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Couples, step aside – this Valentine’s day is for the unattached. Personal finance website WalletHub released their report of this year’s Best and Worst States for Singles, and the Lone Star State claimed the No. 1 spot in two out of six categories. Coming in at No. 4 overall, Texas ranked behind California (No. 1), New York (No. 2), and Florida (No. 3).

The report’s findings were determined by comparing dating economics, opportunities, and romance and fun across all 50 states. For date opportunities, the top four overall winners tied for No. 1 in the most restaurants per capita category, while Texas and California also tied for highest number of movie theaters per capita.

Other categories in the report include online and mobile dating opportunities, median annual household income, share of single adults, gender balance of singles, and crime rate.

Besides holding a No. 1 spot for most restaurants and movie theaters per capita, Texas received the following rankings in other categories:

  • 9th – Median annual household income (adjusted for cost of living)
  • 17th – Mobile-dating opportunities
  • 23rd – Online-dating opportunities
  • 30th – Percentage of residents 12+ who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

With the soaring popularity of virtual dating during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, one expert believes it gives people a better understanding of a potential partner before meeting face-to-face.

“People might go into in-person dates with more knowledge about the person and more confidence about who they are,” according to Dr. Andrew High, associate professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Pennsylvania State University. “Still, online dating is only one way to meet people, and there are plenty of opportunities to meet people in person.”

Individual Texas destinations also ranked highly for singles in another recent report from WalletHub comparing 180 U.S. cities. In that study, Austin earned the No. 7 ranking for single people, with Seattle taking the lead. Houston came in at No. 69, with San Antonio taking No. 83 and Dallas coming close behind at No. 87.

The full report and its methodology can be found at wallethub.com.

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Texas ranks No. 3 best state to start a business in U.S., report says

Calling all entrepreneurs

For years, Texas has been lauded for its business climate being welcoming to new businesses and startups. A new study shows that the Lone Star State has yet again made the list.

Texas ranked third in personal finance website WalletHub's recent report, 2023's Best & Worst States to Start a Business, with a score of 56.85 points. Texas ranked behind Utah, No. 1, and Florida, No. 2, and just ahead of Colorado. Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, and California make up the rest of the top 10, respectively.

The study looked at 27 key indicators of startup success across all 50 states. Texas was recognized for these factors in particular:

  • No. 10 – average growth in number of small businesses
  • No. 30 – labor costs
  • No. 10 – availability of human capital
  • No. 4 – average length of work week (in hours)
  • No. 14 – cost of living
  • No. 13 – industry variety
  • No. 31 – percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19


Source: WalletHub

Richard Ryffel, professor of finance practice at Washington University in St. Louis, noted the importance of policy in making a state a good place to start a business.

"Established businesses looking to expand might expand or relocate entirely based on the relative favorability of the local business climate," Ryffel says. "Recently, Texas, for example, has been the beneficiary of some significant business relocations based on its business-friendly policies."

The methodology of the study focused on three key dimensions — business environment, access to resources, and business costs — and 27 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and then each state’s average across all metrics was used to calculate its overall score.

In 2022, WalletHub named Farmers Branch one of the best small cities in Texas for starting a business. It appeared at No. 102 on the list overall, and No. 2 in Texas. Other DFW cities in the survey included Haltom City (No. 406), The Colony (No. 436), Grapevine (No. 457), and Flower Mound (No. 733).

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This article originally appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.

Photo by Stacy Luecker

Best neighborhood Christmas lights shine in this week's 5 hottest Fort Worth headlines

This week's hot headlines

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. Best neighborhoods and homes for Christmas lights around Fort Worth in 2022. Loading the family into the car and driving around, looking at Christmas lights, is a cherished holiday tradition. But, where to go? Here is a list of top local homes and neighborhoods for Christmas lights this season. For a larger list of spectacular Christmas lights around Fort Worth, including drive-thrus and commercial displays, click here.

