Just this morning saw the list that consumer financial info website WalletHub published last week of the best and worst cities for Texas families. They limited themselves to the 112 biggest (by population) in the state. You’ve probably seen enough of these sorts of rankings to know just about how this shook out. Here’s the top of the list:
What do Southlake, University Park, Colleyville, Allen, Flower Mound, Frisco, Coppell, and Keller have in common? Yes, that. You know what I’m talking about.
Now, the bottom of the list:
At least Dallas came out ahead of Houston? So what does the average family in the bottom of the list not have nearly as much of as the families who live in the cities at the top of the list? Yeah, that. You know what I’m saying.
But, in case you hadn’t already decided that this list (dressed up as it is as authoritative, with a methodology and “experts” and everything) deserves to be discarded as no more useful than looking at a U.S. Census report on the cities with the highest household median-income, take a look at what WalletHub reckons are the cities with most- and least-affordable housing:
How on earth do they figure that Southlake, Colleyville, and University Park boast more affordable housing than does Dallas? The answer is in their methodology for this category:
Did you catch that? A key component of their affordable housing criteria is the median household income of the people who already live there. Therefore when they grant Southlake the No. 1 ranking for affordability, what they mean is that Southlake is an incredibly affordable place for the people who can afford to live there.
Say what you will about D Magazine‘s own Best Suburbs rankings, at least they’re better-reasoned than that.
(H/T Candy’s Dirt)
