Live in Uptown
About 19,600 people to the square mile at the 2020 census, nine in ten of their homes rented, and an improvement district that adds 4.5 cents per $100 of value to the five tax rates.
This guide covers the Uptown Public Improvement District, which Uptown Dallas Inc. manages north of downtown across Woodall Rodgers Freeway: about 599 acres, less the two census blocks it shares with the downtown district, where nobody lived. The 2020 census counted 18,363 people and 14,003 homes in its blocks; 11,211 of the 12,555 occupied homes were rented, and only ten residents lived in group quarters. Uptown Dallas Inc. calls it the highest-density residential neighborhood in Dallas and counts 19 square feet of park space per resident against a citywide average of 119. The district's current term ends on 31 December 2026, and its 2026 service plan budgets 2028 to 2030 on the assumption that it is renewed in 2027.
Three times downtown's density, at a higher rent and a third of its levy
The Uptown Public Improvement District as the City of Dallas's layer of public improvement districts draws it: about 599 acres, bounded by North Central Expressway (US 75) on the east, Woodall Rodgers Freeway on the south, North Akard Street, Cedar Springs Road and Bookhout Street on the southwest and west, the Katy Trail along most of the northwest side and Blackburn Street and North Haskell Avenue at the northern tip, the lines Wikipedia also gives for Uptown. Victory Park and the American Airlines Center lie outside it to the west, and Cityplace/Uptown station just outside it across Central Expressway. About 85 acres at its southern end, beside Klyde Warren Park, are also inside the Klyde Warren Park/Dallas Arts District improvement district. About three acres along Woodall Rodgers, two census blocks with no residents, also lie in the downtown district, and this guide leaves them out.
Uptown is the district north of downtown across Woodall Rodgers Freeway. This guide takes the Uptown Public Improvement District, about 599 acres between North Central Expressway, the Katy Trail and Cedar Springs Road, which Uptown Dallas Inc. has managed since 1993; until the late 1990s, Wikipedia notes, the area was simply the eastern part of Oak Lawn. Its older layer is State Thomas and the Freedman's community that preceded Uptown. Allen R. Griggs, emancipated in 1865, started a school for former slaves at New Hope Baptist Church on Hall Street in 1875, and the park named for him was dedicated in 1924. The City's State Thomas Historic District keeps about 20 acres of Victorian frame houses, which it calls the largest intact collection left in Dallas; its blocks held 285 people in 2020.
The census found a district of renters. In 2020 the district's blocks held 18,363 people in 14,003 homes, about 19,600 to the square mile: five times the city's density and three times downtown's. Of the 12,555 occupied homes, 11,211 were rented and 1,344 owned, and 1,167 of the 1,448 empty ones were for rent. Uptown Dallas Inc. calls it the highest-density residential neighborhood in Dallas, which this guide has not tested across the city, and Wikipedia's estimate of 19,979 residents in 2014 is on another boundary. Uptown Dallas Inc.'s own list of housing runs from apartments and condominiums to townhouses and live-work units; the census does not say which of the owned homes are which.
Uptown rents for more than downtown, and taxes for less. The Census Bureau's survey puts median gross rent at $2,101 to $2,443 in the four tracts wholly inside the district, against $1,844 to $2,103 in downtown's three. For owners the survey is thin: $584,400 in tract 17.03 and $405,100 in 18.01, each with a margin of about $60,000, and too few owners in the other two for any estimate. The MLS gives only the citywide condominium median, $310,000 in August 2026. On the 2025 rates a $310,000 homestead owes the five taxing units about $4,439 a year, and the district adds 4.5 cents per $100, about $140, where the downtown district charges 13.9. Owners who hold the over-65 homestead exemption pay no Uptown assessment, and the 24 blocks at the southern end beside Klyde Warren Park, 1,435 residents in 2020, also pay that park district's 5 cents. The citywide arithmetic is on the Dallas page.
The trolley and the trail are the spine. The M-Line has run heritage streetcars along McKinney Avenue since 22 July 1989; it is free and comes every 17 to 20 minutes, with a subsidy from DART and the district, and Uptown Dallas Inc. counts 400,000 riders a year where Wikipedia gives 677,694 for 2021. The Katy Trail, 3.5 miles on the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail bed, forms much of the northwest edge. Light rail is just outside, at Cityplace/Uptown station across Central Expressway and at Victory station by the American Airlines Center, where the Trinity Railway Express also stops. West Village, at the trolley's northern end, is inside the district; Victory Park, built around the arena from 2001, is not.
The district's term ends on 31 December 2026. The City's page says so, and the district's 2026 service plan budgets the years from 2028 only on the assumption that it is renewed in 2027. This guide found no City record of the renewal it could open, so the rate and term a buyer inherits after this year are not yet known here. The seller's notice of obligation names the current rate; the City's page will name the term.
