dominique bids farewell

Houston's most popular TV anchor Dominique Sachse announces retirement after illustrious 28-year career

Sachse is retiring after nearly three decades at Channel 2.

Photo courtesy of Dominique Sachse

Since 1993, Dominique Sachse has been a familiar, welcoming face to Channel 2 viewers — starting as a traffic personality and quickly becoming the most recognized, beloved television presence in Houston.

Now, the Emmy-award winning journalist, anchor, and Youtube sensation will sign off for the last time during the 6 pm newscast on Friday, October 29, Channel 2 announced.

“Saying goodbye to a 28-year career in the TV news business is bittersweet,” Sachse tells CultureMap. “I have been blessed to work with such an esteemed group of colleagues and so fortunate to have been welcomed into the viewer’s home for as long as I have.”

“But sometimes it’s necessary for one chapter to end and another to begin. I am ready and eager for this next chapter in the form of more content creation and the soon-to-be release of my first book, Life Makeover - Embrace The Bold, Beautiful and Blessed You. I sincerely can’t thank the Houston community enough for their support.”

The Houston community has indeed supported Sachse, who skyrocketed to local fame after launching her career as a Metro Traffic reporter for a variety of stations, then a disc jockey at Mix 96.5, and later as a morning traffic reporter. After a successful anchor fill-in stint, Sachse was promoted to her anchor position.

She has been a fixture on the evening newscasts since the ’90s.

Notably, Sachse covered President George W. Bush’s inauguration in January 2001 and Pope John Paul II’s visit to Mexico City canonizing Juan Diego in 2002. In 2006, she presented a compelling series on inflammatory breast cancer, along with a phone bank to answer viewers’ questions and traveled to London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 to cover the Olympics.

A true Houston success story, Sachse attended Memorial High School, and earned a radio/television journalism degree from the University of Houston. She received the “Outstanding Young Communications Alumna” and “Distinguished Alumni” awards from UH and was named 2002 and 2007′s “Best Television Personality” by the Houston Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, per her bio. Readers of the Houston Press and Houston Chronicle often named her their favorite or best newscaster/local personality.

Sachse is currently penning a book, Life Makeover: Embrace the Bold, Beautiful, and Blessed You, set to be released on April 5, 2022. Her wildly popular YouTube channel boasts 1.53 million subscribers.

Fans (and there are many) can keep up with the star at her site dominiquesachse.tv.

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income analysis

This is the salary needed for a single-income family in Texas in 2026

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

The income needed for a single-income household to raise a child in Texas is lower than it was last year.

With childrearing costs in the Lone Star State adding up to tens of thousands of dollars per year, many Texas families are navigating a difficult decision: should both parents work or should one parent stay home to raise the child?

For Texas families that choose the latter, the working parent needs to make nearly $73,000 per year to support their child and the stay-at-home parent, a new income analysis has revealed.

The newly released SmartAsset report used MIT's Living Wage Calculator to estimate the annual living wages needed across all 50 states for a three-person household with two working adults and one child, and a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. Costs included food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes, and "other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent needs to make $72,925 to support their stay-at-home counterpart and their child, the study found. That's $1,809 less than what was needed in 2025.

Meanwhile, the combined income needed for a household with one child and both parents working full-time is $85,030.

Texas ranked No. 42 in SmartAsset's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working parent, one stay-at-home parent, and one child. That also situates Texas as the 9th most affordable state for single-income families. But there are risks associated with only having one breadwinner in the family.

"A single income family with small children potentially saves in child care costs over a household with two working parents," the report's author wrote. "The main disadvantages are the lost salary and retirement contributions, Social Security earnings history and employer health benefits."

There aren't any specific tax benefits to having a parent stay at home to raise their child full time, but SmartAsset says single-income families can claim a tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

"[S]ingle-income families may claim the Child Tax Credit — up to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2026 ($1,700 refundable) — on the same terms as any other family," the report said.

SmartAsset's latest report only looks at costs on a statewide basis, but the cost to raise a child will also vary greatly depending on the city you live in. Raising a child in Houston might pose a challenge for some families, where the cost for childcare alone adds up to $10,265 and overall costs can surpass $22,000.

For households with two children, there might be additional strains on what a family might consider a "comfortable living." A March 2026 SmartAsset study determined a Houston-based family with two working parents need to make a combined income of $204,672 to have a financially stable life while raising two children.

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income needed for single-income families are:

Arkansas ($68,869)
Mississippi ($70,054)
Kentucky ($70,179)
West Virginia ($70,283)
North Dakota ($71,219)
Oklahoma ($71,365)
Louisiana ($71,406)
Missouri ($72,862)
Texas ($72,925)
Tennessee ($72,946)

smartasset reports texas family income