2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment
February 2026
This is the third annual edition of this report. See past reports:
This year’s report is anchored by four core insights:
1) It’s hard to be a renter in Dallas. Of the 304K renter households in Dallas, 59% are low income (≤80% Area Median Income) and 50% are cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their gross income on housing.
2) There is a shortage of affordable rental units for very low-income households. For households that earn at or below 50% AMI ($52K for a family of four), the City of Dallas is short 46K affordable rental units — for every 100 households ≤50% AMI, there are just 60 affordable rental units.
3) Dallas is changing. In the past 10 years, Dallas has realized significant growth in the population of seniors (+33%), one- and two-person households (+23% and +19%, respectively), and high-income households earning more than $150K annually (+130%). This rapid growth, however, is juxtaposed with a slight decline (-0.8%) in the population of children, a small increase in households with three or more people (+2%), and a significant decrease in households earning less than $35K (-32%).
4) There are signs of progress, but progress is uneven. After record-high rent growth during the pandemic, renters have recently felt some relief: year-over-year rent growth was largely flat or down slightly in the City of Dallas in 2024 and 2025. An estimated 8,400 multifamily units were delivered in 2024 — 84% market-rate units and 16% income-restricted units. In the past 10 years, educational attainment and household income have both improved significantly, but long-standing inequities persist, and Dallas is the sixth most segregated large city in the U.S.
To achieve a stronger Dallas, housing must be a central issue. Whether your north star is growing the economy, improving the health and wellbeing of Dallas residents, or breaking the cycle of poverty, housing matters.
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2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment
The 2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment establishes a shared fact base on rental affordability, supply, and opportunity in the City of Dallas.
- Dallas faces a 46,000-unit shortage of rental homes affordable to very low-income households earning ≤50% of Area Median Income (AMI). Since CPAL first published this report in 2023, the gap has grown by more than 12,000 units.
- Between 2021 and 2023, the number of rental units priced below $1,000 per month was cut in half — a loss of over 50,000 units. Today, 90% of affordable units for low-income renters are unsubsidized and vulnerable to market pressures.
- Half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, including 75% of single parents with children and 65% of senior renters. Extremely low-income renters spend, on average, 78% of their income on housing, leaving little room for other necessities.
2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment
The 2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment establishes a shared fact base on rental affordability, supply, and opportunity in the City of Dallas.
- Dallas faces a 46,000-unit shortage of rental homes affordable to very low-income households earning ≤50% of Area Median Income (AMI). Since CPAL first published this report in 2023, the gap has grown by more than 12,000 units.
- Between 2021 and 2023, the number of rental units priced below $1,000 per month was cut in half — a loss of over 50,000 units. Today, 90% of affordable units for low-income renters are unsubsidized and vulnerable to market pressures.
- Half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, including 75% of single parents with children and 65% of senior renters. Extremely low-income renters spend, on average, 78% of their income on housing, leaving little room for other necessities.
2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment
The 2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment establishes a shared fact base on rental affordability, supply, and opportunity in the City of Dallas.
- Dallas faces a 46,000-unit shortage of rental homes affordable to very low-income households earning ≤50% of Area Median Income (AMI). Since CPAL first published this report in 2023, the gap has grown by more than 12,000 units.
- Between 2021 and 2023, the number of rental units priced below $1,000 per month was cut in half — a loss of over 50,000 units. Today, 90% of affordable units for low-income renters are unsubsidized and vulnerable to market pressures.
- Half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, including 75% of single parents with children and 65% of senior renters. Extremely low-income renters spend, on average, 78% of their income on housing, leaving little room for other necessities.