Orlando vs Dallas: which should you move to?
Orlando 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.
Both cities price in US dollars and neither state taxes income, so the figures net directly, a single filer on $100,000 pays the same $13,449 in federal tax in each, and the tax story is the house. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,745 a month on Orlando's typical home and about $3,529 on the Dallas single-family median, a $784 gap that would be about $713 with Orlando's payment at Dallas's September rate of 7.03% rather than August's 6.67%. The two property taxes take nearly the same share of the price, 1.61% and 1.58%, so the gap is the house, $375,175 against $469,900, and an insurance line priced for hail; Dallas's carry is about 57% of local median household income against 42%. Unemployment is level at 4.6% in both metros on the same unadjusted basis, but one Orlando job in five is in leisure and hospitality, and Dallas pays above the national average. On crime only homicide lines up: 10 in Orlando in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000, against 140 in Dallas, about 10.5. Choose Orlando to own for less and for a 15.9 C January. Choose Dallas to rent, for corporate work and for DFW.
| Measure | Orlando | Dallas | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 333,888 (2025) | 1,329,491 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 2,957,672 (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. | 8.3% (2020-2025) | 1.9% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Orlando | Dallas | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | $375,175 (June 2026) | $469,900 (August 2026) | Orlando |
| Detached house benchmark Orlando and Dallas publish a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $375,175 | $469,900 | Orlando |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | Not published | $310,000 | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,904/mo (median, June 2026) | $1,853/mo (average, August 2026) | Dallas |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,637/mo | $1,416/mo | Dallas |
| 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. | 29.4% of a year's income | 29.9% of a year's income | Orlando |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $1,931/mo at 6.67% | $2,509/mo at 7.03% | Orlando |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 4.8× | 6.3× | Orlando |
| 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. | $6,043/yr (1.611%, 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. | $2,626 (seller pays) | None | Dallas |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Orlando: About 1.61% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 18.0878 mills Orlando is taxed at, and the difference is the homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. Florida assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price, so there is no gap to correct for. 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 Orange County school district, which levies 6.4490 of the 18.0878. 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. So a homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is the school millage on the price less $25,000 plus everything else on the price less $50,000, about $6,043 a year on the $375,175 typical home value here. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy, and until you do the rate is the full 1.81%. 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.
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.
| Measure | Orlando | Dallas | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 836 (2022) | 577 (2025) | Dallas |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 4,036 (2022) | 3,081 (2025) | Dallas |
| 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. | 10 (2025) | 140 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
Orlando PD reports overall crime down 18% in 2024 and another 19% in 2025, violent crime down 10% in 2024 and 9% in 2025, and shootings with victims down 41% from 2023 to 2025. Homicides fell from 31 in 2023 to 10 in 2025. The FBI's public feed has no usable Orlando data after 2022, so these are the department's own figures.
What the rates cover: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department (ORI FL0480400), 2022: 2,597 violent offenses, 835.8 per 100k. 2022 is the last year with twelve complete months in the FBI feed; 2023 through 2025 show zeros for this agency, so no FBI rate exists for those years. Orlando PD's own count of violent crime incidents (a broader in-house definition) was 6,754 in 2023 and 5,928 in 2025, which would be about 1,775 per 100k on the 2025 population.
Homicides: Orlando Police Department: 10 homicides in 2025, the lowest since 1971, down from 23 in 2024 and 31 in 2023 (OPD's 2023 figure was reported as 38 in a January 2025 release and 31 in the February 2026 release). About 3.0 per 100k on the 2025 city population. FBI CDE 2022: 32 homicides, 10.3 per 100k.
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.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Orlando | Dallas | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 15.9 °C | 8.8 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 28.1 °C | 30.7 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,307 mm | 973 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 0 cm | 4 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | Not published | 2,850 hours | Not directly comparable |
NOAA 1991-2020 normals at Orlando International Airport (USW00012815): January mean 60.6F, July mean 82.6F, annual precipitation 51.45 in, annual snowfall 0.0 in, annual mean 73.0F. June through September each average 6.4 to 8.1 in of rain. Sunshine hours are not part of the NOAA normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes are the main hazard: Charley (2004), Irma (2017), Ian (2022, 14 in of rain and 74 mph gusts at MCO) and Milton (2024, over 15 in of rain in parts of Central Florida plus a record one-day tornado outbreak) all damaged the area. The city sits about 100 ft above sea level and 42 mi inland, so storm surge is not a concern but inland flooding, wind damage and long power outages are. Summer heat and daily thunderstorms with lightning are routine.
