THE ARRIVAL SERIES · PART 3 OF 6
Nobody picks a university without picking a city — they just don't admit it. Here's what Dallas-Fort Worth actually costs, drives, and offers an Indian student, number by number.
UT Dallas in Richardson hosts more international students than any other university in Texas — and India is the #1 country of origin.
UTD BY THE NUMBERS (FALL 2025)
Enrollment 30,139 · 14.26% international overall · 44.59% of graduate students international · 4,500+ international students from 105+ countries · top graduate majors: Business Analytics & AI, Computer Science, Information Technology & Management — the heavy-Indian-enrollment fields. Translation: you're not the token international student. You're the demographic.
This is what that buys you in practice: roommate pools that fill in days, seniors from your own state one message away, and an ISA that actually functions as a landing team. The scale is the infrastructure.
Students cluster in Richardson around campus: the northeast side near Cluster Parkway / W. Renner Road, along Hwy 75 and the George Bush Turnpike, plus on-campus University Village.
RICHARDSON RENTS, MAY 2026 (APARTMENTS.COM)
Studio $1,272 (~₹1.22L) · 1BR $1,449 (~₹1.39L) · 2BR $1,827 (~₹1.75L) · 3BR $2,093 (~₹2.00L) — down 2.7% year-over-year. Shared, that works out to roughly $700–$1,450 per person per month (~₹67,000–₹1.39L): a 2BR split two ways lands near $900–$1,000, a 3BR split three ways can go as low as $700. (Per-person figures are derived math from listing data, not a published study.)
What nobody's brochure tells you: UTD's transit score is 30/100 and walkability is 40/100. "Close to campus" is doing a lot of work in those apartment listings — bring that up with seniors before signing a lease.
Dallas has the longest light-rail network in the US — and it's still not enough. Treat the car as a first-year budget line, not a luxury.
THE TRANSIT REALITY
A UTA study found a third of transit-dependent DART riders don't live near a stop, and transit can reach under 4% of regional jobs within 45 minutes. The UTD campus trip from Cityline/Bush station to DFW Airport takes ~1.5 hours by transit. Note: Arlington has no DART rail at all — something to know if UTA is on your list.
USED CAR
The average US used-vehicle listing hit $27,239 in August 2026; cars under $15K had just 29 days of supply. Budget $8K–$15K (~₹7.6–14.3L) for something that runs, and expect thin pickings.
INSURANCE
Texas averages ~$197/mo full coverage; international students with no US credit or driving history should budget $150–$250/mo (~₹14,000–24,000). The legal minimum is 30/60/25 — many campuses require proof to park.
Practical note: the carpool rideshares in admit groups are real and common — but they make you dependent on someone else's schedule for internships and CPT jobs.
The DFW metro is home to 270,000 Indian Americans — the second-largest Indian population of any US metro, after New York (Pew Research Center). That number shapes daily life.
THE ANCHORS
Groceries: five Patel Brothers locations — Irving (1009 W Rochelle Rd), Valley Ranch (8150 Walton Blvd), Plano (6205 Coit Rd), Frisco (2787 Preston Rd), McKinney (8720 State Hwy 121) — plus India Bazaar's 12 stores across DFW including Richardson and Carrollton. Temples: DFW Hindu Temple, 1605 N Britain Rd, Irving, and the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, home to what is described as Texas's largest prayer hall.
Why this matters beyond comfort food: roommate pools, ride shares, festival calendars, and temple bulletin boards full of the things the internet doesn't list. A new student in DFW can be functional within a week; in a 2,000-desi college town, that takes months.
DFW is one of the few metros where the employer bench is deep across three student-relevant sectors.
WHO'S HERE
AT&T (Dallas) and American Airlines (Fort Worth) anchor telecom and aviation; Texas Instruments (Dallas) hires hundreds of interns and recent graduates yearly. Finance has expanded hard — Citi, JPMorganChase, Bank of America, the cluster locals call "Y'all Street." More employers within commute distance = more CPT-eligible internships you can actually reach.
NO STATE INCOME TAX — WITH A CATCH
Texas has no state individual income tax (banned by the state constitution since 2019). But that's not the same as low taxes: sales and property taxes are among the highest in the country. Your landlord's property tax is baked into your rent, and the 8.25% sales tax hits every Walmart run. Run your budget on total cost, not the slogan.
The Arrival Series — 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6
← After Landing: Your First 30 DaysWhy the City Matters as Much as the University →