- Ask the seller for the Uptown district's notice of obligation, and for the Klyde Warren Park district's if the building is at the southern end
- Apply to the Dallas Central Appraisal District for the homestead exemption; the seller's capped value ends with the sale
- If you are 65 or older, file for that exemption as well: its holders pay no Uptown assessment
- Ask the association for its budget, reserve study and insurance renewal
- Check whether the house is inside the State Thomas Historic District before planning changes to it
How Uptown got here
- 1875Allen R. Griggs, born enslaved in Georgia and emancipated in Texas in 1865, becomes minister of New Hope Baptist Church on Hall Street and starts a grammar school for former slaves. By 1878 he has built Colored Baptist High School, which Uptown Dallas Inc. calls the first high school for African Americans.
- 1922North Dallas High School's building opens on North Haskell Avenue, among the oldest high school buildings still standing in the city.
- 1924The Dallas Park Board dedicates Griggs Park in his honor, at the request of the City Federation of Negro Women's Clubs.
- 1989The McKinney Avenue trolley begins running heritage streetcars on 22 July.
- 1993The Uptown Public Improvement District is established. The City renews it in 2000, 2005, 2012 and 2019.
- 2000DART's Cityplace/Uptown station opens at North Haskell Avenue and Central Expressway, and construction of the Katy Trail begins on the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas rail bed.
- 2001The American Airlines Center opens on 17 July, just west of the district, as the anchor of Victory Park.
- 2007The Katy Trail's main path is complete: 3.5 miles from the American Airlines Center to Mockingbird Station.
- 2012Klyde Warren Park opens in October on a deck over Woodall Rodgers Freeway, the district's southern edge.
- 2013The Council last amends the State Thomas Historic District on 27 February; the City describes it as the largest remaining collection of intact Victorian houses in Dallas.
- 2015The trolley adds a downtown loop on Federal and Olive Streets.
- 2020The census counts 18,363 people and 14,003 homes in the district's blocks, 89% of the occupied homes rented.
- 2025On 27 August the Council approves the district's 2026 service plan, at an assessment of 4.5 cents per $100 for 2025.
- 2026Klyde Warren Park is to begin its westward expansion toward Field Street. The district's current term ends on 31 December.
Griggs Park, the Katy Trail and the deck over Woodall Rodgers
Griggs Park, 8 acres on Hugo Street in State Thomas, was dedicated in 1924 and rebuilt by Uptown Dallas Inc. with a playground, a half-court basketball court and a walking path, and in May 2026 it showed free films on Tuesday nights. The Katy Trail runs 3.5 miles on the old rail bed, a 12-foot concrete path with a soft running track beside it, from the American Airlines Center to Mockingbird Station. At the southern edge, Klyde Warren Park is 5.4 acres on a deck over Woodall Rodgers, opened in 2012 and due to grow nearly two acres west from 2026.
What the map does not show: by Uptown Dallas Inc.'s count Uptown has 19 square feet of park space per resident against a Dallas average of 119, and its page gives no year for either figure. The photographs above are of White Rock Lake, Fair Park and the Trinity floodway, elsewhere in the city.
Elsewhere in Dallas, not Uptown
23 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 23 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from the OpenStreetMap place node for Uptown, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times. Inside the district the walk and the trolley are the columns to read.
Every gym within reach
The City's nearest center is the Reverchon Recreation Center on Maple Avenue, 14,450 square feet, just west of the trail; Exall on Adair Street is east across Central Expressway. The downtown YMCA on Akard Street closed in 2023. Griggs Park has a half-court basketball court, and a building's own fitness room, where it has one, is paid for in the association fee or the rent.
- Whether the building has a fitness room or a pool, and what the fee covers
- Reverchon Recreation Center, 3505 Maple Avenue, about 1.6 km west
- Exall Recreation Center, 1355 Adair Street, about 2.2 km east
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Reverchon Recreation Center open | The City's community center at 3505 Maple Avenue, just west of the district, built in 1974: 14,450 square feet. | 4–6 min |
| Exall Recreation Center open | The City's neighborhood center at 1355 Adair Street, east of Central Expressway, built in 1989: 5,300 square feet. | 5–7 min |
| Griggs Park open | Free: a half-court basketball court and a walking path on 8 acres in State Thomas. | 3–4 min |
| Katy Trail open | The free option: 3.5 miles of concrete path with a soft running track beside it, along the district's northwest edge. | |
| T. Boone Pickens YMCA closed | The downtown YMCA at 601 North Akard Street closed on 25 November 2023 after more than 40 years, citing a fall in membership and more than $8 million of repairs. | 5–8 min |
The free option is the Katy Trail, along the district's northwest edge, or the half court in Griggs Park.
