2025 these rates were levied on, and $364,000 for 2026. On $364,530 the same five units come to $5,465, 1.50%, lower because the school district's flat exemption is a larger share of a cheaper house. These are the 2025 rates, the bills due by 31 January 2026. The appraisal district's 2026 table was still its estimate of 4 March 2026 when these figures were retrieved, so the calculators stay on 2025 until the five units' 2026 rates are published.

02: Crime and safety

How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes

Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.

Crime
MeasureMiamiDallasAdvantage
Crime Severity Index
Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series.
Not publishedNot publishedNot directly comparable
Violent crime per 100,000359 (2025)577 (2025)Miami
Property crime per 100,0002,241 (2025)3,081 (2025)Miami
Homicides
Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table.
26 (2025)140 (2025)Not directly comparable
Miami

FBI CDE counts for Miami PD show violent offenses falling from 2,245 in 2023 to 2,225 in 2024 and 1,787 in 2025 (a 20 percent one-year drop), property offenses from 13,928 to 11,178, and homicides from 61 in 2020 to 26 in 2025. Mid-2025 the department reported robberies down 17 percent and auto thefts down 37 percent against the first half of 2024.

What the rates cover: Miami Police Department (ORI FL0130600), FBI Crime Data Explorer NIBRS summarized data, 1,787 violent offenses in calendar 2025 against a CDE agency population of 498,792. 2024: 2,225 offenses, 483.1 per 100k. Miami PD moved to NIBRS mid 2022, so 2021 is blank and 2022 is a partial year in the CDE.

Homicides: Miami PD, FBI CDE: 26 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025, 5.2 per 100k. 2024: 29 (6.4 per 100k), 2023: 32 (7.1), 2020: 61 (12.8). Miami PD said in July 2025 the city might beat its record low of 24 set in 1946.

Dallas

On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in Dallas went from 11,181 in 2021 to 10,255 in 2022, 9,025 in 2023, 8,747 in 2024 and 7,674 in 2025, a 12% drop in the last year and 31% in four, and property offenses from 46,991 to 49,224, a peak of 52,641 in 2023, then 45,106 and 40,962, 22% below the peak. Motor vehicle theft drove most of that swing: 11,818 in 2021, 18,457 in 2023 and 11,162 in 2025. In 2025 the CDE shows aggravated assaults down 12% (5,826 to 5,144), robberies down 10% (2,235 to 2,020), rapes down 27% (505 to 370) and murders down 23% (181 to 140). On its own definitions DPD reported violent crime down 12%, robberies down 10%, aggravated assaults down 12% and sexual assaults down 13%. The 2025 CDE counts were read on 27 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.

What the rates cover: Computed: 7,674 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Dallas Police Department (ORI TXDPD0000) in calendar 2025, divided by the 1,329,491 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 1,331,217 the rate is 576. DPD does not publish a total on this definition. The violent crime its Violent Crime Reduction Plan tracks is murder, robbery and aggravated assault, with family-violence and other aggravated assaults counted separately and rape left out. Its public incident dataset on Dallas OpenData, which the city describes as a research copy rather than the authoritative count, lists only 57 murder incidents and 12 family-violence aggravated assault incidents for 2025, so it cannot rebuild either total.

Homicides: 140 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, against 181 in 2024, about 10.5 per 100,000 on the city population. DPD's own year-end count was 141 homicides against 184 in 2024, a 23% drop (CBS Texas, February 2026); nothing fetched explains the gaps of one and three cases between the two series. The high point in the CDE series since 2021 is 244, in 2023.

03: Climate

Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house

Climate normals
MeasureMiamiDallasAdvantage
January mean20.3 °C8.8 °CNot directly comparable
July mean28.9 °C30.7 °CNot directly comparable
Precipitation a year1,712 mm973 mmNot directly comparable
Snowfall a year0 cm4 cmNot directly comparable
Sunshine a year3,154 hours2,850 hoursMiami
Miami

NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals at Miami International Airport (USW00012839): January mean 68.6 F, July 84.1 F (August is warmest at 84.2 F), annual mean 77.4 F, annual precipitation 67.41 in, snow 0. Sunshine about 3,154 hours a year comes from NOAA Comparative Climatic Data (older period), not the 1991-2020 normals. Hazards: hurricanes and storm surge, seasonal king tide and rainfall flooding, heat and humidity from May to October, frequent thunderstorms (roughly 80 thunder days a year).

Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge every June to November, with chronic tidal and rain flooding; windstorm and separate NFIP or private flood cover are a real carrying cost and coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more.

Dallas

NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Dallas Love Field (station USW00013960), the city's own climate station about 6 miles northwest of downtown: January mean 47.8F, July mean 87.3F, annual mean 68.0F, 38.32 in of precipitation, 1.7 in of snow. July and August tie as the warmest months at 87.3F, with mean highs of 96.9F and 97.1F, and January's mean low is 37.9F. October (4.79 in) and May (4.57 in) are the wettest months and July (1.71 in) the driest, and most of the snow falls in February (0.9 in). The normals count 107.5 days a year at 90F or above, 22.4 at 100F or above and 23.1 nights at or below freezing. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (USW00003927), where the National Weather Service keeps the metro's official record, averages 46.3F in January and 85.7F in July with 37.01 in of rain and 1.6 in of snow, 20.3 days at 100F or above and 29.2 nights at or below freezing. Converted here to 8.8 C, 30.7 C, 973 mm and 4.3 cm. That July mean is the warmest of any city this site compares, 1.5F (0.8 C) above Austin's at Camp Mabry. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means (2,850 hours, 61% of possible), since the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.