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.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Orlando | Dallas | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $77,597 USD (2024) | $74,323 USD (2024) | Orlando |
| Unemployment rate | 4.6% (June 2026) | 4.2% (July 2026) | Dallas |
| Sales tax | 6.5% | 8.25% | Orlando |
| 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 USD | Even |
Leisure and hospitality employed 305,500 of 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in June 2026 (BLS CES, not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), about 20%, roughly double the national share, and those jobs pay below the private-sector average, which is why household income trails the US median despite fast job growth. Disney is the largest employer at about 77,000 in the region; AdventHealth employs about 37,700 and Lockheed Martin more than 14,000.
Main sectors: Tourism and hospitality (Disney, Universal, convention centre), Health care (AdventHealth, Orlando Health), Aerospace, defence and simulation (Lockheed Martin, Central Florida Research Park), Construction and real estate, Professional and business services.
No state or city income tax. Property tax runs around 1% of assessed value with a homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% cap for owner-occupiers; not verified here.
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.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Orlando | Dallas | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | LYNX (bus, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties), SunRail (commuter rail, 16 stations DeLand to Poinciana), Brightline (intercity rail from MCO to South Florida) | DART 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 zones | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 1.5% (2024) | 2.0% (2024) | Dallas |
| Walk or cycle to work | 1.7% (2024) | 2.5% (2024) | Dallas |
| Airport | Orlando International Airport (MCO), 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, up 0.8% on 2024, seventh busiest in the US (GOAA press release, July 28, 2026). | Dallas 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 |
LYNX carried 21,476,203 passenger trips in FY2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), more than 67,000 per weekday, on 62 routes (LYNX Facts at a Glance). SunRail passed 1.2 million riders in calendar 2024, up 12% on 2023 (SunRail press release, January 2025); APTA puts 2025 at about 1.32 million. SunRail runs weekdays only.
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.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid; Florida did not expand Medicaid under the ACA, so a larger share of working adults is uninsured than in most states, and hospitality jobs often come with thin coverage. Two large non-profit systems dominate: AdventHealth Orlando (one of the biggest hospitals in the country) and Orlando Health with Orlando Regional Medical Center, the region's Level I trauma centre, plus Nemours Children's Hospital at Lake Nona and the UCF Lake Nona Hospital.
Education
The University of Central Florida enrols about 70,000 students, among the largest campuses in the US, and anchors the Central Florida Research Park; Rollins College in Winter Park and Valencia College (a two-year college with a national Aspen Prize) are the other main institutions. Orange County Public Schools is the eighth largest district in the US with roughly 200,000 students, and Florida's universal school-choice vouchers, charter schools and magnet programmes mean many families do not attend their zoned school.
Living there
Orlando is a sprawling, car-first region of master-planned subdivisions, toll roads and strip centres, with a small walkable core around Lake Eola, Thornton Park, Mills 50 and College Park, and the theme parks 15 miles southwest in a separate world of their own. Summers are long, humid and stormy, winters mild, and the population skews young and Latino, with the largest Puerto Rican community in Florida. Housing and insurance costs have risen faster than the tourism-weighted wages, and hurricane season shapes the calendar every year.
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.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly, though the prices are different instruments. Orlando's is Zillow's typical home value for the city across all homes, $375,175 in June 2026, 2.4% below a year earlier; Dallas's is the NTREIS median of single-family houses sold, $469,900 in August, 6.0% below. Against local pay they are 4.8 times the City of Orlando's 2024 median household income of $77,597 and about 6.3 times Dallas's $74,323. At 20% down, Orlando's $300,140 loan at 6.67%, Freddie Mac's August rate, costs $1,931 a month, and Dallas's $375,920 loan at 7.03%, the rate for 24 September, about $2,509. Property tax takes nearly the same share in both: a homesteaded Orlando buyer's first-year bill is about $6,043, 1.61% of the price, and Dallas's five taxing units take $7,448, 1.58%. Insurance is budgeted at $310 a month against $400, Orlando's excluding flood. The three lines come to about $2,745 and $3,529, roughly 42% and 57% of local median income; at 7.03% Orlando's would be about $2,816. Renting is close and favors Dallas: a median two-bedroom was $1,904 in Orlando in June 2026 and an average one $1,853 in Dallas in August, and a one-bedroom $1,637 against $1,416.
