Voting News

Artists splash Fort Worth with murals touting important voting theme

Check out this mural at 701 S. Main St.

Courtesy of Edie Fake

Fort Worth is now home to five new murals that emphasize the importance of voting.

The murals are part of a national program called "Voting Is Voice," to encourage Americans to vote in the 2020 Presidential election. The program has been deployed at 10 cities across the U.S., and Fort Worth is the only city in Texas to be so honored.

The program was commissed by Facebook as a way to highlight the importance of civic engagement. The social media giant commissioned five artists from across the country to install a series of temporary public murals.

Each mural design has been installed in 10 cities including Fort Worth, for a total of 50 murals in place by the start of National Voter Education Week on October 5.

The murals feature QR codes and a URL that direct viewers to Facebook's Voter Information Center and to Instagram.

The five mural locations in Fort Worth, and their artists, are as follows:

701 S. Main St - Edie Fake
459 S. Jennings Ave - Jamilla Okubo
200 E. Broadway - Ramsy Masri
105 S. Main St - Tiff Massey
1263 W. Magnolia - Troy Lamarr Chew

Other cities in the Voting is Voice program include:

Atlanta
Birmingham
Bronx
Colorado Springs
Detroit
Fort Worth
Los Angeles
Miami
Philadelphia
San Diego

Artist Bios
The selected artists represent diverse backgrounds and identities. Their murals highlight the importance of a multiplicity of voices in a healthy society, the power of personal narratives as vehicles for change, and our collective responsibility to acknowledge and amplify a wide spectrum of experience and perspectives.

Their bios are as follows:

Troy Lamarr Chew II (b. 1992) lives and works in California. He uses painting to weave together narratives of contemporary Black culture and indigenous African visuals.

Edie Fake (b. 1980) lives and works in Twentynine Palms, California. Edie is a multimedia artist and transgender activist whose work addresses themes of gender, sexuality, and queer identity. This mural reflects Fake's interest in depicting "ecstatic queer architectures" in the context of our rapidly changing social and political climate.

Ramzy Masri (b. 1988) lives and works in New York. Masri is a graphic designer, photographer and artist who invites viewers to reimagine the world as a colorful, magical queer-normative space where you can connect with your inner child and discover a more vibrant tomorrow.

Jamilla Okubo (b. 1993) lives and works in Washington, DC. Jamilla's work draws on her American/Kenyan/Trinidadian identity and incorporates both ancestral and contemporary cultural wisdom, combining elements of figurative painting, pattern and textile design, fashion, and storytelling.

Tiff Massey (b. 1982) lives and works in Detroit. She's an interdisciplinary artist whose work is inspired by African standards of economic vitality and informed by her own experiences living in an industrial urban center in flux. Her artistic practice is influenced by the iconic material culture of 1980s hip-hop and explores contemporary class and race dynamics through the lens of the African Diaspora.

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income news

This is how much it takes to be a middle class earner in DFW in 2025

Photo by Michael Tuszynski on Unsplash

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Maintaining a middle class status in Dallas-Fort Worth only gets harder as the years go on, and the income ceiling to even be labeled as such has just risen even higher. So says SmartAsset's annual "What It Takes to Be Middle Class in America" report for 2025.

According to the latest findings, middle-class income in big cities has a wide range: Depending on where the city is located, it it can be as low as $49,478 or as high as $71,359. This is up from 2024, when middle-class incomes started at $47,568.

Among Texas cities, Plano holds the No. 1 spot on the list with the highest middle-class income ranges.

A household in Plano would need to make a minimum of $72,389 but no more than $217,188 to be considered "middle class" in 2025. Last year, the necessary salary range to maintain a middle class designation in Plano was between $63,651 and $190,004 a year.

The report used a variation of Pew Research's definition of a middle class household, stating the salary range is "two-thirds to double the median U.S. salary." To determine income limits, the report analyzed data from the Census Bureau's 2023 one-year American Community Survey, where the most recent data was available.

New to the 2025 edition, SmartAsset also determined the middle class income thresholds for all 50 states.

Arlington, Virginia has the highest middle class income range in the country, with households needing to make between $93,470 and $280,438 a year to be labeled "middle class."

Middle class earners across Dallas-Fort Worth
Fort Worth households will also have a hard time maintaining a "middle class" designation, as the city climbed from No. 184 last year to No. 46 this year. Earners would have to make between $51,383 and $154,164 annually to be considered middle class in 2025. Last year, they would have needed to make between $47,680 and $143,054 a year.

In a shift from the 2024 report, SmartAsset decided to analyze only the top 100 most populous U.S. cities, after previously ranking 345 cities. That means DFW suburbs like Allen and McKinney – which were among the top 40 cities with the highest middle class income threshold nationwide in 2024 – were left out of this year's analysis.

Here’s what it takes to be middle class in other DFW cities:

No. 43 – Irving: $52,885 to $158,670 yearly
No. 55 – Garland: $47,815 to $143,458 yearly
No. 59 – Dallas: $46,743 to $140,242 yearly
No. 61 – Arlington: $46,134 to $138,416 yearly

Elsewhere in Texas
On the opposite end of the scale, middle class earners in Lubbock have one of the smallest income ranges necessary to be labeled middle class in Texas: Between $36,297 and $108,902 a year. The city ranked 92nd nationwide.

The study says cost of living changes, rising inflation rates, and shifting wages nationwide have made it more difficult for Americans to maintain their "middle class" status.

"For middle-class Americans, the dream has long been a life of reasonable comfort — a stable home, the ability to save enough money to retire, and enough left over for periodic splurges like family vacations, updated cars, or home improvements," the report's author wrote. "But with living costs surging over the past few years, that dream is getting pricier."

Here’s what it takes to be a middle class earner in other Texas cities:

No. 18 – Austin: $60,995 to $183,002 yearly
No. 73 – Corpus Christi: $43,421 to $130,276 yearly
No. 75 – Houston: $41,754 to $125,274 yearly
No. 78 – San Antonio: $41,544 to $124,644 yearly
No. 82 – Laredo: $40,476 to $121,440 yearly
No. 86 – El Paso: $38,208 to $114,634 yearly

In SmartAsset's state-by-state analysis, Texas has the 23rd largest middle class income range. Texas households would need to make between $50,515 and $151,560 to be labeled "middle class" this year. The median income for a Texas household in 2023 came out to $75,780.

The No. 1 state with the highest income range required is Massachusetts, with middle class households needing to make between $66,565 and $199,716 yearly in 2025.

income middle class status reports smartasset dallas plano fort worth

Voting News

Artists splash Fort Worth with murals touting important voting theme

income news

This is how much it takes to be a middle class earner in DFW in 2025

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