Hazards: Heat is the constant. The normals give Love Field 22.4 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C); its record since 1939 is 73 such days in 2011, including 40 in a row from 2 July to 10 August, and its highest reading is 112F (44.4 C), on 26 and 27 June 1980 and again on 22 July 2018. At DFW Airport the record is 71 days in 2011 and the longest run 42, from 23 June to 3 August 1980, when the airport reached 113F (45.0 C). The summer of 2026 is among the hottest on record: by 22 September Love Field had 54 days at 100F or above, fourth in its record, and DFW 52, tied for fifth, 27 of them in August. Hail is the costly routine hazard. NOAA's billion-dollar disaster list counts a North Texas hailstorm on 23 and 24 March 2016 at $2.06 billion in 2016 dollars, and on 11 April 2016 a supercell dropped hailstones up to 5.25 in (13.3 cm), the record for the NWS Fort Worth area, and hit 80% of the homes in Wylie, northeast of the city; Cotality counted more than 235,000 Texas homes hit by damaging hail in 2025, far more than in any other state. Tornadoes reach the city itself. On 20 October 2019 an EF3 with winds near 140 mph (225 km/h) tracked 15.76 miles (25.4 km) from near I-35E and Walnut Hill Lane through Preston Hollow to US 75 and on into Richardson, damaging a high school, a middle school and an elementary school, destroying about 118 structures and doing $1.55 billion of damage without a death; on 26 December 2015 an EF4 killed 10 people in Sunnyvale, Garland and Rowlett in eastern Dallas County. The Trinity River passes downtown between 23 miles (37 km) of levees 29 to 32 ft (8.8 to 9.8 m) high, completed in 1932 and upgraded by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s. The river's record crest at Dallas, 52.6 ft (16.0 m), came in the flood of May 1908, before them; the highest since was 47.1 ft (14.4 m) in May 1990, and by November 2023 the Corps had raised the West levee to carry 277,000 cubic feet (7,844 cubic meters) a second, with the East levee still to do. Flash floods on the creeks are the more frequent danger: on 21 and 22 August 2022, 9.19 in (233 mm) fell at DFW Airport in 24 hours, second only to 9.57 in (243 mm) in September 1932, 9.14 in (232 mm) fell at Love Field and 15.16 in (385 mm) at a gauge on White Rock Creek at Scyene Road, and at least one person died. Cold is rare and badly handled when it comes. Winter Storm Uri left 5.3 in (13.5 cm) of snow at Love Field from 14 to 17 February 2021 and a low of 2F (-16.7 C) on the 16th, matched there only in January 1949 and beaten only in January 1940 (0F, -17.8 C) and December 1989 (1F, -17.2 C); DFW Airport fell to -2F (-18.9 C), the lowest in its record since 1953. ERCOT cut power across the state grid from 15 to 18 February and about 4.5 million customers lost it at the worst; Texas counted 246 deaths from the storm, 22 of them in Dallas County. In January 2026 Winter Storm Fern brought 2.4 in (6.1 cm) of snow and sleet to DFW Airport and lows of 13F (-10.6 C), and the grid held. Drought is the slow hazard. The seven water supply lakes the Texas Water Development Board counts for the Dallas area stood at 86.5% of conservation capacity on 27 September 2026, down from 98.7% at the end of June; in the 2011 to 2015 drought they fell to 62.7% before the rains of 2015 filled them. Dallas has capped lawn watering at twice a week since April 2012.

04: Income, jobs and taxes

What people earn and what the government takes

Income and taxes
MeasureMiamiDallasAdvantage
Median household income$66,337 USD (2024)$74,323 USD (2024)Dallas
Unemployment rate3.0% (June 2026)4.2% (July 2026)Miami
Sales tax7%8.25%Miami
Top marginal income tax
Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here.
37%37%Even
Income tax on $100,000, single filer
Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method.
$13,449 USD$13,449 USDEven
Miami

Nonfarm employment in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division was 1,351,000 in June 2026, up 8,800 (0.7 percent) over the year, led by education and health services (+6,100) and professional and business services (+4,800); Broward shed 5,000 jobs over the same period. MIA handled nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo in 2025, the most of any US airport.

Main sectors: Trade, transportation and logistics (port and airport), Tourism and hospitality, Finance and professional services, Health care and education, Real estate and construction.

No state or local income tax. Property tax and insurance are the taxes and costs that bite in Miami: homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3 percent assessment cap favour long-time owners over new buyers.

Dallas

BLS counted 4,353,400 nonfarm jobs in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA in July 2026 (not seasonally adjusted), up 54,000 or 1.3% on the year. Professional and business services (+3.0%, to 805,200) and leisure and hospitality (+3.0%) grew fastest, then mining, logging and construction and education and health services (both +2.0%), while information (-2.8%), financial activities (-1.0%) and manufacturing (-0.7%) shrank. Trade, transportation and utilities is the largest sector at 895,000 jobs, and government employs 465,400. The seasonally adjusted series (FRED DALL148NA) was 4,363,400 in August 2026, 1.1% above August 2025. Average weekly wages across the metro were $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. The Dallas Regional Chamber counts 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region as of 2025 and 44 in the Fortune 1000, among them AT&T, Texas Instruments, American Airlines, Kimberly-Clark, Toyota Motor North America and McKesson.

Main sectors: Trade, transportation and utilities, the metro's largest sector (DFW Airport, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, BNSF Railway), Corporate headquarters and professional and business services (AT&T, Texas Instruments, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Toyota Motor North America), Financial activities (the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Charles Schwab, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America), Health care and education (Baylor Scott & White Health, Texas Health Resources, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Children's Health), Aerospace and advanced manufacturing (Lockheed Martin, Bell Textron, Raytheon, Texas Instruments).

Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Texas's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40%, and school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from their tax. The City of Dallas's own rate for the fiscal year that starts on 1 October 2026 is 69.78 cents per $100 of taxable value, down from 69.88 cents, the eleventh cut in a row, in a $5.66 billion budget. Proposition U, a charter amendment Dallas voters approved in November 2024, requires the council to put at least half of each year's revenue growth into the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, with any remainder of that half going to police pay and to a force of at least 4,000 officers; the budget adopted in September 2026 funds 3,651 officers by the end of September 2027 and 3,800 a year later. The county, school district and other levies on the same bill belong to the housing layer.

05: Getting around

Whether you need a car

Transit
MeasureMiamiDallasAdvantage
SystemMiami-Dade Transit (Metrorail, Metromover, Metrobus); Brightline and Tri-Rail regional railDART buses (nearly 700 vehicles), four light rail lines on 93 miles of track, the 26-mile Silver Line commuter rail from Plano to DFW Airport (opened October 2025), the Trinity Railway Express to Fort Worth run with Trinity Metro, the Dallas Streetcar and GoLink on-demand zonesNot directly comparable
Commute by public transit7.7% (2024)2.0% (2024)Miami
Walk or cycle to work5.7% (2024)2.5% (2024)Miami
AirportMiami International Airport, MIA, 55.3 million passengers in 2025 (about 1 percent below 2024's record 55.9 million), per Miami-Dade Aviation Department release of May 4 2026Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), 85,660,127 passengers in 2025, 2.5% fewer than 2024's 87,817,864, per the airport's December 2025 traffic report; 12.65 million of them were international and American Airlines carried 82.6%. ACI World ranked it the fourth-busiest airport in the world by passengers in 2025 and third by aircraft movements. Dallas Love Field (DAL), about 6 miles northwest of downtown and the birthplace and headquarters of Southwest Airlines, handled 16,899,203 passengers in 2025, 5.5% fewer than in 2024 (FAA figures as cited by Wikipedia; the airport's website refused the fetcher).Not directly comparable
Miami

Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA ridership report, as cited on Wikipedia): Metrorail 14,971,300, Metromover 7,683,800, the rest on Metrobus. Q4 2025 weekday averages: Metrorail 50,300, Metromover 25,600, system 259,400.