Only Dallas has current federal crime figures, so most of this comparison cannot be made like for like. The FBI's feed carries no complete Orlando Police data after 2022, when it published 835.8 violent and 4,035.6 property offenses per 100,000, and shows zeros for 2023 through 2025. Dallas's 2025 rates on the FBI's counts are 577 violent and 3,081 property offenses per 100,000, used because DPD publishes no total on those definitions and its own violent crime measure leaves rape out. Orlando Police's own 2025 tally of violent incidents, 5,928 on a broader definition, works out near 1,775 per 100,000, which cannot sit beside Dallas's 577. Homicide is the one count kept the same way. Orlando recorded 10 in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and its fewest since 1971, against 31 in 2023; Dallas recorded 140 in the federal file, about 10.5, and 141 on DPD's own count, against 184 in 2024. Both report crime improving. Orlando's department puts overall crime 19% lower in 2025 after an 18% drop in 2024, and Dallas's FBI violent count dropped 12% in 2025 and 31% in four years. The Dallas counts, read on 27 September 2026, can still be revised.
Orlando has the warm winter and Dallas the hotter summer. January averages 15.9 C at Orlando International against 8.8 C at Love Field, and July 28.1 C against 30.7 C, the warmest July mean of the fourteen cities this site compares. Orlando gets 1,307 mm of rain a year and no snow; Dallas gets 973 mm and 4.3 cm. Orlando's heat is humid, with daily thunderstorms and lightning, and Love Field's normals count 22.4 days a year when the air reaches 100F (37.8 C), with 54 in 2026 by 22 September. Charley in 2004, Irma in 2017, Ian in 2022, with 14 in of rain and 74 mph gusts at the airport, and Milton in 2024 all damaged the Orlando area. The city sits about 100 ft above sea level and 42 mi inland, so surge is not the risk; wind, inland flooding and long power outages are. Dallas's costly weather is hail, with stones up to 5.25 in (13.3 cm), and tornadoes that reach the city itself, like the October 2019 EF3. Hard cold is rare and badly handled: Winter Storm Uri brought 2F (-16.7 C) in February 2021 while ERCOT cut power across the state grid.
Unemployment is level and the jobs are different. On the same unadjusted basis, metro unemployment was 4.6% in greater Orlando in June 2026 and 4.6% in Dallas-Fort Worth in July; Dallas's seasonally adjusted rate was 4.2%. Greater Orlando had 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in June, 305,500 of them in leisure and hospitality, about one in five and roughly double the national share, at pay below the private-sector average; Disney alone employs about 77,000 in the region. The Dallas metro's 4,353,400 jobs grew 1.3% in the year to July 2026, the largest sector trade, transportation and utilities at 895,000, with 21 Fortune 500 headquarters in the region, and the metro's average weekly wage was $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. Median household income was $77,597 in the City of Orlando and $74,323 in Dallas in 2024, and $81,044 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. Sales tax is 6.5% in Orange County against 8.25%. The difference is the house: property tax and insurance come to about $9,763 a year on Orlando's typical home and $12,248 on the Dallas median.
A car is assumed in both, and Dallas has more rail running. In 2024, 2.0% of Dallas workers took transit and 2.5% walked or cycled, against 1.5% and 1.7% in the City of Orlando, and 13.5% of Dallas workers worked from home against 13.2%. LYNX carried 21,476,203 trips in fiscal 2025 on 62 routes across three counties, SunRail runs commuter trains through 16 stations from DeLand to Poinciana on weekdays only, at about 1.2 million riders in 2024, and Brightline runs from the airport to South Florida. DART carried 52,823,800 trips in 2025 on nearly 700 buses and four light rail lines on 93 miles of track, 21,611,600 of them by light rail, and since October 2025 the 26-mile Silver Line has run from Plano to DFW Airport. DART runs on a 1% sales tax in its member cities, and the suburbs have pushed back: Plano, Irving and Farmers Branch won back part of what they pay, and Highland Park voted to leave, with service ending on 14 May 2026. The airports are both large. Orlando International handled 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, seventh busiest in the country; DFW handled 85,660,127, 82.6% of them on American Airlines, and Love Field 16,899,203.
