Irving and Lewisville Are Hot Spots for Renters, StorageCafe Analysts Find

StorageCafe analysts crunched the numbers and determined the two hot spots for Millennial renters on the move were our own Irving and Lewisville.

Irving topped the list with Lewisville right behind. Dallas was 17th.

StorageCafe, a nationwide storage space marketplace, reviewed 3.4 million rental applications from 2021 and then broke out the charts of net migration rates as a percentage of the population to determine where renters want to move.

Irving picked up 3.2 people for every person who left. Interestingly, the biggest out-of-state source for new Irving residents is Louisville, Ky. The cost of living is better, but Louisville is random here. You’d think Louisville people would want to live in Lewisville.

Speaking of Lewisville, the most common out-of-state source of renters comes from New York. The New Yorkers will have to get used to a more modest skyline in Lewisville.

“Irving comes out as the city that most appeals to renters,” writes StorageCafe. “Home to a quarter of a million residents, it checks many boxes.”

StorageCafe attributes Irving’s ranking to its proximity to Dallas, affordable prices, spacious floorplans, and big-name employers.

Overall, Millennials made up the largest renter cohort (57 percent) moving into Irving. Dallasites constituted by far the largest percentage of incoming renters.

Here are Dallas-Fort Worth-specific highlights of StorageCafe’s analysis:

• 73 percent of renters left Dallas for other D-FW suburbs. The most popular destinations for people leaving Dallas were Irving, Plano, and Arlington. Those heading out of state are most interested in Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C.
• 35 percent of apartment hunters interested in Dallas hail from elsewhere. Out-of-staters trying to move to Dallas most frequently come from Chicago and New York, increasing their apartment sizes by 17 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
• Generation Z renters are flocking to Denton. About 41 percent of apartment hunters heading to Denton were aged 25 or younger — the largest proportion across all the Dallas-area cities. The most common source of new arrivals in Denton is Dallas, followed by Fort Worth and Lewisville.
• Of the top-10 cities for net migration in Texas, eight are from North Texas: Irving, Lewisville, Dallas, Denton, Richardson, Plano, Arlington, and Grand Prairie.

Report review: This is a big rabbit hole. The report also includes an interactive visual tool that lets you explore data in other regions. Block out plenty of time to take a deep dive into this report. 🐇 🐇 🐇