Dallas

DART carried 52,823,800 unlinked trips in 2025, 28,151,100 of them by bus and 21,611,600 on light rail, and about 157,300 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026, 65,300 of them on light rail (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia; APTA's PDFs refused the fetcher). DART's own figure is more than 171,000 passengers a day across a 700-square-mile, 12-city service area. The Trinity Railway Express, which DART runs with Fort Worth's Trinity Metro, carried 1,337,600 trips in 2025 (APTA, same source). The Silver Line opened on 25 October 2025 through Plano, Richardson, Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, Coppell and Grapevine to DFW Airport, every 30 minutes at weekday peaks and hourly otherwise. DART is paid for by a 1% sales tax in its member cities, and the suburbs have pushed back on what they pay: Plano, Irving and Farmers Branch canceled withdrawal elections set for May 2026 after agreements that return part of their sales tax over six years for local transportation projects, Addison and University Park voted to stay, and Highland Park voted by 70% to leave, with service ending on 14 May 2026.

06: Daily life

Health care, schools and what each city is like

Miami

Health care

Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so the uninsured share runs above the national rate and emergency rooms carry the gap. Jackson Memorial, the public safety-net hospital with more than 1,500 licensed beds, is the teaching hospital of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Baptist Health South Florida, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Miami VA are the other large systems.

Education

Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the third largest district in the country but enrolled 313,220 students in 2025-26, down about 13,000 in a year as charters and vouchers grew, and the board approved school closures and consolidations in 2026. Florida International University enrolls roughly 50,000 students and the private University of Miami about 20,000; magnet programs such as Design and Architecture Senior High and the choice-heavy system mean school assignment is something families actively manage.

Living there

The city proper is dense, young and majority Hispanic, with Spanish as common as English in daily business, and it has grown almost 11 percent since 2020 on finance and tech arrivals who pushed rents and condo prices up fast. Summers are long, wet and hot, winters are the reason people stay, and every household budgets for hurricane season, windstorm insurance and flooded streets at king tide. Driving is the default outside the Metrorail and Metromover corridors, and traffic is the complaint residents raise most.

Dallas

Health care

Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF, August 2026). It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024: 16.7%, or 5,152,427 of 30,799,312 people, against 8.2% nationally and 12.0% in Georgia, the next highest, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates. The City of Dallas's rate was 22.7% (297,684 of 1,313,770), Dallas County's 21.9% and the metro's 16.2%. Parkland Memorial Hospital, licensed for 983 beds, is Dallas County's only public hospital and UT Southwestern's primary teaching hospital; it became the first certified Level I trauma center in Texas in 1983 and runs a burn center. UT Southwestern Medical Center, whose faculty have received six Nobel Prizes, runs William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital in the Southwestern Medical District, and more than half the doctors practicing in Dallas trained there at least in part. Baylor University Medical Center, which opened in 1903 and is now the North Texas flagship of Baylor Scott & White Health, has 914 beds and a Level I trauma center that Baylor Scott & White describes as one of only three adult trauma centers in Dallas. Children's Health and UT Southwestern broke ground in October 2024 on a $5 billion pediatric campus with 552 beds to replace Children's Medical Center Dallas, projected to open in 2031. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.

Education

Dallas ISD, the second-largest school district in Texas, opened the 2026-27 year on 11 August with about 132,000 students, down from about 134,300 a year earlier (KERA). Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde blamed federal immigration policy in part. KERA adds that charter schools and the state's new education savings accounts may account for some of the loss; more than 2,800 students in the district had qualified for the accounts, which help pay private school tuition, on the Comptroller's latest count. The district made pre-kindergarten free for all 3- and 4-year-olds this year and enrolled about 11,000 children in it, and the Texas Education Agency rated the district B for 2025. Southern Methodist University (12,544 students in fall 2025) is in University Park, a separate town north of downtown, the University of Texas at Dallas is in Richardson, and Dallas College runs seven campuses in Dallas County.

Living there

Dallas is the corporate and financial center of the fourth-largest metro in the country, and the metro is growing around the city rather than inside it. The Dallas-Fort Worth area added 123,557 people in 2024-25, more than any metro but Houston, while the city lost 1,808 and Dallas County lost 46,226 more residents to the rest of the country than it gained, so newcomers settle in Collin, Denton and Kaufman counties. The city has 93 miles of DART light rail and, since October 2025, a commuter line to DFW Airport, yet 68.6% of its workers drive alone and 2.0% take transit. Summer is the hard season: the July mean at Love Field is 87.3F, the warmest of any city this site compares, and the station had 54 days at 100F or more by late September 2026. Hail and tornadoes are the costly weather. Texas takes no income tax, and 22.7% of the city's residents have no health insurance. The open question is whether the city can hold up its end as the region spreads outward: three suburbs won back part of the sales tax they pay DART and a fourth voted to leave, voters wrote a minimum of 4,000 police officers into the charter in 2024 and the adopted budget plans for 3,800 by September 2028, and Dallas ISD began 2026-27 with about 2,300 fewer students than the year before.

07: The trade-offs

Where each city wins, and where it loses

Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly, though the two prices are different instruments. Miami's is Zillow's typical home value for the city across all homes, $582,621 in June 2026, 0.7% below a year earlier; Dallas's is the NTREIS median of single-family houses sold, $469,900 in August, 6.0% below. Zillow's all-homes index for Dallas is $305,765, so the two headlines are not a like-for-like gap. Against local pay they are 8.8 times the City of Miami's 2024 median household income of $66,337 and about 6.3 times Dallas's $74,323. At 20% down, Miami's $466,097 loan at 6.67%, Freddie Mac's August rate, costs $2,998 a month, and Dallas's $375,920 loan at 7.03%, the rate for 24 September, about $2,509. A homesteaded buyer's first-year property tax is about $10,808 in Miami, 1.86% of price, against $7,448 in Dallas, 1.58%, and insurance is budgeted at $505 a month, excluding flood, against $400. The three lines come to about $4,404 in Miami, or $4,516 at September's rate, and $3,529 in Dallas, roughly 80% and 57% of local median income. A median two-bedroom rented for $3,004 in Miami in June 2026 and an average one for $1,853 in Dallas in August.