Neither state has expanded Medicaid, so coverage in both runs through an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid, and hospitality jobs in Orlando often carry thin coverage. Texas had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Dallas's was 22.7%; Orlando's profile gives no rate. Orlando's hospitals are two large non-profits, AdventHealth Orlando and Orlando Health, whose Orlando Regional Medical Center is the region's Level I trauma center, with Nemours Children's at Lake Nona. Dallas's anchors are Parkland Memorial, the county's only public hospital, UT Southwestern's primary teaching hospital and the first certified Level I trauma center in Texas, and Baylor University Medical Center, which runs another. Neither profile verified a wait time for care. Orange County Public Schools is the eighth largest district in the country at roughly 200,000 students, and Florida's universal vouchers, charters and magnets mean many families never use their zoned school. 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, and more than 2,800 of its students had qualified for Texas's new education savings accounts. UCF enrolls about 70,000 students.
What people underestimate is the tax on a newer house, because both figures describe an ordinary address inside each city. Much of the Orlando metro's newer housing, Lake Nona inside the city among it, carries a community development district assessment of roughly $1,200 to $3,000 a year, which appears in no millage and in no figure here. Dallas's $7,448 holds only inside the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD; a house in Collin County or another school district pays a different stack. Both metros are growing past their cities, Orlando's by 10.3% since 2020 against 8.3% in the city, and Dallas's by 11.0% against 1.9%, with the City of Dallas losing 1,808 residents in 2024-25 while Collin, Denton and Kaufman counties took the newcomers. Save Our Homes resets a Florida assessment to market value the January after a sale, and until the buyer files for the homestead by 1 March the rate is the full 1.81%; a Texas buyer starts at full appraised value, and Dallas's bill without a homestead is $10,463, 2.23%. At closing Florida charges the buyer 0.55% of the loan, about $1,651 on Orlando's, where Texas has no transfer tax and no mortgage tax, only recording fees.
Better here
- The typical home was $375,175 in June 2026, 4.8 times the city's 2024 median household income against about 6.3 in Dallas, and the mortgage at 20% down is $1,931 a month against about $2,509.
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,745 a month, roughly 42% of local median income, and about $2,816 at September's 7.03%, against $3,529 and 57% in Dallas.
- Orlando Police recorded 10 homicides in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and the fewest since 1971, against 140 and about 10.5 in Dallas.
- January averages 15.9 C with no snow on the 1991-2020 normals, against 8.8 C in Dallas, where Winter Storm Uri brought 2F (-16.7 C) in February 2021.
- Home insurance is budgeted at $310 a month against $400 in Dallas, where North Texas hail is a routine cost.
- Sales tax is 6.5% in Orange County in 2026, against 8.25% in Dallas, the ceiling Texas allows.
Worse here
- 305,500 of the metro's 1,506,600 jobs are in leisure and hospitality at below-average pay, where Dallas's average weekly wage was $1,785 in early 2026 against $1,654 nationally.
- The FBI's feed has no complete Orlando Police data after 2022, when violent crime ran 835.8 per 100,000, so no current federal rate stands against Dallas's 577 for 2025.
- A median two-bedroom rented for $1,904 in June 2026 against a $1,853 average in Dallas in August, a one-bedroom $1,637 against $1,416, and a three-bedroom $2,361 against $2,221.
- Median household income across the metro was $81,044 in 2024, against $92,733 around Dallas.
- Only 1.5% of city workers commuted by transit in 2024, against 2.0% in Dallas, and SunRail runs on weekdays only.
- Insurance excludes flood, and Charley, Irma, Ian and Milton all damaged the area between 2004 and 2024, with long power outages among the risks.
Choose Orlando if
- you want to own a house for about 42% of local median income a month rather than 57%, and will check a new-build address for a district assessment first
- you want a January at 15.9 C and will plan around a hurricane season instead of days at 100F
- you work in tourism, health care, aerospace or simulation, or remotely
- you want a homicide rate of about 3.0 per 100,000 rather than about 10.5
The Orlando guide · Neighborhoods · Orlando rent vs buy · Orlando mortgage calculator
Better here
- Average weekly wages in the metro were $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally, and median household income was $92,733 across the metro in 2024 against greater Orlando's $81,044.
