Here’s How Much Square Footage $1,500 in Rent Can Get You in D-FW

Savvy apartment renters looking to get the most bang for their buck in Texas may want to look outside the D-FW, at least according to RentCafe’s annual comparative study on multifamily unit square footage.

Every year, the apartment search website surveys the 200 biggest cities in the United States to see how much space $1,500 will get you on average. No surprise, major coastal cities came out offering the least value. Meanwhile, locales in the South and Midwest tended to see dollars go further.

Of course, everything’s relative. And depending on where you’re renting in the Lone Star State, you might not be getting your money’s worth when it comes to space. That seems especially true for those with apartments in the Metroplex, which saw only one of its constituent cities make the top 10 list of Texas cities for best square footage return.

Mesquite came in the No.10 spot across all Texas cities surveyed, offering 980 square feet for the study’s standard of $1,500 in monthly rent. The Austin metro area fared poorly as well, with none of its suburbs making the top 10.

If you rank the 12 biggest cities in Texas, though, well… D-FW and Austin still come up short, dominating the back half.

Fort Worth came in at No.8, with $1,500 a month yielding 920 square feet. Meanwhile, in No.10 Dallas, you’d get 814 square feet (almost four times what $1,500 will get you in Manhattan). That’s still better than Austin, though, where 780 square feet is the average.

Less for More: Dallas Apartment Units Are Getting Smaller and More Expensive

Nevertheless, renters in Texas have it pretty good considering the national average is 714 square feet. Trends in new multifamily builds could put a squeeze on D-FW’s numbers, though. As previously reported by CandysDirt.com, the cost of rent and square footage have been moving in opposite directions in Dallas. While rent has increased by 19% since 2018, the average square footage of a unit has shrunk by 11%.

At least the trend is national.