A 27-year-old who was disappointed with her move from the Midwest to Dallas explains how she got excited about her new city

• Griffin Kibens moved to Texas in 2022, and it took a while to feel at home in Dallas.
• Her colleagues, the Katy Trail, and moving to a new place helped her feel better about Dallas.
• Kibens liked the variety of restaurants but has found traffic to be a downside.

Griffin Kibens, 27, said she doesn't regret moving to Texas, but it took her a while to settle in and feel at home.

Kibens moved from Missouri to Texas in August 2022, and the weather that time of year was one of the first downsides. She also moved into an apartment she hadn't seen in person. It was on the first floor, which contributed to her feeling nervous about her safety.

She was "disappointed in Dallas." However, Kibens eventually moved to a different area within Dallas and lived on her own. Living alone helped change her perspective — it forced her to go out on her own and try new things.

"It took me a year to 15 months to be like, OK, I feel at home here, and I want to stay," she told Business Insider.

She has now fallen in love with Dallas and has no plans to leave. Kibens said she would have loved it quicker if she moved to the "right place."

According to Census Bureau data, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington had the highest total numeric growth among metro areas each year from 2021 to 2023 and similarly from 2016 to 2019 (because of changes in the methodology, comparisons crossing decades can't be accurately measured).

Arielle Francois is another Gen Zer who moved to Dallas. She told BI she found "Dallas is up and coming." She was nervous about moving from Florida to Texas for a job opportunity. However, Francois has found there are positives to living in Dallas, including the changes in the weather and affordability as a young adult.

Kibens recommended other young people try out Dallas, and said it is "a good in-between" city.

"If you want to leave your hometown, but you don't know where you want to go, I feel like it's a good place to go to figure out if you even want to be in a bigger city or not," she said.

Falling in love with Dallas

Kibens said her colleagues played a large role in beginning to love Dallas.

"We spend the most time with our coworkers, so being around them, some born and raised in Dallas and some relocated from other cities, makes me feel like I am really a part of Dallas," she said. "And having an office that I am expected to be in four days a week made me feel like I really live and work here."

Sports also helped her feel excited about being in Dallas. Along with missing her family, Kibens said she misses St. Louis sports teams. Now that she lives in Dallas, she has gone to basketball games to see the Dallas Mavericks and loves seeing people be excited about the city's team.

Kibens also loves that she can often take walks on the Katy Trail, a former railroad bed that runs through the Uptown and Oak Lawn areas. It's another way she feels connected to the Dallas community.

"The Katy Trail really changed my life," she said. "I love walking on that trail and just getting girlfriends together and being like, 'Anyone want to go for a walk?' And you always run into people you know, and then you end up being like, 'Hey, let's go grab a beer at Ice House or Lucky Dog.'"

Kibens has found there's a lot happening in Dallas. She likes that the winters don't have "brutal" weather and that there are lots of different restaurants. She said she's "rarely disappointed in trying a new place." She also has found airline prices for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport can be good and offers a lot of destinations.

She has found another pro is the job market. She recalled talking to a relative who was potentially looking for work opportunities.

"If you're really picky, it could take you a while to find something, but it's not hard to be employed, I feel like, because there's just so many opportunities everywhere," Kibens said.

The unemployment rate in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has fluctuated. August's non-seasonally adjusted rate of 4.1% was lower than the unadjusted national rate of 4.4% in the same month.

Kibens said traffic is a downside of living in Dallas and thinks people need a car to get around. She said rent can be a con but that the cost of groceries is similar to Missouri.

In her first Dallas apartment, she split her rent of around $2,400 a month. She said that excludes electric and internet costs. Now, she lives alone and pays just over $2,100 before factoring in utilities.

She said the amount of rent she pays seems "wild" to her but said other people would say her rent is not too bad.

Zillow showed that apartment rent in Dallas is slightly cheaper than the median national rent when looking at the rent regardless of the number of bedrooms — $1,477 compared to $1,497.

Home prices in Dallas have generally remained stable over the past few years. Redfin data showed that the median single-family home sold for around $460,000 in September 2024, and monthly median sales prices have broadly hovered between the mid $300K and mid $500K range since 2021.

Overall, Kibens is happy she ended up in Dallas.

"I think it just takes time; anytime you move, it takes time to feel acclimated to where you're at," she said.

What was your moving experience like? Email this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com.