- The metro had 4,353,400 nonfarm jobs in July 2026, 1.3% more than a year earlier, and the region counts 21 Fortune 500 headquarters.
- Violent crime was 577 per 100,000 in 2025 on the FBI's own counts, a current federal rate Orlando has not had since 2022, and it dropped 31% in four years.
- A two-bedroom averaged $1,853 in August 2026 against a $1,904 median in Orlando in June, and a one-bedroom $1,416 against $1,637.
- DFW handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025 and Love Field another 16,899,203, against 57,675,573 at Orlando International.
- Texas levies no transfer tax and no mortgage tax, only recording fees, where a Florida buyer pays 0.55% of the loan, about $1,651 on Orlando's June 2026 typical home.
Worse 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, and about $3,439 at August's 6.67%, against $2,745 and 42% in Orlando.
- Property tax on the median house is $7,448 a year for the 2025 tax year with a homestead and $10,463 without one, against about $6,043 on Orlando's typical home.
- There were 140 homicides in 2025, about 10.5 per 100,000, against 10 and about 3.0 in Orlando.
- July averages 30.7 C, the warmest July mean of the fourteen cities this site compares, and Love Field had 54 days at or above 100F (37.8 C) by 22 September 2026.
- Texas had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Dallas's was 22.7%.
- Home insurance is budgeted at $400 a month against $310 in Orlando, because North Texas hail is a routine cost and tornadoes reach the city itself, as in October 2019.
Choose Dallas if
- you work in corporate headquarters, finance, logistics or aerospace and want pay above the national average
- you rent, and would pay about $1,853 for a two-bedroom rather than $1,904
- you want a labor market that does not lean on visitor spending
- you would rather plan around hail and 100F days than a hurricane season
The Dallas guide · Neighborhoods · Dallas rent vs buy · Dallas mortgage calculator
Orlando or Dallas, in short
Is Orlando or Dallas cheaper to live in?
Orlando to own, and Dallas by a little to rent. Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly. Orlando's typical home was $375,175 in June 2026 against the Dallas single-family median sale price of $469,900 in August, and the mortgage at 20% down is $1,931 against about $2,509, though Orlando's uses August's 6.67% rate and Dallas's September's 7.03%. Property tax is about $6,043 a year against $7,448, 1.61% and 1.58% of the price, and insurance $310 a month against $400, so the three lines come to about $2,745 in Orlando and $3,529 in Dallas, or about $2,816 for Orlando at the same 7.03%. That is before flood cover and before any district assessment on a newer Orlando house. A two-bedroom averaged $1,853 in Dallas in August 2026 against a $1,904 median in Orlando in June. Neither state taxes income, and sales tax is 6.5% in Orange County against 8.25% in Dallas.
Is Orlando or Dallas safer?
Only homicide can be compared cleanly, and on it Orlando is far lower. Orlando Police recorded 10 homicides in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and the fewest since 1971; Dallas recorded 140 in the FBI's file, about 10.5, and 141 on its police department's own count. Dallas's violent rate was 577 per 100,000 and its property rate 3,081 in 2025 on the FBI's counts, read on 27 September 2026 and still open to revision. Orlando has no FBI rate after 2022, when it was 835.8 violent and 4,035.6 property offenses per 100,000, and its department's own 2025 tally uses a broader definition that lands near 1,775 per 100,000, which cannot sit beside Dallas's 577. Both report crime improving: Orlando's department puts overall crime 19% lower in 2025, and Dallas's FBI violent count dropped 12%.
Which has the better job market, Orlando or Dallas?
Dallas's is larger and pays more; the unemployment rates are level. On the same unadjusted basis unemployment was 4.6% in greater Orlando in June 2026 and 4.6% in Dallas-Fort Worth in July. Greater Orlando had 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in June 2026, 305,500 of them in leisure and hospitality at below the private-sector average, with Disney at about 77,000, AdventHealth at about 37,700 and Lockheed Martin at more than 14,000. Dallas-Fort Worth's 4,353,400 grew 1.3% in the year to July 2026, the largest sector trade, transportation and utilities, with corporate headquarters, finance and aerospace behind it, and the metro's average weekly wage was $1,785 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. Median household income was $92,733 across the Dallas metro in 2024 against $81,044 around Orlando, though the City of Orlando's $77,597 is above the City of Dallas's $74,323.
