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.
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.
The Dallas Cowboys entered this offseason with a clear objective: to get significantly better on defense. To accomplish that goal, they added several defenders in free agency and the draft, and they may now have more defenders than they actually need.
Since Dallas has been so bad defensively, that’s not a bad thing. It just means they will have a competitive offseason and training camp, as players duke it out for roster spots. The standouts will emerge, and enter the regular season with the team, but some guys will be sent packing.
While it’s still early in the offseason, signs are already pointing to a steep uphill battle for one defender who came to Dallas this offseason. That defender is cornerback Derion Kendrick, and his time with the team could end before ever playing a game.
Kendrick only signed a one-year deal worth $1.315 million with the Cowboys, so it was clear from the start that he’d have to battle for everything. As things currently stand, the battle isn’t looking all that good for Kendrick. DaRon Bland and Cobie Durant are in line to be the two starting corners, and first-round pick Caleb Downs is penciled in as the nickel.
Behind them are Shavon Revel Jr., Devin Moore, and Reddy Steward, all guys who are higher on the priority list than Kendrick. That leaves Kendrick fighting for a third string spot, and those are usually claimed by younger players who play a big role on specials teams. Kendrick will have to prove his value early in training camp or he could be looking for a new team.
The veteran corner was drafted in the sixth round by the Los Angeles Rams in 2022, and became a contributing player for them. As a rookie, Kendrick started six of the 15 games he played in, and then started 12 in year two, while playing in all 17 games.
It seemed like Kendrick was on his way to being a late-round gem, but his career was turned upside down when he tore his ACL in July of 2024. He missed the entire 2024 season, was eventually waived by the Rams, and claimed by the Seattle Seahawks.
After 10 games in Seattle, he was waived and claimed by the Rams, going back to Los Angeles to finish the 2025 season.
That journey led him to the Cowboys this offseason, and unless Derion Kendrick has a strong training camp, the journey may continue with another team.
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The NFL and the Dallas Cowboys are mourning the loss of one of the best pass rushers of the early 2010s.
Former Cowboys defensive end Aldon Smith has passed away at the age of 36, the San Francisco 49ers organization announced Saturday. The Niners, who drafted Smith with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, said that Smith’s death is “sudden and tragic.”
“We are devastated by the sudden and tragic passing of Aldon Smith,” the 49ers wrote in a statement. “Aldon’s undeniable talent and sheer dominance on the field were on display from the moment he joined our organization, having recorded one of the best rookie seasons the National Football League has seen. Beyond his excellence as a player, Aldon will be remembered for his infectious smile that lit up every room he walked into. Our entire organization sends its deepest condolences to the Smith family and all who knew and loved Aldon.”
After being drafted by the 49ers, Smith took the league by storm during his first two seasons, finishing second in the Defensive Rookie of the Year race before earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in his second year.
In that span, he posted a combined 33.5 sacks across 32 games with San Francisco. After four years with the 49ers, he played his only season with the then-Oakland Raiders in 2015 after the 49ers released him following a third DUI arrest.
After being suspended by the NFL for four seasons from 2016-19, Smith was granted reinstatement and signed with the Cowboys.
He was a productive player during his only year in Dallas. He started all 16 games for the Cowboys during the 2020 season while tallying 48 total tackles (31 solo), five sacks, two pass breakups, two fumble recoveries, a league-high 78 fumble return yards, and a defensive touchdown.
Smith’s 78-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in Week 14’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2020 season is the fifth-longest in Cowboys franchise history.
The Cowboys didn’t re-sign Smith after 2020. He signed a deal with the Seattle Seahawks that offseason but was released before the 2021 campaign began.
Smith’s NFL career started off with Hall of Fame-level potential, but he dealt with multiple off-the-field issues that ultimately cut his time in the league short.
Our thoughts are with Smith’s family during this difficult time.
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