This is one of the pairs where the definitions match, since both cities' figures are the FBI's Crime Data Explorer counts. Miami Police submitted 1,787 violent offenses for 2025, 358.6 per 100,000 on the FBI's agency population of 498,792, and 11,178 property offenses, 2,240.8. Dallas police submitted 7,674 violent offenses, 577 per 100,000 on the Census estimate, or 576 on the FBI's own population, and 40,962 property offenses, 3,081. The federal file is Dallas's basis because DPD publishes no total on those definitions and its own violent crime measure leaves rape out. Homicide is the widest gap: 26 in Miami, 5.2 per 100,000, against 140 in Dallas, about 10.5, and 141 on DPD's own count. Both are improving. Miami's violent offenses dropped 20% in 2025, from 2,225, and its homicides have come down from 61 in 2020; Dallas's violent offenses dropped 12% in 2025 and 31% in four years, and its homicides from a high of 244 in 2023 in the federal series. Miami's department moved to the FBI's incident-based system in mid-2022, so its series before 2023 is incomplete, and the Dallas counts were read on 27 September 2026 and can still be revised.

Miami has the warm winter and Dallas the hotter summer. January averages 20.3 C at Miami International against 8.8 C at Love Field, but July averages 30.7 C in Dallas, the warmest July mean of the fourteen cities this site compares, against 28.9 C in Miami. Love Field's normals count 22.4 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C), and 2026 had 54 by 22 September; Miami's heat is humid from May to October, with roughly 80 thunder days a year. Miami gets 1,712 mm of rain and no snow, Dallas 973 mm and 4.3 cm, and Miami records about 3,154 hours of sun against 2,850, both on older series. The hazards differ in kind. Miami's are hurricanes and storm surge every June to November, with chronic tidal and rain flooding, which is why coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more. Dallas's are hail, with stones up to 5.25 in (13.3 cm), tornadoes that reach the city itself, as in October 2019, flash floods on its creeks and the rare hard freeze: in February 2021 Winter Storm Uri brought 2F (-16.7 C) and ERCOT cut power across the state grid.

Dallas's labor market is about three times the size and growing faster; Miami-Dade's is tighter. Miami-Dade County's unemployment rate was 3.0% in June 2026, not seasonally adjusted; on the same basis the Dallas-Fort Worth metro's was 4.6% in July, and the metro's seasonally adjusted rate 4.2%. The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division had 1,351,000 nonfarm jobs in June, 0.7% more than a year earlier, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro 4,353,400 in July, 1.3% more. Miami's work leans on the port, the airport, tourism, finance and health care. Dallas's leans on trade and transportation, corporate headquarters and finance, with 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region and average weekly wages of $1,785 in early 2026 against $1,654 nationally. Median household income was $66,337 in the City of Miami in 2024 and $74,323 in Dallas, and $80,625 and $92,733 across the metros. Neither state taxes income, so a single filer on $100,000 pays the same $13,449 in federal tax for 2025 in both. Sales tax is 7% in Miami-Dade against 8.25%. The difference is the house: property tax and insurance come to about $16,868 a year in Miami and $12,248 in Dallas.

Miami is the one of the two where a household can reasonably drop a car, and only along its corridors. In 2024, 7.7% of City of Miami workers commuted by transit and 5.7% walked or cycled, against 2.0% and 2.5% in Dallas, where 68.6% drove alone. Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 trips in 2025, 14,971,300 of them on Metrorail and 7,683,800 on the fare-free Metromover, and Brightline and Tri-Rail run regional trains. DART carried 52,823,800 across a 700-square-mile, 12-city service area, and its light rail, four lines on 93 miles of track, carried 21,611,600, more than Metrorail; since October 2025 the 26-mile Silver Line has run from Plano to DFW Airport. Across the metros the shares are 2.6% in greater Miami and 0.6% around Dallas. DART's suburbs have pushed back on the 1% sales tax that pays for it, and Highland Park voted to leave, with service ending on 14 May 2026. Both airports are large and face different ways. MIA handled 55.3 million passengers in 2025 and is the direct gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean; DFW handled 85,660,127, 82.6% of them on American Airlines, and Love Field 16,899,203 more.

Neither state has expanded Medicaid, so coverage in both runs through an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid. Texas had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Dallas's was 22.7%; Miami's profile says only that the uninsured share there runs above the national rate, which was 8.2% in 2024. Each city is anchored by a public safety-net teaching hospital. Miami's is Jackson Memorial, with more than 1,500 licensed beds, the teaching hospital of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, alongside Baptist Health, Mount Sinai and the Miami VA. Dallas's is Parkland Memorial, the county's only public hospital, UT Southwestern's primary teaching hospital and the first certified Level I trauma center in Texas, with Baylor University Medical Center running another. Neither profile verified a wait time. Both school districts are shrinking. Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the third largest district in the country, enrolled 313,220 in 2025-26, about 13,000 fewer as charters and vouchers grew, and approved closures in 2026. Dallas ISD opened 2026-27 with about 132,000 students against about 134,300 a year earlier, made pre-kindergarten free for all 3- and 4-year-olds and was rated B for 2025.

What people underestimate is that the nominal tax rates favor Miami and the homestead reverses it. The City of Miami levies 19.9878 mills, about 2.0% of value, and Dallas's five taxing units $2.22671 per $100, about 2.23%. Florida takes $25,000 off the value for every levy and a second slice off all but the school district's. Texas takes $140,000 off the school district's, Dallas ISD adds 10% of its own, and the county, city, college and hospital district take 20%. That turns 2.23% into an effective 1.58% on the Dallas median, against 1.86% on Miami's typical home, and because the school exemption is a flat amount, Dallas's effective rate falls as the price falls. Both states cap a homestead's taxable value, Florida at 3% a year and Texas at 10%, and both caps end with a sale, so the seller's bill is no guide in either city and the exemption has to be filed. Each figure also describes one jurisdiction. The City of Miami holds 489,812 people in a metro of 6,391,072, and barrier-island insurance is budgeted at $800 a month. Dallas's $7,448 holds only inside the City and Dallas ISD.

