They’re Baaaaack! Young Renters Are Flocking Back to Dallas for Big-City Life

This study hits close to home for me. My Millennial daughter landed a job on Fifth Avenue and just moved from her Austin apartment to New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen.

So, naturally, as a concerned father, I’m paying attention to RENTCafé’s recently released Mid-Year Report. Based on rental activity in the first half of this year, younger generations and renters by choice are moving to big city life at pre-pandemic levels.

Nationally, renting activity saw an increase of 13 percent compared to the same time last year.

Dallas did even better as renting activity increased by 22 percent year over year. This includes renters who moved within Dallas itself and renters coming from outside the city. Fort Worth matched the national numbers with 13 percent moving in and 28 percent leaving Cowtown.

Elsewhere in Texas in 2021, Austin brought in 57 percent more renters, El Paso 47 percent, Houston 43 percent, and San Antonio 28 percent in 2021.

RENTCafé’s analysis found that renters are moving to Dallas from Garland, Mesquite, Plano, Irving, and other surrounding cities to fuel a 34 percent surge. The analysis also a 19 percent rise in people who are choosing to move out of Dallas.

It’s also a youth movement in Dallas. Gen Z, the youngest generation of renters (the oldest of whom turn 24 this year), had a 66 percent surge in rental applications compared to last year. Nationally, Gen Z applications rose 39 percent with most applicants entering the rental market for the first time.

RENTCafé churned market and demographic insights formed by an analysis of 2.5 million nationwide renter applications from RentGrow.

In New York’s case, the number of renters moving into the city rose 209 percent. My daughter’s actions should add to those numbers in the next analysis.