The 10 Worst Dallas Suburbs


The worst Dallas suburbs are Wilmer and Seagoville based on Saturday Night Science. Find out where your town ranks.

More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Dallas to avoid all the hustle and bustle.

So the question arises: what suburbs of Dallas are the worst?

Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Dallas ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Dallas area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Dallas proper, although Southlake certainly tries.

We examined the 78 biggest suburbs of Dallas to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Dallas in terms of quality of life.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 worst suburbs around Dallas for 2024

  1. Wilmer
  2. Seagoville
  3. Hutchins
  4. Balch Springs
  5. Terrell
  6. Lancaster
  7. Cockrell Hill
  8. Palmer
  9. Ferris
  10. Duncanville

Now don’t freak out.

What’s the worst suburb of Dallas? Wilmer ranks as the worst suburb of Dallas for 2024 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.

Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Texas check out the best places in Texas overall or the worst.

And remember, there are some good places to live around Dallas too.

The 10 Worst Dallas Suburbs To Live For 2024

Wilmer, TX

Source: Wikipedia User nthomas76207 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,370
Median Income: $63,003 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.3% (14th highest)
Median Home Value: $181,973 (lowest)
More on Wilmer: Data | Crime

We’ll get the ball rolling with Wilmer, the absolute worst place to live around Dallas according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Wilmer beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 6th worst in the Dallas area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Wilmer.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Seagoville, TX

Source: Wikipedia User nthomas76207 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 18,658
Median Income: $65,300 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.3% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $275,237 (9th lowest)
More on Seagoville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Welcome to Seagoville. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 16.1 miles to Dallas. Income levels here are the 7th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $65,300 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Hutchins, TX

Source: Wikipedia User nthomas76207 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,633
Median Income: $39,929 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.0% (45th highest)
Median Home Value: $242,690 (5th lowest)
More on Hutchins: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Dallas suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Hutchins on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Dallas suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

Balch Springs, TX

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 27,322
Median Income: $58,680 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.6% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $231,297 (3rd lowest)
More on Balch Springs: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

If you live in Balch Springs, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 3rd lowest Dallas suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 2nd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Dallas. Remember, we looked at 78 cities for this study.

Balch Springs is about 10.2 miles to downtown.

Terrell, TX

Source: Wikipedia User Billy Hathorn | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 18,001
Median Income: $61,513 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.6% (18th highest)
Median Home Value: $267,314 (6th lowest)
More on Terrell: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Terrell has the distinction of being a Dallas suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Terrell has the 6th lowest home values in the metro Dallas area, where the median price is $267,314. The median income is $250,001.

Terrell has an unemployment rate of 5.65% which ranks 18th worst.

Lancaster, TX

Source: Wikipedia User Baroness of Ballymote at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 40,958
Median Income: $65,323 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.9% (11th highest)
Median Home Value: $278,981 (11th lowest)
More on Lancaster: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Lancaster has 40,958 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 14.712216858522096%.

7. Cockrell Hill

Cockrell Hill, TX

Source: Wikipedia User | CC-BY-SA-3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 3,799
Median Income: $49,810 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.8% (highest)
Median Home Value: $217,279 (2nd lowest)
More on Cockrell Hill: Crime

Ah, Cockrell Hill. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Dallas.

It’s the place with the most out of work residents in the Dallas metro area (8.79%).

8. Palmer

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,685
Median Income: $81,310 (23rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (9th highest)
Median Home Value: $236,251 (4th lowest)
More on Palmer: Crime

Palmer is a city about 26.3 miles from Dallas, but Dallas probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Palmer has the 2most uninsured people, 23rd worst incomes, and has the 9th highest unemployment rate (7.22%) in the entire Dallas metro area.

Homes only cost $236,251 for a reason. That’s cheap for Dallas standards.

9. Ferris

Ferris, TX

Source: Wikipedia User nthomas76207 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 2,785
Median Income: $62,036 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 0.8% (78th highest)
Median Home Value: $267,485 (7th lowest)
More on Ferris: Crime

If you absolutely have to live near Dallas, then Ferris might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Dallas suburb.

About 0.83% of residents are out of work.

Duncanville, TX

Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 40,288
Median Income: $66,601 (10th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.6% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $280,157 (13th lowest)
More on Duncanville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Rounding out the ten worst Dallas suburbs to call home is Duncanville.

Located 13.3 miles outside the city, Duncanvilles is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 6th highest unemployment rate (7.62%), and poverty is far above the area average.

Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Dallas for 2024

To figure out how bad a Dallas suburb is to live in, we used Saturday Night Science to identify the kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.

Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2018-2022, this is the criteria we used:

  • High unemployment rate
  • Low median household incomes
  • Low population density (no things to do)
  • Low home values
  • A lot of high school dropouts
  • High poverty
  • High rate of uninsured families

We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Dallas.