What does a listing leave out in Orlando and in Dallas?
The tax on a newer house and the reset after a sale. Much of the Orlando metro's newer housing, Lake Nona inside the city among it, carries a community development district assessment of roughly $1,200 to $3,000 a year that appears in no millage. Dallas's $7,448 describes an address inside the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD, and one in Collin County or another school district pays a different stack. In both states the seller's bill is no guide. Save Our Homes resets a Florida assessment to market value the January after a sale, and the full 1.81% applies until the buyer files for the homestead by 1 March; a Texas buyer starts at full appraised value, and the Dallas bill without a homestead is $10,463. At closing a Florida buyer also pays 0.55% of the loan, about $1,651 on Orlando's, and a Texas buyer pays recording fees only, while the Texas seller customarily pays for the buyer's owner's title policy.
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.
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Florida: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, crime.homicides rate
- Annual Resident Population Estimates for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department summarized offenses (violent crime, property crime, homicide), 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, crime.homicides 2022
- Proactive policing in Orlando yields significant crime reductions · WFTV · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend, crime notes
- Police say crimes, including homicides, declining in Orlando · Spectrum News 13 · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Orlando Police: 2025 violent crime down 9 percent in the City Beautiful · Headline Surfer · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, crime.homicides 2024
- Orlando Police Department releases 2024 crime statistics · WFTV via Yahoo News · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012815 (Orlando International Airport), monthly and annual · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Orlando, Florida (climate and hurricane history) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, character
- Hurricane Milton · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year, tables B19013 and B08301, Orlando city and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA · US Census Bureau via Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, series LAUMT123674000000003 (Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA unemployment rate) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, series SMU12367400000000001 and SMU12367407000000001 (Orlando MSA total nonfarm and leisure and hospitality) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Top employers and talent report search results (Disney, AdventHealth, Lockheed Martin employment) · Orlando Economic Partnership · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Orange County, Florida sales tax rate 2026 · Avalara · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Facts at a Glance · LYNX (Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority) · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- SunRail Ridership Grows to 1.2 Million Riders in 2024 · SunRail · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Orlando International Moves Up In 2025 National Rankings for Busiest Airport · Greater Orlando Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- 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
- 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
- Violent Crime Reduction Plan Update, Public Safety Committee, June 3, 2025 · Dallas Police Department (City of Dallas) · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Crime trend
- Police Incidents (Dallas Police Public Data, RMS incidents from June 1, 2014) · City of Dallas OpenData · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate
- Dallas sees lowest violent crime numbers since 2015 as chief credits new crime strategies · CBS Texas · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Dallas/Fort Worth: Annual and Consecutive 100 Degree Days (last updated 22 September 2026) · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours, Climate normals
- 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
- April 11th 2016 Hail Storm · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Cotality 2026 Report: Hail risk now rivals major hurricanes (2026 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report) · Cotality · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- North Texas Tornadoes, October 20, 2019 · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 2019 North Dallas tornado (path length, structures destroyed, damage, casualties) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- December 26, 2015 Tornado Outbreak · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Dallas Levee System · City of Dallas, Trinity River Corridor Project · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Trinity River at Dallas (DALT2), historic crests · NOAA National Water Prediction Service · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 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
- Wettest 24 hours in nearly a century for Dallas-Fort Worth · Yale Climate Connections · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- February 2021 Winter Storm-Related Deaths, Texas (mortality surveillance report) · Texas Department of State Health Services · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts · The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- How the Texas power grid is holding up during the winter storm · CBS Texas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Order to Secure Texas Grid Amid Winter Storm Fern · US Department of Energy · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Dallas Area Reservoirs (daily storage, percent full) · Texas Water Development Board, Water Data for Texas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Frequently Asked Questions (watering schedule) and City of Dallas Water Conservation Ordinance · Dallas Water Utilities, Save Dallas Water · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Dallas-Fort Worth Area Economic Summary · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Main sectors, Labour market
