Where Are the Cheapest Rents in Dallas? Lake Highlands, It Turns Out

Apartments like The Trellis (pictured) and others make one zip code in Lake Highlands one of the cheapest areas to live in Dallas, according to new research by Realtor.com.

We know rents are high in Dallas — we’ve written more than a couple of stories about how much it costs to live in the Big D. But where can you consistently find the cheapest rents? Turns out, one zip code in Lake Highlands, in particular, is exactly where you should start hunting.

Realtor.com decided to take a look at several large metros with higher rents and find the most affordable neighborhoods in each — with a few provisos.

The researchers said they began by analyzing median one-bedroom rents as of May by zip code, and then searched neighborhoods within a 45-minute commute to downtown during morning rush hour based on data from Google Maps.

Researchers said they also “made sure crime wasn’t over a certain threshold based on crime data provided by Sperling’s Best Places, a site that collects data on communities across the U.S.”

In Dallas, turns out that the 75238 zip code — Lake Highlands — hits the sweet spot of affordability, commute time, and crime threshold.

The median one-bedroom rent in Dallas is $1,310. But with more luxury apartment build-outs happening than affordable ones, one might think finding those affordable apartments would be nearly impossible.

But in Lake Highlands, the median one-bedroom rent is $827. Obviously, to get that kind of pricing, you’re looking at an apartment (a quick perusal of rental options in the 75238 zip code yielded two apartment complexes and several rental homes, the latter well over the $827 price point).

And this zip code has an advantage for non-drivers, too: DART station is located within the zip code — the cheaper zips in other major metros might not offer such proximity to transit, chief economist for Realtor.com Danielle Hale said.

“Because of high home prices and rising rents, people are getting creative and looking [for rental apartments] in areas that they might not have looked at before,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com. “When you’re looking for affordability, you’ve got to make trade-offs … There might not be a grocery store or other fun things to do. It might take longer to get weekly errands done because it is a little farther from transit.”

The entire report can be found here.