Dallas-Fort Worth is becoming the nation’s new hub for finance.
The exodus of financial firms to North Texas has reshaped the local job landscape and helped transform the DFW metroplex into the nation’s second-largest hub for financial workers, according to Bloomberg.
In 2023, DFW added 17,400 financial sector jobs, marking a roughly 4.7% increase year over year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In total, North Texas is home to more than 380,000 finance workers, outpacing the overall number of industry jobs in Chicago and Los Angeles, Bloomberg reported.
While DFW fell short of the 809,000 finance jobs in New York, the metro is slowly cementing its status as the “Wall Street of the South.”
Last year, three of Wall Street’s biggest financial institutions began construction on new corporate campuses in North Texas. These include Wells Fargo & Co.’s new business campus in Celina, Bank of America’s office high-rise in Uptown, and Goldman Sachs’ new regional office near Downtown.
While DFW is growing in prominence, the Texas metro has not always been appealing to financial institutions or money managers.
True North Advisors CEO Scott Wood recalls a time when the Lone Star State was frowned upon by big Wall Street firms.
“If you were from Texas and you were in New York, you were just kind of considered dumb,” Wood said, Dallas Business Journal reported. “People didn’t respect people from Texas and that has completely changed over the last 30 years.”
Now that Texas and DFW have gained a strong reputation among Wall Street firms, it is becoming increasingly common to see financial firms relocate or expand their business to North Texas.
Last year, wealth advisory firm Fisher Investments relocated its headquarters to Plano from Washington to escape the state’s burdensome capital gains tax.
Since relocating to Texas in 2023, the company has learned what many companies have long since known — that Texas offers a business-friendly climate, no corporate or personal income tax, a highly skilled and diverse workforce, easy access to global markets, robust infrastructure, and a reasonable regulatory environment.
“We’re very pleased with our Texas headquarters move,” said Naj Srinivas, a spokesman for Fisher, per DBJ.
“Texas is simply more business and employee-friendly, which is why it continues to attract so many businesses, like ours,” he said. “In 2023, our firm continued firing on all cylinders in terms of clients served and [Assets Under Management] growth globally. We expect the new bull market to continue in 2024 and deliver good-to-great returns for investors.”