- Dallas Regional Economic Development Guide 2026: Major Companies and Headquarters · Dallas Regional Chamber · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- City Sales and Use Tax (city rate table) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Transit Sales and Use Tax (Dallas MTA, effective January 1, 1984) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Transit ridership
- Sales and Use Tax · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Texas Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes, Character
- 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Property Tax Exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Dallas approves $5.66 billion budget for 2026-27 fiscal year · Lake Highlands Advocate · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- City of Dallas Update on Proposition U, Police and Fire Funding Appropriation · City of Dallas · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- About DART (DART facts) · Dallas Area Rapid Transit · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
- 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
- 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
- DART services in Richardson, Plano to remain unchanged as Highland Park withdraws · Community Impact · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Character
- DFW Total Passengers, December 2025 (calendar year 2025 vs 2024) · Dallas Fort Worth International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- World's Busiest Airports: Atlanta Holds, Asia Climbs (2025 passenger and movement rankings) · ACI World · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Dallas Love Field (2025 passenger totals from the FAA, location, Southwest Airlines) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Parkland Memorial Hospital · UT Southwestern Medical Center · retrieved Supports: Health care
- About the Trauma Center · Parkland Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health · Baylor Scott & White Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- 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
- 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
- New Dallas Pediatric Campus Puts Children First · Southwestern Medical District · retrieved Supports: Health care
- On Dallas ISD's first day of school, enrollment's down, but letter grade may be up · KERA News · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- Southern Methodist University (fall 2025 enrollment, University Park) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- Dallas College (seven campuses in Dallas County) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- 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, Year-over-year change to June 2026, which is negative in twenty-two of the twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte metro pages use, so the two American metros can be read against each other
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Orange County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Orange County general at 4.4347 mills, the library district at 0.3748 and the St Johns River Water Management District at 0.1793, School state and local levies totalling 6.449 mills, Municipal rates from Windermere's 3.7425 to Eatonville's 7.2938, A published total against every mill code, including Winter Park's 15.3615 on codes 2, 4 and 6, Maitland's 16.3055 on code 6, and Windermere's 15.2311 on code 35 and 15.4839 on code 75, A blank library column on every Winter Park and Maitland code, which is what puts both municipalities outside the district
- Special taxing district information: the Orange County Library District's boundary · Orange County Library System · retrieved Supports: The district's boundary is Orange County exclusive of Winter Park and Maitland, each of which operates its own library, Laws of Florida chapter 99-486 as the enabling act behind it
- Final 2025 Millage Rates, fiscal year 2025-26 · Seminole County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage by taxing authority for every Seminole municipality, from Lake Mary's 14.3929 to Casselberry's 18.1808, School required local and discretionary levies totalling 5.2490 mills, The county fire and road MSTUs, which apply in the unincorporated area and in some cities but not others
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Osceola County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Kissimmee at 17.4114 mills and Saint Cloud at 17.8989, School levies totalling 5.3060 mills across required local, discretionary and capital, Dozens of separate municipal service taxing units in the unincorporated county, from 0.13 to 12.42 mills, which is why an unincorporated Osceola address cannot be given one rate
- 2025 Final Millage Rates by district, and the 2025 Final Millage Rates and Values Comparison Sheet · Lake County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage for every Lake municipality, from Leesburg's 15.9477 to Eustis's 19.8623, Leesburg's own adopted rate of 3.4752 mills, on the district sheet and again as the 2025 adopted rate on the comparison sheet, School board state and local levies totalling 6.0850 mills, The county fire, ambulance and stormwater MSTUs and which municipalities are subject to them, including that an incorporated city pays neither the fire nor the stormwater MSTU
- 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 population estimates for each municipality, Leesburg's growth from 27,011 to 37,815, the fastest in the metro in percentage terms, Orlando at 334,854, which is twelve percent of its own metropolitan area
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Average cost of homeowners insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved Supports: A Florida average of about $3,815 a year against a national average of about $2,543, Orange County premiums in the $3,200 to $4,500 range, at the cheaper end of the state because the metro is inland
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026 · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which applies in every county in this metro
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents per $100 on a deed, in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents plus a 45-cent surtax, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note or other written obligation to pay money
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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