Fort Worth, TX

The affordability dashboard for Fort Worth, TX aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 32 ZIP codes covering 813,980 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of C- (54/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $75,464, median home value of $273,638, median rent of $1,526 per month, and 27.8% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,723 per month (studio $1,427, 1BR $1,473, 3BR $2,273, 4BR $2,815). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $10,348 per year, consuming 14% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Unemployment currently reads 5.2% and poverty 14.6% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.