2. Cinemark opens select theaters for college football playoffs including TCU bowl game. The Cinemark movie theater chain is bringing back a special viewing experience that involves not movies but sports: The Plano-based company is teaming with ESPN to bring college football games to the big screen. This postseason, fans can catch three of the biggest games, and that includes TCU's bowl game on New Year's Eve, as well as the College Football Playoff National Championship in January.

3. ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd team up for first time with tour coming to Fort Worth. It will be a classic rock bonanza when ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd come to Fort Worth as part of their first co-headlining tour, "The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour," which will stop at Dickies Arena on July 29, 2023. Fort Worth will be the fourth of 22 stops around North America for the tour in summer 2023.

4. Texas hot spot hooks No. 1 ranking as best college city in America. It might be a bit reductive to call Austin a college town, but that's what makes it so good. It certainly benefits from the creativity and industry of college living, but there's a lot more to do than go to gentrified lunches and cool, underground shows. Recognizing this special balance, financial website WalletHub has declared Austin the No. 1 college city in the United States for 2023, beating out some obvious contenders like Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio.

5. Where to drink in Fort Worth right now: 7 festive bars for holiday cocktails. Tis the season for holiday cheer – which often comes in the form of a great cocktail. And the more merriment, the better, it seems, as more bars are getting serious with their seasonal offerings. There’s no such thing as “over-the-top” for these Fort Worth bars - some brand new, some old favorites - all worth a stop this month for making spirits bright.

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3 Dallas-area cities gobble up top spots among best U.S. places for Thanksgiving

Giving thanks

Texans still looking for the best place to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast without breaking their banks might want to head to Plano, Irving, or Dallas. The three cities rank highly on a new list of the best places to go for Thanksgiving.

The study, published by WalletHub, compares the top 100 largest U.S. cities across 20 key metrics, including the cost of Thanksgiving dinner, number of delayed flights, and even forecast precipitation.

Atlanta, Georgia ranks No. 1 on the list, with Orlando, Florida; Las Vega, Nevada; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Gilbert, Arizona rounding out the top five.

Plano ranks No. 7 on the list, while Irving and Dallas took the ninth and 13th spots, respectively. Other North Texas cities that made the list include Garland (No. 24), Arlington (No. 44), and Fort Worth, which just barely makes it into the top 100, landing at No. 84.

Other cities around Texas to make the list are:

  • Corpus Christi (No. 25)
  • Laredo (No. 31)
  • San Antonio (No. 32)
  • Austin (No. 33)
  • Houston (No. 53)
  • El Paso (No. 64)
  • Lubbock (No. 85)

The average American spends about $301 during the five-day Thanksgiving period, according to a list of Thanksgiving fun facts compiled by WalletHub. Annually, Americans as a whole spend an estimated $835 million on Thanksgiving turkeys, with 46 million turkeys killed for the holiday.

In addition to the cities’ overall ranking, WalletHub revealed the cities’ rankings for the individual categories they were evaluated by. Five of those categories include Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions, Affordability, Safety and Accessibility, Giving Thanks, and Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

Surely the big Cowboys game with Jonas Brothers' halftime show factors into the DFW "celebrations and traditions" score, right?

Dallas, Fort Worth, and Irving are tied at No. 4 on the list for having the best Thanksgiving Weather Forecast (which calls for a high of 61 this year, according to WFAA).

Other Dallas rankings include:

  • No. 13 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
  • No. 18 for Affordability
  • No. 93 for Safety and Accessibility
  • No. 37 for Giving Thanks

Fort Worth was in the top 5 for weather but hit the bottom 10 for safety:

  • No. 87 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
  • No. 31 for Affordability
  • No. 95 for Safety and Accessibility
  • No. 52 for Giving Thanks

No. 32-ranking San Antonio has these rankings on the list:

  • No. 46 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
  • No. 2 for Affordability
  • No. 66 for Safety and Accessibility
  • No. 85 for Giving Thanks
  • No. 26 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast

The state’s No. 33-ranking capital, Austin, had an average ranking for each category:

  • No. 41 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
  • No. 19 for Affordability
  • No. 42 for Safety and Accessibility
  • No. 82 for Giving Thanks
  • No. 36 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

The city of Houston ranked in the top 10 for Affordability but didn’t score highly in any other category:

  • No. 48 for Thanksgiving Celebrations and Traditions
  • No. 7 for Affordability
  • No. 88 for Safety and Accessibility
  • No. 58 for Giving Thanks
  • No. 43 for Thanksgiving Weather Forecast.