Miami

Better here

  • January averages 20.3 C with no snow on the 1991-2020 normals, against 8.8 C at Love Field, where Winter Storm Uri brought 2F (-16.7 C) in February 2021.
  • Violent crime was 358.6 per 100,000 and property crime 2,240.8 in 2025 on the FBI's counts, against 577 and 3,081 in Dallas.
  • There were 26 homicides in 2025, 5.2 per 100,000, against 140 in Dallas, about 10.5.
  • In 2024, 7.7% of city workers commuted by transit and 5.7% walked or cycled, against 2.0% and 2.5% in Dallas, on a system that carried 80,797,500 trips in 2025.
  • Miami-Dade's unemployment rate was 3.0% in June 2026, not seasonally adjusted, against 4.6% for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro in July on the same basis.
  • Sales tax is 7% in 2026 against 8.25% in Dallas, and the county's 1% surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of a single item.

Worse here

  • Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,404 a month on the June 2026 typical home, roughly 80% of the city's 2024 median household income, and about $4,516 at September's 7.03%, against $3,529 and 57% in Dallas.
  • A homesteaded buyer's first-year property tax is about $10,808, 1.86% of price, against $7,448 and 1.58% on the Dallas median for the 2025 tax year.
  • Insurance is budgeted at $505 a month against $400 in Dallas and excludes flood, and coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more.
  • A median two-bedroom rented for $3,004 in June 2026, about 54% of the city's median household income, against a $1,853 average in Dallas in August, about 30%.
  • City median household income was $66,337 in 2024 against $74,323 in Dallas, and the typical home is 8.8 times it against about 6.3.
  • Nonfarm jobs in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division grew 0.7% in the year to June 2026, against 1.3% in Dallas-Fort Worth in the year to July, on a base about a third the size.

Choose Miami if

  • you want a January at 20.3 C and will pay windstorm and flood premiums to get it
  • you can live along the Metrorail or Metromover and run the household on one car or none
  • your work is tied to Latin American trade, the port or the airport
  • you would weigh a homicide rate of 5.2 per 100,000 against about 10.5 above the cost of the house

The Miami guide · Neighborhoods · Miami rent vs buy · Miami mortgage calculator

Dallas

Better here

  • Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $3,529 a month on the August 2026 median, roughly 57% of the city's 2024 median household income, against about $4,404 and 80% in Miami.
  • A two-bedroom averaged $1,853 in August 2026 against a $3,004 median in Miami in June, and a one-bedroom $1,416 against $2,583.
  • Texas's homestead exemptions bring the owner-occupier's effective property tax on the median to 1.58% for 2025, $7,448 a year, against 1.86% and $10,808 in Miami.
  • Nonfarm jobs grew 1.3% to 4,353,400 in the year to July 2026, and average weekly wages in the metro were $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally.
  • DFW handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025 and Love Field another 16,899,203, against 55.3 million at MIA.
  • Median household income was $74,323 in the city and $92,733 in the metro in 2024, against $66,337 and $80,625 in Miami.

Worse here

  • Violent crime was 577 per 100,000 and property crime 3,081 in 2025 on the FBI's counts, against 358.6 and 2,240.8 in Miami.
  • There were 140 homicides in 2025, about 10.5 per 100,000, against 26 and 5.2 in Miami.
  • July averages 30.7 C, the warmest July mean of the fourteen cities this site compares, against 28.9 C in Miami, and Love Field had 54 days at or above 100F (37.8 C) by 22 September 2026.
  • Only 2.0% of workers commuted by transit in 2024 and 68.6% drove alone, against 7.7% by transit in the City of Miami.
  • Texas had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Dallas's was 22.7%.
  • Sales tax is 8.25%, the ceiling Texas allows, against 7% in Miami-Dade.

Choose Dallas if

  • you want a house that costs a little over half of local median income to hold rather than four-fifths
  • you rent, and would pay about $1,853 for a two-bedroom rather than $3,004
  • you work in corporate headquarters, finance, logistics or aerospace and want a labor market of 4,353,400 jobs
  • you would trade a hurricane season for hail, a summer of 100F days and an 8.8 C January

The Dallas guide · Neighborhoods · Dallas rent vs buy · Dallas mortgage calculator

08: Questions people ask

Miami or Dallas, in short

Is Miami or Dallas cheaper to live in?

Dallas, on both the house and the rent. Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly. Miami's typical home was $582,621 in June 2026 on Zillow's index of all homes and the Dallas single-family median sale price $469,900 in August, 8.8 and about 6.3 times each city's median household income. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,404 a month in Miami and $3,529 in Dallas, roughly 80% and 57% of local median income, and Miami's figure uses August's 6.67% rate against Dallas's 7.03%; at the same rate it would be about $4,516. Property tax is about $10,808 against $7,448 a year and insurance $505 against $400 a month. Renting is where the gap shows most: a median two-bedroom was $3,004 in Miami and an average one $1,853 in Dallas. Neither state taxes income, and sales tax is 7% in Miami-Dade against 8.25% in Dallas.

Is Miami or Dallas safer?

Miami, on the FBI's own counts, which cover both cities on the same definitions. Miami recorded 358.6 violent offenses per 100,000 in 2025 and Dallas 577; property offenses were 2,240.8 against 3,081. Homicide is the widest gap: 26 in Miami, 5.2 per 100,000, and 140 in Dallas, about 10.5, with DPD's own count at 141. Both improved in 2025, violent offenses dropping 20% in Miami and 12% in Dallas, where they have dropped 31% in four years. Miami's rates use the FBI's agency population of 498,792 and Dallas's the Census estimate of 1,329,491, a difference of one point on Dallas's violent rate. Miami's department moved to the FBI's incident-based system in mid-2022, so its earlier series is incomplete, and the Dallas counts, read on 27 September 2026, can still be revised.

Which has the better climate, Miami or Dallas?

