Your guide to the Park Cities: Get to know Highland Park and University Park

Just north of Oak Lawn in Dallas you’ll find Highland Park and University Park, two cities within a city.

Jointly known as the Park Cities, these enclaves are home to some of the most affluent residential neighborhoods in North Texas, and to Southern Methodist University, one of Texas’ top private institutions of higher education.

Here’s your guide to the Park Cities:

Population: 33,928
Median age: 37.2
Median income: $250,000+
Unemployment rate: 3.8%

• One race, white: 85%
• One race, Black or African American: 1%
• One race, American Indian or Alaska Native: 0.2%
• One race, Asian: 5.2%
• One race, Native Hawaiian: 0%
• One race, some other race: 0.8%
• Two or more races: 7.7%
• Hispanic or Latino origin (of any race): 7.1%
• White alone, not Hispanic or Latino: 82.6%

For ages 18-24 (roughly 16.2% of the population)

• Less than high school degree or equivalent: 5.6%
• High school graduates (or equivalent): 31.1%
• Some college or associate’s: 54%
• Bachelor’s degree or higher: 9.3%

For ages 25+ (roughly 55.8%)

• High school graduates (or equivalent): 2.1%
• Bachelor’s degree: 46.2%
• Graduate or professional degree: 43.7%

11,111 units; 10,242 occupied (92%)

• 8,725 owner occupied
• 1,517 renter occupied

Unit types

• 8,525 1-unit detached
• 936 1-unit attached
• 1,622 multi-unit

Median home value: $1,925,850
Median rent: $2,606

Compiled by staff researcher Rachel Friend. Data from U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables, Tables S0601, S1501, S1903, S2301, DP04

The vision of Highland Park as an exclusive, high-end residential area dates back more than 125 years to the late 1880s, when a group of investors led by pioneer businessman Henry Exall bought land in the area for that purpose, according to the town’s website. Early development included the creation of Exall Lake by damming the Turtle Creek, but The Panic of 1893 scuppered other early plans.

Residential development didn’t pick up again until after the turn of the 20th century. John S. Armstrong invested in the land in 1906 under the name Highland Park because of its location overlooking downtown Dallas. Beverly Hills planner Wilbur David Cook was brought in the following year to design the new town’s layout, and various lots were sold and developed by 1910.

Southern Methodist University was founded in 1911 and began to grow from the historic Dallas Hall, completed in 1915. 

Highland Park asked for annexation by Dallas in 1913, according to the Texas State Historical Association, but was rejected. In response, the residents voted to incorporate instead and officially did so in 1915. The City of Dallas came to regret refusing Highland Park’s annexation and unsuccessfully sought to annex it in the following decades, according to TSHA.

Similarly, University Park, which had grown around SMU, sought annexation to both Highland Park and Dallas in its early days, but eventually incorporated as its own town in 1924 after those efforts failed, according to the town’s website. 

Highland Park grew to a population of 8,422 by 1933, according to TSHA. It largely lacked businesses and industry and even bought water from Dallas from 1932 to 1950. University Park did the same for many years. The Park Cities came together by 1950 to operate their own waterworks, independent of Dallas.

A post-war boom saw the Park Cities grow to their largest recorded populations in the 1950s amid a residential construction boom, but their inability to expand beyond their borders within Dallas made growth difficult. Highland Park’s population peaked at nearly 13,000 in the late 1950s and University Park’s at just under 30,000 in 1956, according to TSHA.

The Park Cities, which have historically been predominantly white, also have a notable history of segregation, notably within the Highland Park Independent School District. The district excluded students of color from its schools until well after 1954’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. James Lockhart became the school’s first Black graduate in 1975, according to the HP Bagpipe, Highland Park High School’s student news publication. Highland Park’s first Black homeowner didn’t arrive until decades later, when Joshua Lazu and Karen Watson moved there in 2003, according to the Park Cities People.

Today, the Park Cities are among the most affluent neighborhoods across the country, with median home values nearing $2 million and median incomes around three times the national median.

Dallas Hall: The main building on SMU’s campus, it is also the oldest and most notable on the Hilltop. Inspired by the library rotunda at the University of Virginia, the building dates to 1915 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Highland Park United Methodist Church: This historic church, which originally operated as SMU’s University Church, dates back to 1916. Its current building is in the Gothic Revival style and dates to 1926.

• Barsotti’s
• Café Pacific
• Goff’s Hamburgers
• Il Bracco
• Kuby’s Sausage House
• Los Charros Tex-Mex Smokehouse
• Nonna
• Sachet
• Shug’s Bagels

• Abbott Park
• Caruth Park
• Curtis Park
• Davis Park
• Katy Trail
• Lakeside Park 
• Prather Park

• Highland Park Village
• Snider Plaza

• George W. Bush Presidential Center
• Meadows Museum

Highland Park High School is among the best public schools in North Texas academically, but also excels athletically. It currently competes in the UIL Class 5A and has produced some of D-FW’s most notable professional athletes, including NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion Matthew Stafford, MLB MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, and the world’s No.1 golfer and four-time major champion Scottie Scheffler.