You can view the full list and find more information about the 100 best U.S. places for Thanksgiving here.

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Dallas-Fort Worth saddled with 5th highest inflation rate in U.S., says new study

Feeling the pain

By now you’ve heard plenty about the nine-letter word that’s on everybody’s mind these days — inflation. This reflects a rise in prices, for everything from gas and groceries and cars to health care, coupled with a decline in buying power.

In August, the U.S. inflation rate stood at 8.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from a four-decade high of 9.1 percent in June. For Dallas-Fort Worth consumers, though, inflation remains above either of those marks. And it turns out DFW is saddled with one of the highest inflation rates among major U.S. metro areas.

DFW’s inflation rate in August settled at 9.4 percent, according to a new study from personal finance website WalletHub. This means prices for a host of goods and services climbed 9.4 percent from August 2021 to this August. Meanwhile, DFW’s inflation rate went up 1 percent in August compared with the previous two months.

Taking into account the short-term and long-term spikes in DFW’s inflation rate, the region ranked fifth on WalletHub’s list of the metro areas where inflation is increasing the most. In all, 23 major metro areas appear in the ranking.

The Phoenix area ranks first. Its inflation rate in August reached 13 percent, the highest rate of any metro area in the WalletHub study. The short-term change in the inflation rate was 0.80 percent.

The only other Texas metro on the list is Houston, which sits at No. 10. In the Houston metro area, the inflation rate jumped 9.5 percent from August 2021 to this August, and the near-term inflation rate inched up by 0.10 percent.

WalletHub points out that several factors are pushing up the inflation rate, including the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian war, and labor shortages.

“The government is hoping to continue to rein in inflation with additional aggressive interest rate hikes this year, but exactly how much of an effect that will have remains to be seen,” WalletHub notes.

John Harvey, a professor of economics at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, tells WalletHub that he believes hiking interest rates is a bad approach to easing inflation.

“There is no logical reason that lowering the overall level of economic activity (the goal of the higher interest rates) actually helps in situations like this. Furthermore, the only kind of inflation it could possibly address is the good kind,” Harvey says.

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10 Dallas-Fort Worth cities unlock spots on new list of top U.S. home markets

Welcome home

At least by one measure, the Dallas-Fort Worth homebuying market is still on fire. Cities in DFW make up one-third of the top 30 cities in WalletHub’s new ranking of the best places in the U.S. to buy a house.

Frisco, Allen, and McKinney hold the top three spots. In fact, only one Texas city outside DFW makes the top 30: fourth-ranked Austin.

To determine the best local real estate markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared 300 cities of various sizes across 17 key indicators of housing-market attractiveness and economic strength. Factors ranged from home-price appreciation to job growth.

Here’s how DFW cities rank among the top 30:

  • Frisco, No. 1
  • Allen, No. 2
  • McKinney, No. 3
  • Denton, No. 8
  • Richardson, No. 10
  • Fort Worth, No. 11
  • Carrollton, No. 17
  • Plano, No. 19
  • Grand Prairie, No. 23
  • Irving, No. 27

Recent data shows that although the DFW real estate market may be desirable, it is shifting.

The median sale price of a single-family home in DFW stood at $421,000 in July, up 15 percent compared with the same time last year but down 3 percent from a month earlier. The number of home sales dropped 14 percent from last July to this July. The data comes from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University and North Texas Real Estate Information Systems.

