Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To be clear the world runs on the almighty dollar and if that the case. Dallas triumphs over the other two for the time being and based on projections it should continue to lead all metros in the country for the time being for lots of metrics. Dallas just snagged the UBER regional hub and it's 3,000 jobs, adding tto Toyota, McKesson and a several other behemoth companies the last 5 years or so who have opened up large operations or relocated. It's not all gravy though as Home prices in DFW has ballooned the most out of the three areas and the locals are not happy about, and the property taxes that have followed.
As far as economic engine prominence Dallas has it! The location is perfect being centrally located and is a huge transit hub for all modes except water. Together with Forth Worth and Irving they have the most Fortune 500 companies outside of New York and Chicago it is 3rd with 22 Companies... Also, Based on Domestic Gross Product which combines the money produced by metropolitan area when ALL industries are combined DFW falls 4th. following NYC, Los Angeles and Chicago. Houston is 7th and Atlanta 10th. https://www.statista.com/chart/18684/us-cities-by-gdp/
Atlanta reigns supreme in media including News, Music and Film (Kudos to georgia for marketing itself as hollywood east)
Houston is absolutely the most diverse population wise and is the most internationally connected and still has Energy and Oil in it's back pocket (But suffers every time oil values deflate, they've done one of the worst jobs of any city in broadening their economic base, and it shows as little sister Dallas has grown up to and blown past Houston is many areas)
The two airports in Dallas have had higher percentages year over year than Houston or Atlanta (the latter of which has the busiest airport, but sometimes you just want an easier airport to travel out of. Step in Dallas' Lovefield and Houstons' Hobby two gorgeous and easily traveled midsize airports) Atlanta Hartsfield is a headache and a half especially when domino plane delays happen...
The three cities have their own strengths and vary drastically in some areas and overlap in many locations but for the current day and time DFW has the Juice! (But it's slightly cheating because Ft. Worth is included in many tallies and the cities play off of each other)
I don't agree at all that Houston and Dallas feel the same as Atlanta from the ground. I've been to all three cities. Trust me. Atlanta feels like an eastern city. Houston/Dallas feel more like western city. The tree and foliage difference is highly noticable. Downtown/Midtown Atlanta has so much more street trees planted than both Houston and Dallas and even also the neighborhoods.
Dallas/Houston does have more potential for widespread cohesive urban neighborhoods due to a lack of protected SFH neighorhoods right up against these dense areas like Atlanta does. We can already sort of see this in Houston with entire neighborhoods rebuilt as dense townhomes. That would be hard to build in Atlanta...maybe the westside like Bankhead or Vine City can eventually do this.
I still think Atlanta is the most walkable of the three and it's transit system, while lacking in the suburbs still hits major nodes like Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Perimeter Center, Decatur, and various walkable neighborhoods of the city which makes it easier to get around w/o a car. Dallas has an extensive light rail system, but it doesn't hit major nodes and Houston only has like 1 light rail line so it's not rally in the convo.
Of course not! Houston wasn’t built in a forest. But it’s hardly a barren wasteland either. Let’s at least try to be objective in our comparisons.
I guess it just depends on the crowd a person likes. Its hard to say either Dallas or Houston is cooler than the other. Nightlife in Dallas is much more image/fashion conscious but the LGBT nightlife there blows anything Houston has out of the water. Houston on the other hand is more laid back its a come as you are kind of place. People are less concerned with details here.
I found the nightlife in Dallas more intense than Houston. The thing I remember most about Dallas nightlife was that it was almost a competition to see who could stay out the latest fueled by cocaine. Here, people just go home when they please.
Id honestly say that as a resident, I prefer Houston's nightlife. As a visitor, Id probably prefer Dallas'. Just my opinion.
Yeah man going out in Dallas is/was way more intense for sure in pretty much every way. That's why I'm not as big of a fan of it. Even having lived for a long time in DC, people aren't generally as image conscious with respect to nightlife as they are in Dallas.
When I go out, I just want to interact with fun folks and have a good time - I'm not worried about what type of shoes people have on, or who did or didn't use valet, or why that person is really wearing white at this time of year. Dallas had too much of that going on for my personal taste, though I do understand a lot of people do go out purely to be seen. That's the biggest difference between the two imo.