Miami in winter; in summer Dallas is the hotter of the two. January averages 20.3 C in Miami with no snow in the normals, and 8.8 C in Dallas, where Winter Storm Uri brought 2F (-16.7 C) in February 2021 and ERCOT cut power across the state grid. July averages 30.7 C at Love Field, the warmest July mean of the fourteen cities this site compares, against 28.9 C in Miami, and Love Field's normals count 22.4 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C). Miami is the wetter city, 1,712 mm a year against 973, with roughly 80 thunder days. The hazards differ in kind. Miami faces hurricanes, storm surge and chronic tidal and rain flooding from June to November, and coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more. Dallas faces hail, tornadoes, flash floods on its creeks and drought, which has kept lawn watering capped at twice a week since April 2012.

With no income tax in either state, which has the lower tax bill?

Dallas, on the house, and it is the only large difference. A single filer on $100,000 pays the same $13,449 in federal tax for 2025 in both cities and nothing to either state. Sales tax favors Miami, 7% against 8.25%. Property tax favors Dallas, though its nominal rate is the higher: 19.9878 mills in the City of Miami, about 2.0% of value, and $2.22671 per $100 in Dallas, about 2.23%. Texas's homestead exemptions are the larger, $140,000 off the school levy plus Dallas ISD's own 10% and 20% off the other four units, against Florida's $25,000 and a second slice, so a homesteaded buyer pays about $10,808 in Miami's first year, 1.86%, and $7,448 in Dallas, 1.58%. With insurance at $505 and $400 a month, the two lines come to about $16,868 a year in Miami and $12,248 in Dallas. Both states cap a homestead's taxable value, at 3% and 10% a year, and both caps end on a sale.

Sources

Where the figures come from

Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.