“It’s still a seller’s market,” Fort Worth real estate agent Elizabeth McCoy told The Texas Tribune. “But certainly we’re seeing buyers be able to have a little bit more choice. And that’s such a good thing.”

In a sign of the regional market’s continuing strength, the median list price for a DFW home landed at $461,000 in August, up 16.7 percent from the same time last year, according to a report released September 1 by Realtor.com. Among the state’s four major metro areas, only DFW saw a double-digit increase in the median list price during that period.

Also, the median number of days a DFW home spent on the market in August (36) was the lowest among the four major metros in Texas, according to Realtor.com. However, 26.3 percent of homes for sale in DFW dropped their asking prices in August.

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'Yellowstone' stars to greet fans at Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

Yellowstone news

Yellowstone fans, get your comfy shoes ready - there'll be a long line for this one. Cole Hauser a.k.a. "Rip Wheeler" on Yellowstone, and Taylor Sheridan, the show's co-creator, executive producer, and director of the series, will meet fans and sign autographs at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

The event will take place from 4:30-6:30 pm only on Friday, February 3. Location is the 6666 Ranch booth near the south end of Aisle 700 in the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibits Hall.

According to a February 2 announcement from FWSSR, "fans will have the opportunity to snag an autograph as well as purchase some distinctive Yellowstone and 6666 Ranch merchandise while also enjoying all the features the Stock Show offers."

The event is free to attend (with paid Stock Show admission) and open to the public.

It's the second year in a row for Hauser to appear at FWSSR; in 2022, he and fellow cast mates drew huge crowds.

Sheridan, a Paschal High School graduate, is no stranger to Fort Worth; he lives in a ranch near Weatherford and filmed 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone, in and around Fort Worth. Currently, another spinoff, 1883: The Bass Reeves Story, is filming in North Texas.

The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is winding up its 2023 run on Saturday, February 4.

Carter Museum in Fort Worth showcases rare Western photos by celeb shooter

Photography News

Photographer Richard Avedon is best known for his work in fashion and portraits, but the Amon Carter Museum of American Art is showcasing another glorious side.

Called"Avedon's West," it's an installation of select works Avedon shot from 1979-1985 for an exhibit that was commissioned by The Carter in 1979. That exhibit, called "In the American West," was a landmark body of work of 124 photographs.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Avedon's birth, the Carter will showcase 13 of those 124 photographs, several on view for the first time since their 1985 premiere.

The museum-wide installation is on view at the Carter now through October 1.

"We are excited to take part in the national celebration of Richard Avedon’s 100th birthday and to have the opportunity to highlight this influential project, which our museum commissioned nearly 45 years ago,” says Carter Executive Director Andrew J. Walker in a statement.

"Today, Avedon’s 'In the American West' is regarded as a turning point in the photographic canon, challenging conceptions of portraiture and late twentieth-century American life," Walker says. "We are proud to be a part of the history of this monumental project, which is rooted in the Carter’s long-held commitment to working with living artists to tell a broader story of American art."

In 1979, the Carter commissioned Avedon to create a portrait of the region. He spent the next six summers, from 1979 to 1984, traveling to 189 towns in 13 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming — and into Canada.

He conducted 752 sittings of everyday and often marginalized people - oilfield and slaughterhouse workers, coal miners, students, and service workers - in the same iconic style he used in portraits of celebrities and politicians: against a seamless white backdrop, designed to remove visual markers of place and focus on the individuality of each person.

Each photograph is titled with subject name, location, date, and an occupation. The 1985 exhibition was regarded as a landmark work of portraiture and a definitive expression of the power of photographic art.

Highlights of the works on view in Avedon’s West include the following subjects and commentaries:

Ruby Mercer, publicist, Frontier Days, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 7/31/82 (1982) — This portrait is on view in the Modern America gallery, which highlights the explosive growth of technological advances and urban development in the twentieth century, and artists’ responses to these dramatic transformations. Avedon’s portrait of Mercer not only highlights the role of working women in the West, which is often overlooked in antiquated narratives of the region, but her profession as a publicist emphasizes the business of selling the West as a commodity.

