One real estate software provider listed Dallas’ city center as the top downtown in the United States, according to a new report released by StorageCafe, despite well-known challenges faced by residents.
The city was named ahead of others such as Nashville, San Diego, and Austin.
The designation may come as a surprise given the city’s struggles with homelessness and vagrancy, which according to a survey in 2022 were seen by a strong majority of residents as a significant issue. Crime is also on the rise for another year in a row, with at least 17 murders committed within the city limits as of January 23.
That’s ahead of the pace set in 2022, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard. Aggravated assaults are also up citywide by a significant margin, and no pivot appears to be on the horizon from the city’s elected leaders.
To conduct the ranking, the survey compared the 30 most populous U.S. cities. Numerous factors were considered, primarily relevant to someone living in an apartment in a downtown setting, including:
- cost of living (amount spent on groceries, rent-to-income ratio)
- rental inventory
- access to amenities within apartment complexes (workout facilities)
- cultural scene (theaters)
- restaurants
- safety (crime rate)
- shopping.
Texas had three cities in the top 10:
- Dallas
- Austin
- Chicago, IL
- Boston, MA
- Seattle, WA
- Nashville, TN
- Houston
- Columbus, OH
- San Diego, CA
- Phoenix, AZ
StorageCafe is a nationwide storage space marketplace powered by Yardi, a provider of software solutions for the real estate industry.