Also, as a male, Houston seems to have more friendly single women in the nightlife scene. Having the TMC and a huge nursing sector helps with that I think. Dallas has a lot more tech and aviation which are very male dominated - it seemed the ratio was worse there anecdotally.
FWIW, I think Atlanta's nightlife scene is better than both and offers elements of both - you can find areas that have that more laid back Houston vibe as well as the more high-intensity nightlife areas/corridors that Dallas offers. But I've never actually lived in Atlanta so it's harder to compare apples to apples as I've only been out there as a visitor.
I don't agree at all that Houston and Dallas feel the same as Atlanta from the ground. I've been to all three cities. Trust me. Atlanta feels like an eastern city. Houston/Dallas feel more like western city. The tree and foliage difference is highly noticable. Downtown/Midtown Atlanta has so much more street trees planted than both Houston and Dallas and even also the neighborhoods.
The tree landscaping present in those Texas cities utilizes species found farther East, not really like the West at all. But their urban development patterns, especially lot sizes, tend to follow the Western style.
The tree landscaping present in those Texas cities utilizes species found farther East, not really like the West at all. But their urban development patterns, especially lot sizes, tend to follow the Western style.
I wouldn't even call it "Western style" since Florida cities are more or less set up the same way. Smaller lots are common in the Midwest as well. Atlanta's style of development is mostly only typical of the Piedmont states and the northeast.
This whole idea of comparisons between the cities hinges largely on what an individual is looking for. Having lived in Dallas for 5 years, but recently moving back to Atlanta 6 months ago after nearly a decade away, I can say that both cities are changing rapidly, and both cities are changing for the better. While I don't have much experience with Houston (I've only been there for work), I thing the different cities will appeal depending on what a person is looking for.
From a career perspective (as an urban planner/designer) I found Dallas to be an incredibly dynamic and rewarding place to grow a career, as the rapid population growth and the constant corporate relocation create constant opportunities. I also found Dallas to have a great 'professional' cultural scene, with fantastic museums, a symphony hall, opera house, etc next to Klyde Warren Park. Ft Worth, a short drive away, also has fabulous museums. Atlanta is finally getting hot now, but they had a much harder time bouncing back from the recession growing jobs, and their upscale cultural attractions are much more scattered. - Ultimately, it feels like DFW just has a lot more extremely wealthy benefactors giving back through cultural investments (with their name on them).
That being said, I personally prefer Atlanta from an urban design perspective and just a quality of life perspective. Dallas has some nice little neighborhoods near the core (Bishop Arts, Oak Lawn, Knox Henderson, Lower Greenville, Uptown, Deep Ellum, and the Farmers Market Area), but they are mostly still disconnected pockets of urbanism, and the rest of the metro is a continuous ocean of suburban grid stretching from horizon to horizon, punctuated with countless strip malls at ever major intersection and freeways funneling cars in every direction. This is changing as the pockets in the core expand towards each other, but for the most part, its still very disjointed (and DART rail only functions to get far flung suburbanites to the core for work, its not effective for anything else)
Atlanta, while statistically less dense, "feels" denser, because instead of endless medium density sprawl, its more nodal. In the past ten years, each little neighborhood in the city proper, and now each little suburb, has its own walkable commercial core integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods, has developed its own vibe and culture, and is surrounded by parks and pockets of forest. MARTA and the Beltline also connect many of these neighborhoods, with MARTA having half as many stations but carrying twice as many people as DART on a daily basis. Atlanta also has soooooooooo many more neighborhood festivals and events going on all the time, and unlike DFW, most of them don't cost $$$ to attend.
At the end of the day, the cities have different appeals for different people. DFW is investing its money in luring corporate headquarters, and thus jobs and tax payers, from all across the country - its a great place to work and make money. Atlanta is investing its money in complete streets and quality of life amenities - It's a great place to actually live. Really just depends on what you are after.
a great resource, for those interested in type of development - is Foot Traffic Ahead by Chris Lineberger. (https://smartgrowthamerica.org/resou...ic-ahead-2019/) You can see that half of new development since 2010 in Atlanta is walkable, while only a quarter of new development in DFW is walkable.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