Carol Crittendon, bartender, Butte, Montana, 7/1/81 (1981) — While most western art features male figures such as Euro-American cowboys, "In the American West" expands the narrative incorporating women more fully into the story of the West. Two photographs of Montanan women, including this portrait, are on view in the Legacy Gallery alongside iconic works by Charles Russell, who lived in Montana for over 40 years, broadening the gallery’s presentation of the American West to include other genders and professions.

Blue Cloud Wright, slaughterhouse worker, Omaha, Nebraska, 8/10/79 (1979), Avedon’s portrait of Wright is on view in the America as Landscape gallery, a space dedicated to depictions by nineteenth-century artists of the landscapes of what is now the United States. This positioning allows viewers to confront the reality of the slaughterhouse industry in a gallery that probes the relationships between humans, animals, and land in American national identity.

Rusty McCrickard, janitor, Tracey Featherston, motel maid, Dixon, California, 5/10/81 (1981) — As a photographer who spent his career photographing the powerful and famous, Avedon’s decision to turn his attention toward picturing everyday people in the same monumental style declares their importance and poses questions about class and equality that reverberate today. This portrait, on view in the Opulence and the Everyday gallery, focuses on the artwork that blossomed out of the affluence of the late nineteenth century. The insertion of Avedon’s subjects within the surrounding representations of wealthy socialites further reinforces the artist’s mission to democratize portraiture.

Country music bad boy Morgan Wallen headlines ACM Awards benefit show in Dallas-Fort Worth

Country concert news

Dallas-Fort Worth will be the center of the country music universe on May 11, when the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards are broadcast from The Star in Frisco. As with any worldwide, Super Bowl-level event, there'll be many happenings leading up to it. First up: a benefit concert headlined by Morgan Wallen.

The country music bad boy (and current superstar and reigning ACM Album of the Year winner) takes top billing on "ACM Lifting Lives LIVE: Morgan Wallen & Friends," a fundraiser for Lifting Lives, the philanthropic partner of the Academy of Country Music. The "friends" taking the stage with him include reigning ACM Songwriter of the Year HARDY, reigning ACM New Female Artist and Song of the Year winner Lainey Wilson, ERNEST, Bailey Zimmerman, and DJ 13lackbeard.

The show will be held at 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 10 on the golfing green at Topgolf in The Colony. It will follow the Topgolf Tee-Off and Rock On Fundraiser, presented by VGT by Aristocrat Gaming, taking place earlier that day; the concert is ticketed separately from the golf tournament.

Just what does Lifting Lives do? According to a release, "in addition to distributing more than $4 million to date through its Covid Relief Fund, ACM Lifting Lives provides critical support through the Diane Holcomb Emergency Relief Fund, significant annual commitments to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, Music Health Alliance, and the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, and individual grants to organizations that reach communities all across America."

Now in its fourth year (and first in Texas), the golf tournament brings together artists, industry members, and fans for a golf skills competition and an extended day of live entertainment.

"ACM Lifting Lives does great work providing aid in times of need to folks inside and outside of the music industry,” Wallen says in the release. “My band and I are excited to help them raise funds to continue doing this amazing work.”

Now, for the ticket details, per the release:

  • General Admission tickets to the concert became available to ACM Members, ACM A-List subscribers, 58th ACM Awards ticket holders, and Topgolf Friends and Family through an exclusive presale that started at 12 pm Thursday, March 23.
  • Remaining tickets will be available for a general public onsale beginning Friday, March 24 at 10 am through AXS.
  • Tickets to the benefit concert only are $350 plus service fees.
  • Those who have purchased bays for golf will be able to remain in their bay for the concert, with the bay serving as a suite to watch the show. A limited amount of VIP fan golf bays for the Topgolf Tee-Off and Rock On are available for purchase; email rockon@acmcountry.com.