D-FW dominates list of Texas cities with the most high-earning pre-retirees

Carrollton, a city of some 130,000 residents about 20 miles northwest of Downtown Dallas, may be best known for its sizable Koreatown and historic downtown grain silo.

But the prosperous suburb also has another distinction, according to a new report from the financial tech company SmartAsset: the Texas city with the highest percentage of residents who are pre-retirees.

The demographic includes residents between the ages of 55 and 64, who are often earning the most they will in their entire careers — suggesting a favorable environment for local businesses. Yet it’s also a key demographic because pre-retirees, of course, will soon become retirees, with significant implications for housing and real estate development, municipal taxes and other facets of the local economy.

“Many people change their budget, lifestyle and even location when they enter retirement,” Jaclyn DeJohn, a CFP at SmartAsset, points out in a note accompanying the SmartAsset report, “which may impact the local business demand mix and tax revenues alike.”

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In Carrollton, the pre-retirees group accounts for 14.3% of the population, SmartAsset found, the ninth highest percentage of any U.S. city and the highest of any city in Texas. Florida and California cities, including Hialeah, Fla. and Huntington Beach and Inglewood, accounted for the top seven spots, and Spring Valley, Nev., just outside the Vegas Strip, had the eighth highest. In Hialeah, a city in South Florida known for its large Cuban American population, the proportion of pre-retirees was 16.6%, the highest of any city.

Notably, the D-FW Metroplex also accounted for most of the Texas cities with the highest pre-retiree populations. Mesquite, in eastern Dallas County, was 32nd on SmartAsset’s list, with 13.1% of its population falling in the 55 to 64 age group. Plano, at 12.5%, ranked 57th, McKinney ranked 85th. Pasadena, in Harris County, is the next Texas city on the list, at 112th.

North Texas’ pre-retirees also tend to have correspondingly high incomes. Among pre-retirees in Carrollton, the median household income is $121,000, the report found. In Plano, the figure is $142,000, and in McKinney it’s $150,000.

College Station — where nearly 75,000 students attend Texas A&M’s main campus — was the Texas city that was lowest on the list, with pre-retirees accounting for 6.2% of the population.

The pre-retirees list comes a few weeks after another report, by U-Haul, found that among the country’s metro areas Dallas-Fort Worth ranked as the country’s most popular moving destination last year, although recent Census data indicates that net migration into Texas has actually cooled considerably, adding to growing questions about the state’s broader growth pattern. A recent forecast by researchers at the Dallas Fed found that the state gained virtually no jobs last year, a significant break from Texas’ historical employment growth pattern.

“It is a big deal for Texas,” Luis Torres, a Dallas Fed economist who authored the analysis, told The Dallas Morning News. “It’s a low-hiring, low-firing environment.”

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