  1. Miami, FL Population (2025) · Every City in the USA (republishing Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025) · retrieved
    Supports: City population, Five-year growth
  2. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Miami city, Florida · US Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: population.city (page returned 403 on fetch; figure confirmed via search snippet and secondary republisher)
  3. Largest U.S. Metro Areas by Population 2026 (Vintage 2025 estimates) · statranker.org · retrieved
    Supports: Metro population
  4. Florida MSA population estimates, April 1 2025 · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved
    Supports: population.metro (alternative state estimate)
  5. Miami, FL Metro Area and Miami city profiles, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter · retrieved
    Supports: Median household income, population.metro (ACS)
  6. ACS 2024 1-year table B08301 Means of Transportation to Work · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved
    Supports: Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
  7. Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Miami Police Department (FL0130600) · FBI · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
  8. Miami Police Report 20% Decrease in Homicides for 1st Half of 2025 · Officer.com · retrieved
    Supports: Crime trend, Homicides
  9. U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly and annual, station USW00012839 Miami International Airport · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
  10. Comparative Climatic Data · NOAA NCEI · retrieved
    Supports: climate.sunshineHours (approximate; figure taken from search summaries of CCD, not the table itself)
  11. Climate of Miami · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: climate.hazards (thunderstorm days, hurricane exposure)
  12. Broward County June 2026 Unemployment Data · CareerSource Broward (FloridaCommerce data) · retrieved
    Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
  13. Discretionary Sales Surtax Information (DR-15DSS) 2026 · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved
    Supports: Sales tax
  14. IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2025 · Internal Revenue Service · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, taxes.incomeTaxAt100k (brackets)
  15. FAQ: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Tax Changes · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: taxes.incomeTaxAt100k ($15,750 standard deduction)
  16. Miami-Dade Transit · Wikipedia (citing APTA Ridership Report) · retrieved
    Supports: Transit ridership
  17. Soaring cargo growth lifts MIA to #1 in the U.S., #3 in the world · Miami International Airport · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers, Labour market
  18. Miami (MIA) Airport & Passenger Statistics · RoadGenius · retrieved
    Supports: transit.airport (2024 comparison)
  19. A Guide to Florida Flood Insurance (2026) · Insurify · retrieved
    Supports: climate.hazards (insurance costs)
  20. Enrollment in Miami-Dade schools is lower at the start of this year. Why? · WLRN · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  21. FIU enrollment approaches 50,000 as fall semester nears · Miami Today · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  22. Jackson Memorial Hospital · Jackson Health System · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  23. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Texas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Character
  24. Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth, Character
  25. Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Dallas Police Department (TXDPD0000): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
  26. Violent Crime Reduction Plan Update, Public Safety Committee, June 3, 2025 · Dallas Police Department (City of Dallas) · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate, Crime trend
  27. Police Incidents (Dallas Police Public Data, RMS incidents from June 1, 2014) · City of Dallas OpenData · retrieved
    Supports: Violent crime rate
  28. Dallas sees lowest violent crime numbers since 2015 as chief credits new crime strategies · CBS Texas · retrieved
    Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
  29. US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00013960 Dallas Love Field (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 47.8F, July and August 87.3F from the monthly series, and annual mean 68.0F, precipitation 38.32 in, snowfall 1.7 in and the counts of days at 90F and 100F and nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
  30. US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00003927 Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate normals
  31. Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Dallas Love Field (USW00013960), 1939-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards, Character, 73 days at or above 100F in 2011 and 40 in a row from 2 July to 10 August 2011, 54 in 2026 through 22 September, 112F on 26 and 27 June 1980 and 22 July 2018, 5.3 in of snow from 14 to 17 February 2021, 2F on 16 February 2021, 31 January 1949, 1F on 23 December 1989 and 0F on 23 January 1940, 13F on 25 January 2026
  32. Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (USW00003927), 1953-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards, 113F on 26 and 27 June 1980, -2F on 16 February 2021, 2.4 in of snow and sleet on 24 and 25 January 2026
  33. Dallas/Fort Worth: Annual and Consecutive 100 Degree Days (last updated 22 September 2026) · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  34. Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved
    Supports: Sunshine hours, Climate normals
  35. Weather and Climate Billion-Dollar Disasters to affect the U.S. from 1980-2024 (events list) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  36. April 11th 2016 Hail Storm · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  37. Cotality 2026 Report: Hail risk now rivals major hurricanes (2026 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report) · Cotality · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  38. North Texas Tornadoes, October 20, 2019 · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  39. 2019 North Dallas tornado (path length, structures destroyed, damage, casualties) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  40. December 26, 2015 Tornado Outbreak · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  41. Dallas Levee System · City of Dallas, Trinity River Corridor Project · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  42. Trinity River at Dallas (DALT2), historic crests · NOAA National Water Prediction Service · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  43. Milestone Achievement for Dallas Floodway Project: Providing Flood Risk Management to Communities · US Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District (DVIDS) · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  44. Wettest 24 hours in nearly a century for Dallas-Fort Worth · Yale Climate Connections · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  45. February 2021 Winter Storm-Related Deaths, Texas (mortality surveillance report) · Texas Department of State Health Services · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  46. The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts · The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  47. How the Texas power grid is holding up during the winter storm · CBS Texas · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  48. Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Order to Secure Texas Grid Amid Winter Storm Fern · US Department of Energy · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  49. Dallas Area Reservoirs (daily storage, percent full) · Texas Water Development Board, Water Data for Texas · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  50. Frequently Asked Questions (watering schedule) and City of Dallas Water Conservation Ordinance · Dallas Water Utilities, Save Dallas Water · retrieved
    Supports: Climate hazards
  51. ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Dallas city and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved
    Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
  52. ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for the 50 states, DC, the US, Dallas County, Dallas city and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved
    Supports: Health care, Character
  53. Unemployment Rate in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (MSA), DALL148UR and DALL148URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved
    Supports: Unemployment rate
  54. All Employees: Total Nonfarm in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (MSA), DALL148NA · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS CES data) · retrieved
    Supports: Labour market
  55. Dallas-Fort Worth Area Economic Summary · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved
    Supports: Unemployment rate, Main sectors, Labour market
  56. Dallas Regional Economic Development Guide 2026: Major Companies and Headquarters · Dallas Regional Chamber · retrieved
    Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
  57. City Sales and Use Tax (city rate table) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Sales tax
  58. Transit Sales and Use Tax (Dallas MTA, effective January 1, 1984) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Sales tax, Transit ridership
  59. Sales and Use Tax · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Sales tax
  60. Texas Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes, Character
  61. 2025 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
  62. 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved
    Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
  63. Property Tax Exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: Tax notes
  64. Dallas approves $5.66 billion budget for 2026-27 fiscal year · Lake Highlands Advocate · retrieved
    Supports: Tax notes, Character
  65. City of Dallas Update on Proposition U, Police and Fire Funding Appropriation · City of Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: Tax notes, Character
  66. About DART (DART facts) · Dallas Area Rapid Transit · retrieved
    Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
  67. Silver Line Launches Oct. 25, Connecting Seven Cities and DFW Airport with Modern, Reliable Transit · Dallas Area Rapid Transit · retrieved
    Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
  68. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (citing the APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, through Template:American transit ridership) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
  69. DART services in Richardson, Plano to remain unchanged as Highland Park withdraws · Community Impact · retrieved
    Supports: Transit ridership, Character
  70. DFW Total Passengers, December 2025 (calendar year 2025 vs 2024) · Dallas Fort Worth International Airport · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers
  71. World's Busiest Airports: Atlanta Holds, Asia Climbs (2025 passenger and movement rankings) · ACI World · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers
  72. Dallas Love Field (2025 passenger totals from the FAA, location, Southwest Airlines) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
  73. Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  74. Parkland Memorial Hospital · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  75. About the Trauma Center · Parkland Health · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  76. Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health · Baylor Scott & White Health · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  77. Children's Health and UT Southwestern break ground on new Dallas pediatric campus, announce $100 million donation from The Rees-Jones Foundation · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  78. UT Southwestern and Children's Health receive $25 million from the Harry W. Bass, Jr. Foundation for new pediatric campus · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  79. New Dallas Pediatric Campus Puts Children First · Southwestern Medical District · retrieved