Milam, Spence and North Dallas High for every block
Schools are the Dallas Independent School District's, assigned by address. On the attendance layer the district's data hub updated in July 2026, every populated block, all 18,363 residents in 2020, goes to Ben Milam Elementary on McKinney Avenue beyond the northern tip, then Alex W. Spence Middle on Capitol Avenue across Central Expressway and North Dallas High, whose 1922 building on North Haskell Avenue stands just past the district's edge, on the Oak Lawn side. Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, across Woodall Rodgers in the Arts District, admits by audition.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Milam Elementary School | Dallas Independent School District | 4200 McKinney Avenue, beyond the district's northern tip. On the elementary attendance layer Dallas ISD's data hub updated in July 2026, it is the elementary for all 97 populated census blocks in the district, which held all 18,363 of its 2020 residents. |
| Alex W. Spence Middle School | Dallas Independent School District | 4001 Capitol Avenue, east across Central Expressway. The middle school for every Milam block, with a Talented and Gifted academy that admits by application. |
| North Dallas High School | Dallas Independent School District | 3120 North Haskell Avenue, inside the district near its eastern edge, in a building from 1922. The high school for every populated block; Wikipedia lists Uptown, Victory Park and most of Oak Lawn among the areas it serves. |
| Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts | Dallas Independent School District | 2501 Flora Street in the Arts District, across Woodall Rodgers. A magnet for grades 9 to 12 that admits by audition and application, not by address. |
Check the exact address on Dallas ISD's 2026-27 attendance zone maps before you commit. Spence's Talented and Gifted academy and the arts magnet admit by application rather than address.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The appraisal district values every unit as it stands on 1 January, and last year's taxes are due by 31 January, with penalty and interest from 1 February
- Highs near 14 °C and lows near 3 °C at Love Field, with about nine nights at or below freezing in a normal January
- The Form Follows Fitness 5K started from Klyde Warren Park on 21 February 2026 and ran through Uptown, the Arts District and the West End
- 1 February is the City's deadline for petitions to create or renew an improvement district, and the Uptown district's current term ends on 31 December 2026
- Highs near 17 °C and 71 mm of rain on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- Street to Home's second phase, from March 2026, sends outreach workers to anyone seen sleeping outside within a quarter mile of DART stations and across downtown
- Highs near 21 °C and 88 mm of rain, as the spring storms begin
- The appraisal district's protest season begins around the middle of April: a buyer's first value is the market's, not the seller's capped one
- Highs near 25 °C and lows near 14 °C, with less than one day reaching 32 °C in a normal April
- 15 May is the deadline to protest the appraisal district's value, or 30 days after the notice arrives if that is later
- Uptown Dallas Inc. showed free films in Griggs Park every Tuesday in May 2026, from sundown, and asked people to come by trolley because parking is limited
- Highs near 29 °C and 116 mm of rain, the wettest month but one, with about eight days reaching 32 °C
- Uptown Dallas Inc.'s free Moonlight Market and Night Festival ran on the evening of 12 June 2026
- Highs near 34 °C, and about 22 days reaching 32 °C on the normal
- The appraisal district certifies its roll to the taxing units around 25 July, the value the autumn bills are levied on
- Highs near 36 °C, 28 days reaching 32 °C and about eight reaching 38 °C: walk the Katy Trail at 5 p.m. before you commit
- The Council approves the improvement districts' service plans and rates in late August; it approved all fifteen on 27 August 2025
- The Uptown district's 2026 plan budgets $4.06 million of net assessment revenue: 55% for services, trolley operations among them, and 30% for capital work, the Katy Trail among it
- The hottest month: highs near 36 °C, lows near 25 °C, and about ten days reaching 38 °C
- The State Fair of Texas opens at Fair Park, east of downtown, on 25 September 2026
- Highs near 32 °C and 79 mm of rain as the storms return
- Tax bills go out around 1 October
- The State Fair runs to 18 October in 2026
- The wettest month on the normal, 122 mm at Love Field, with highs near 26 °C
- A title company prorates the year's improvement district assessment between buyer and seller at closing, as it does the taxes, so ask for both figures
- Ask the association what the building's insurance renewal did this year before its budget meeting
- Highs near 20 °C and lows near 9 °C, with about two nights at or below freezing on the normal
- The Uptown district's current term ends on 31 December 2026, and its 2026 service plan budgets 2028 to 2030 on the assumption that it is renewed in 2027
- The BMW Dallas Marathon returns to downtown on 11 to 13 December 2026
- Highs near 15 °C and about six nights at or below freezing on the normal
3 more photographs of Dallas and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Dallas photo library, not photographs of Uptown itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–3 of 3 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Dallas library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Uptown.