Y'all Street is hiring: Dallas becomes finance's new power center
Dallas has become the second-largest finance hub in the country, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Bank of America pouring billions into a region now branded Y'all Street.
Wall Street has a new rival, and it wears boots. Dallas is now the country's second-largest finance hub, and the biggest banks on the Street are staffing up there fast.
Why Dallas is winning the finance migration
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan are all expanding aggressively into North Texas. Bank of America is putting up an office tower in Uptown, Goldman Sachs is building a campus that will house more than 5,000 workers — its largest U.S. site outside New York City — and Wells Fargo opened a Las Colinas campus last year.
JPMorgan already employs more people in Texas than in any other state, growing from 4,000 workers in the Dallas area in 2003 to about 18,500 today, out of roughly 30,000 statewide.
The numbers behind Y'all Street
Texans have dubbed the booming financial corridor “Y'all Street,” and local officials are even contemplating renaming an actual street. The jobs data backs up the branding.
Financial jobs in Dallas have grown 23.2% since February 2020, far outpacing New York City's 6%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. As of June, the sector employed 317,000 people in Dallas, accounting for 10.1% of total employment — slightly more than New York City's 9.9%.
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A new exchange enters the arena
Texas launched the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) in Dallas this summer, vowing to take on New York. That gives the region something it never had before: home-listed capital markets infrastructure to complement the banking build-out.
Big banks are also seeing more incentives to hire senior, high-profile bankers in Dallas to be closer to lucrative potential clients, as Texas now boasts the most Fortune 500 companies in the nation — more than California or New York.
Why bankers are moving
Financial professionals have been drawn to Texas by low taxes, lighter-touch regulation, and aggressive courting by political leaders. The cost equation also matters for the banks themselves.
The average financial and investment analyst in DFW was making around $102,000 per year as of May 2022, almost 30% less than in New York, according to federal data. Cheaper talent plus a growing client base is a hard combination to ignore.
Options market and stocks to watch
Goldman Sachs (GS): Watch for updates on the Dallas campus build-out and any commentary on regional revenue mix during earnings.
JPMorgan (JPM): The largest Texas employer among big banks; watch for Texas-specific headcount and deposit growth disclosures.
Bank of America (BAC): Watch the Uptown tower project and any related capex or hiring updates.
Wells Fargo (WFC): Las Colinas campus is already live; watch for productivity and cost-savings commentary tied to the Texas footprint.
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