Why 70
Each signal is scored as a percentile of Dallas’s own history, so 50 is normal for this market rather than average for the country. The temperature is the weighted mean of the four.
| Signal | Percentile | Weight | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| EmploymentTotal nonfarm payrolls in the metro, monthly | 100 | 40% | 4,362.62026-07 |
| UnemploymentinvertedMetro unemployment rate, inverted so lower is hotter | 15 | 25% | 4.72026-06 |
| Building permitsNew private housing units authorised, three-month mean | 59 | 20% | 5,4682026-06 |
| Labour forcePeople working or looking for work in the metro | 95 | 15% | 4,572,8082026-06 |
Confidence is medium. Signals present but partly disagreeing or slightly delayed.
What moved it -13.5
Over 3 months, the change in temperature came from these signals, as a share of all movement.
- Unemployment70%-9.7
- Building permits29%-4.0
- Labour force1%+0.1
Pushing up: labour force. Pulling down: unemployment, building permits.
Against the other markets
What this does not tell you
Tested against what happened next, this describes conditions now and does not predict them. It is published as a description, not a forecast.
The score is a percentile of this market against itself, so it says nothing about size: a hot small metro and a warm large one are not comparable in dollars. Building permits are residential, which is the only development series published monthly for every metro and is not a measure of commercial construction.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (employment, unemployment, labour force) and U.S. Census Bureau (building permits), via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED). Retrieved August 25, 2026. Analysis by DFX Intelligence.