Wealthy Dallas neighbor rakes in No. 3 spot among America's richest cities

CultureMap Dallas
 
Wealthy Dallas neighbor rakes in No. 3 spot among America's richest cities

Frisco may be the home base of the Dallas Cowboys, the richest team in the NFL, but it’s also home to some of the richest people in the country.

A recent ranking from data provider HomeSnacks puts Frisco at No. 3 among the richest big cities in the U.S. In last year’s HomeSnacks study, Frisco held the No. 4 spot.

HomeSnacks looked at three data points to rank the country’s richest big cities: median household income, unemployment rate, and poverty rate.

At the time the study came out, Frisco’s median income was $128,761, the fifth highest showing among big cities. Meanwhile, Frisco’s unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, the 25th lowest rate among the big cities, and the poverty rate was 4 percent, the fourth lowest rate. (In some cases, cities are listed has having the same unemployment rate or poverty rate. But their rankings in those categories differ because HomeSnacks sorted them by carrying out the rates by several decimal points.)

In its incredibly snarky commentary on Frisco, HomeSnacks insists that most of the city’s well-to-do frequent Whole Foods, Starbucks, CorePower Yoga, and Lululemon. And, without any data to back up its claim, HomeSnacks reports that Frisco is chock-full of doctors, lawyers, business owners, and entrepreneurs.

“Do you think they know they’re the richest people in the state? I think that’s a safe bet,” HomeSnacks writer Chris Kolmar observes in his commentary on Frisco.

“Is it snobby here? Maybe from an [outsiders’] standpoint, but it might be more of a shallow suburban type of vibe. Does being rich make you out of touch with reality? Perhaps. But money does … buy happiness. Just ask someone without it.”

Appearing ahead of Frisco in the study are Cary, North Carolina, and Centennial, Colorado. The study features the 306 U.S. cities with at least 100,000 residents.

Four other cities in Dallas-Fort Worth made the top 50:

  • No. 12 McKinney. The median household income was $100,775 (No. 23), the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent (No. 14), and the poverty rate was 6.9 percent (No. 29).
  • No. 15 Allen. The median household income was $113,719 (No. 11), the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent (No. 59), and the poverty rate was 4.1 percent (No. 5).
  • No. 19 Plano. The median household income was $96,348 (No. 33), the unemployment rate was 4 percent (No. 41), and the poverty rate was 6.3 percent (No. 17).
  • No. 23 Carrollton. The median household income was $82,345 (No. 61), the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent (No. 23), and the poverty rate was 6.5 percent (No. 18).

Joining Frisco in HomeSnacks’ top 10 are two Houston suburbs: No. 7 Pearland and No. 10 League City.

Pearland’s median household income was $102,764 (ranked 19th), while its unemployment rate was 3.8 percent (ranked 29th) and its poverty rate was 3.5 percent (ranked seventh). In League City, the median household income was $108,979 (ranked 14th), the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent (ranked 32nd), and the poverty rate was 5.4 percent (ranked 13th).

In Texas’ other major metro areas, Sugar Land (Houston) ranked 24th and Round Rock (Austin) ranked 37th.

In Sugar Land, the median household income was $123,261 (No. 7), the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent (No. 93), and the poverty rate was 4.4 percent (No. 24).

In Round Rock, the median household income was $86,121 (No. 49), the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent (No. 88), and the poverty rate was 6.2 percent (No. 16).