    Supports: Health care
  80. On Dallas ISD's first day of school, enrollment's down, but letter grade may be up · KERA News · retrieved
    Supports: Education, Character
  81. Southern Methodist University (fall 2025 enrollment, University Park) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  82. University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  83. Dallas College (seven campuses in Dallas County) · Wikipedia · retrieved
    Supports: Education
  84. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted: city file, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical home value for the 35th to 65th percentile of each municipality's market, computed on one method across all twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte, Orlando and Palm Beach pages use, so all four American layers can be read against each other, Year-over-year change to June 2026
  85. Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26: Miami-Dade · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved
    Supports: The adopted 2025-26 millage rate for Miami-Dade County and every municipality in it, The county's own components: countywide 4.5740, Fire/Rescue 2.3965, Library 0.2812 and the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area at 1.9090, Municipal rates from Sunny Isles Beach's 1.7000 to Biscayne Park's 9.3000
  86. 2025 millage rates and taxing authorities, Miami-Dade County · Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser · retrieved
    Supports: A published combined rate for unincorporated Miami-Dade of 16.9317 mills, Its components: school district 6.4990, countywide 5.7361, regional water districts 0.3911, Fire Rescue 2.3965 and UMSA 1.9090, which this layer's stack reproduces exactly, Millage code 0100, the City of Miami, at 19.9878 mills for 2025: 7.1080 of city operating levy and 0.2536 of city debt service on the countywide 12.6262, Opa-locka's municipal operating levy of 8.9797, and a 2025 total of 24.0024 for millage code 0800, A city debt service column, which nine of the twenty-four municipalities here carry: Miami 0.2536, Miami Beach 0.2779, North Bay Village 1.1666, Golden Beach 0.6000, Miami Shores 0.1331, North Miami Beach 0.2000, Miami Gardens 0.4331, Doral 0.4810 and Homestead 0.2446, A blank library district column for Hialeah, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Homestead, Miami Shores, Bal Harbour and Surfside, which are outside the county library district, A blank Fire Rescue column for Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne, which is the five this layer flags
  87. About Fire Rescue · Miami-Dade Fire Rescue · retrieved
    Supports: The Fire Rescue district covering the unincorporated county and twenty-nine municipalities, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne operating their own fire departments and lying outside the district
  88. Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved
    Supports: A Miami-Dade deed rate of 60 cents per $100 rather than the 70 cents charged in every other county, A Miami-Dade surtax of 45 cents per $100, not due on a document transferring only a single-family dwelling, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note, statewide
  89. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved
    Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 estimates for each municipality, Miami at 487,014 and Hialeah at 235,388; Golden Beach at 1,034
  90. Average cost of home insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved
    Supports: A Miami-Dade County average of about $6,045 a year: below Palm Beach County's $6,614, A Florida average of about $3,815 and a national average of about $2,543
  91. Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved
    Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
  92. Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved
    Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
  93. Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved
    Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
  94. Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved
    Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency
  95. NTREIS monthly MLS summary report, August 2026 · North Texas Real Estate Information System and the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, via the MetroTex Association of REALTORS · retrieved
    Supports: A median single-family sale price of $469,900 in the City of Dallas in August 2026 on 640 sales, against $499,900 on 667 sales in August 2025, A median townhouse sale price of $543,000 on 30 sales, against $475,000 on 42, and a median condominium sale price of $310,000 on 121 sales, against $237,000 on 136, 2,725 active single-family listings and 4.2 months of inventory in the City of Dallas, A median single-family lease of $2,850 a month on 276 leases, City figures by property type only, with no all-types median
  96. Housing market reports · MetroTex Association of REALTORS · retrieved
    Supports: Monthly reports featuring data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, based on listings of properties physically located within the specified geographic areas
  97. Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical home value of $305,765 for the city of Dallas (region 38128) in August 2026, $310,919 in August 2025, so a fall of 1.7% over the year
  98. Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: A typical single-family value of $319,987 in the city of Dallas in August 2026, against $324,674 a year earlier, down 1.4%, A typical condominium value of $208,501 in the same month, against $222,477, down 6.3%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
  99. Dallas, TX average rent and rent trends · RentCafe / Yardi Matrix · retrieved
    Supports: An average Dallas apartment rent of $1,592, down 0.92% from $1,607 a year earlier, updated 31 August 2026, Average rents of $1,245 studio, $1,416 one-bedroom, $1,853 two-bedroom and $2,221 three-bedroom
  100. Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved
    Supports: An observed rent index of $1,591 for the city of Dallas in August 2026, up 0.63% from $1,581 a year earlier
  101. 2025 ad valorem tax rates for Dallas County, revised 5 November 2025 · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Dallas County 0.215500, Parkland Hospital 0.212000, Dallas College 0.106575, Dallas 0.698800, Dallas ISD 0.993835, Optional homestead exemptions of 20% for Dallas County, Parkland Hospital, Dallas College and the City of Dallas, and 10% for Dallas ISD, A general homestead exemption of $140,000 for every school district, contingent on the November 2025 constitutional amendment, A calculated local optional homestead value of not less than $5,000, Separate rates and exemptions for Highland Park, University Park, Cockrell Hill and Highland Park ISD
  102. 2026 estimated ad valorem tax rates for Dallas County, revised 4 March 2026 · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: The 2026 table was an estimate, repeating the 2025 rates for the five units, when these figures were retrieved
  103. 2025 and 2026 residence homestead average and median values · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: A certified median residence homestead market value of $364,530 in the City of Dallas for 2025, on 177,599 homesteads, A certified median of $364,000 for 2026, on 172,862 homesteads, in the table dated 22 July 2026
  104. Annual report, 2025 appraisal year · Dallas Central Appraisal District · retrieved
    Supports: 230,276 protests received for the 2025 appraisal year, 180,733 of them residential, and 788,553 appraisal notices mailed, A protest process that begins around 15 April and concludes by 20 July each year
  105. Valuing property: the homestead cap and the circuit breaker limitation · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved
    Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year, from the year after the owner first qualifies, A 20% annual limit on the appraised value of non-homestead property valued at $5 million or less, the circuit breaker, which expires on 31 December 2026
  106. Tax Code, Section 41.44: notice of protest · Texas Legislature · retrieved
    Supports: A protest must be filed by 15 May or the 30th day after the appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later
  107. Midtown Improvement District · City of Dallas Office of Economic Development · retrieved
    Supports: The Midtown Improvement District, formerly the Vickery Meadow Public Improvement District, established in 1993 and renewed to 31 December 2032, An annual budget and assessment rate subject to a public hearing and Dallas City Council approval
  108. Public Improvement Districts (PIDs) layer · City of Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: Public improvement districts mapped by the City including Dallas DID, Uptown, Deep Ellum, Klyde Warren/DAD, Knox Street, Oak Lawn-Hi Line, Prestonwood, Lake Highlands, North Lake Highlands, Midtown, University Crossing, South Side, Far East Dallas and RedBird
  109. Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year for 2025, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Hail as the largest cause of paid homeowners losses, $4.93 billion in 2024 against $2.21 billion for wind
  110. Insurance and your roof: what to know when buying a policy or filing a claim · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved
    Supports: Replacement cost coverage pays for a new roof at current prices, and actual cash value coverage pays replacement cost minus depreciation, As roofs age, some companies will switch to actual cash value, A deductible for wind and hail damage can differ from the deductible for other damage
  111. Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Dallas premium of $6,915 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover, updated 20 February 2026
  112. How much is homeowners insurance in Dallas, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved
    Supports: An average Dallas premium of $4,212 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026
  113. Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved
    Supports: An average Dallas renters premium of $167 a year for $30,000 of personal property, updated 23 September 2026
  114. Monthly homeowners' or condominium association fee, table B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Dallas city · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A median monthly association fee of $280 among Dallas owner-occupied units that pay one, 50,335 of 226,859 owner-occupied units, or 22.2%, paying such a fee, from table B25142
  115. City of Dallas utility fees effective 1 October 2025 · City of Dallas · retrieved
    Supports: A residential sanitation fee of $40.09 a month, $43.40 with tax, A residential stormwater fee of $5.39 to $21.01 a month by impervious area, An environmental cleanup fee of $3.00 a month on every City of Dallas utility account
  116. Dallas Homebuyer Assistance Program (DHAP) · City of Dallas Housing and Homelessness Solutions · retrieved
    Supports: Assistance of up to $60,000 in High Opportunity Areas and $50,000 elsewhere in Dallas, for households at or below 80% of area median income, A maximum sales price of $342,000 for existing and newly built homes, for contracts from 1 September 2024, A second lien as an interest-free forgivable deferred loan with no monthly payments, prorated annually, with partial repayment due on a sale, lease or transfer, Administered by Business and Community Lenders of Texas from 1 May 2026
  117. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved
    Supports: A population of 1,329,491 for Dallas on 1 July 2025, 1,245,355 of them in Dallas County, 54,266 in Collin, 29,865 in Denton, five in Rockwall and none in Kaufman, 3,638 in Cockrell Hill, 8,764 in Highland Park and 25,323 in University Park
  118. 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved
    Supports: A land area of 339.685 square miles and a water area of 43.966 square miles for Dallas city