We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 78 suburbs to evaluate around Dallas.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 78 in each category, where 1 was the “worst.”

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Dallas.” We’re looking at you, Wilmer.

We updated this article for 2024, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Dallas.

Summary: The areas around Dallas where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2024

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Dallas with Wilmer casting itself ahead of the pack.

The worst suburbs of Dallas are .

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Dallas aren’t all bad. Southlake takes the cake as the best place to live around Dallas.

  • Southlake
  • University Park
  • Highland

For more Texas reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst Dallas Suburbs

Rank City Population Median Income Median Home Values
1 Wilmer 5,370 $63,003 $181,973
2 Seagoville 18,658 $65,300 $275,237
3 Hutchins 5,633 $39,929 $242,690
4 Balch Springs 27,322 $58,680 $231,297
5 Terrell 18,001 $61,513 $267,314
6 Lancaster 40,958 $65,323 $278,981
7 Cockrell Hill 3,799 $49,810 $217,279
8 Palmer 2,685 $81,310 $236,251
9 Ferris 2,785 $62,036 $267,485
10 Duncanville 40,288 $66,601 $280,157
11 Mesquite 149,439 $69,649 $272,912
12 Garland 244,026 $71,044 $297,145
13 Combine 2,609 $90,313 $398,946
14 Grand Prairie 197,279 $76,626 $317,988
15 Cedar Hill 48,733 $84,132 $315,422
16 Arlington 393,469 $71,736 $312,016
17 Glenn Heights 16,445 $87,686 $330,758
18 Crandall 4,028 $101,829 $304,136
19 Irving 254,962 $76,686 $337,139
20 Waxahachie 41,801 $80,044 $351,165
21 Richland Hills 8,513 $73,601 $275,336
22 Desoto 55,882 $81,736 $323,250
23 Watauga 23,509 $88,775 $279,226
24 Farmers Branch 35,985 $88,282 $372,175
25 Euless 60,360 $77,403 $347,693
26 Hurst 40,053 $71,275 $328,991
27 Kennedale 8,590 $112,646 $385,086
28 Lakewood 63,142 $65,531 $476,344
29 Lewisville 125,028 $82,006 $395,721
30 Little Elm 48,241 $110,218 $426,402
31 Forney 25,269 $102,107 $338,581
32 Richardson 118,063 $94,362 $436,131
33 Lake Dallas 7,682 $72,386 $339,586
34 Pantego 2,529 $84,125 $355,589
35 Addison 17,026 $78,153 $462,821
36 Carrollton 132,284 $95,380 $410,598
37 Fate 19,010 $121,935 $369,189
38 Red Oak 14,853 $105,309 $339,153
39 Ovilla 4,077 $109,130 $468,881
40 Shady Shores 2,811 $149,333 $547,569
41 North Richland Hills 70,114 $88,656 $360,470
42 Rowlett 63,291 $110,954 $381,572
43 Wylie 57,063 $109,465 $411,646
44 Sunnyvale 7,873 $152,632 $638,548
45 Hackberry 2,862 $112,981 $390,109
46 Bedford 49,455 $80,924 $366,367
47 Midlothian 35,460 $119,323 $443,526
48 The Colony 44,323 $106,518 $403,361
49 Grapevine 50,763 $107,165 $517,910
50 Plano 284,948 $105,679 $503,025
51 Mansfield 73,680 $112,465 $423,311
52 Dalworthington Gardens 2,437 $108,750 $515,114
53 Oak Point 4,957 $104,120 $447,635
54 Fairview 10,354 $103,219 $640,850
55 Talty 2,568 $128,864 $537,296
56 Hickory Creek 4,906 $138,584 $489,358
57 Mckinney 196,160 $113,286 $506,871
58 Sachse 27,829 $127,888 $443,583
59 Rockwall 47,859 $114,799 $440,779
60 Copper Canyon 2,125 $135,938 $890,304
61 Parker 5,573 $202,727 $1,011,628
62 Allen 105,444 $121,259 $506,564
63 Lavon 4,939 $122,889 $366,648
64 Mclendon-Chisholm 3,755 $167,750 $714,461
65 Murphy 20,880 $152,847 $583,866
66 Flower Mound 76,630 $154,471 $582,405
67 Heath 9,771 $211,522 $701,027
68 Frisco 202,075 $144,567 $650,075
69 Double Oak 3,039 $187,115 $769,545
70 Trophy Club 13,251 $183,125 $662,834
71 Keller 45,320 $162,094 $603,388
72 Colleyville 25,876 $196,298 $825,914
73 Lucas 7,746 $205,288 $1,003,546
74 Highland Park 8,840 $249,923 $2,475,526
75 Coppell 42,513 $143,817 $591,824
76 Highland 19,267 $166,429 $877,307
77 University Park 25,179 $250,001 $2,037,260
78 Southlake 30,779 $250,001 $1,122,373
About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.

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