Deciding Between Allen, Frisco, Plano and McKinney... (Dallas, Garland: sale, sex offenders)

[Soon2BTXN]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

What would be your ideal demographic breakdown?

According to this website, this is Virginia Beach's Race Demographics
* White alone - 287,265 (66.2%)
* Black alone - 81,738 (18.8%)
* Hispanic - 25,690 (5.9%)
* Asian alone - 24,420 (5.6%)
* Two or more races - 13,249 (3.1%)
* American alone - 914 (0.2%)
* Other race alone - 334 (0.08%)
* Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 135 (0.03%)

Ideally I would like to see the classification of each "nonwhite" label compromising at least 7% of a population where "White alone" would be at a population of 51%. In my dream world each category would be 12.5% (each meaning all eight labels/categories would be equal at 12.5%).

[FarNorthDallas]

Ok, so the city demographics are more important to you than the school district demographics? There can be a big difference between the two.

Being Texas, there will be more Hispanics than what you have in Virginia Beach.

[TurtleCreek80]

The closest you're going to get to the diversity "utopia" you're seeking is East Plano. The majority of the northern suburbs are "lilly white" with a few affluet Indians and Asians mixed in.

These are the demographics of Plano East Senior High:
52% white
20% Hispanic
15% Black
13% Asian
1% "other"

East Plano should hold value well due to being built out, but it is less desirable than west Plano or north Plano (Allen bordering) so don't count on much appreciation either.

My best friend teaches in an elementary school that feeds into PESH. It is a mini-United Nations, which has strong points (kids are basically all accepting of one another) and also weaknesses (a LOT of kids are learning English as a second language and don't have English speaking parents at home to reinforce school learnings or help with homework, other kids are from low income apartments and have deadbeat parents or bad bad home situations). My friend has had an enormous amount of parents over the years tell her "school is pointless", "don't care that kid is failing", "refuse to discipline for things kid does at school", etc. At a certain point, it's extremely disruptive. There are very good schools in East Plano and many elementaries and middle schools are rated exemplary, but the feeder more closesly resembles an inner city district like Dallas than a suburban district in terms of % of ESL, % on free lunch/ under poverty level, etc. It's not a diverse upper-middle class neighborhood; it's a diverse upper-lower class/lower to true middle class. Not saying this is good/bad/whatever, just more data to consider.

There are some great neighborhoods in East Plano (check neighborhood by Wells Elementary), but take extreme caution not to look near apartments, Section 8 Housing, trailer parks, etc.

[Soon2BTXN]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Ok, so the city demographics are more important to you than the school district demographics? There can be a big difference between the two.

Being Texas, there will be more Hispanics than what you have in Virginia Beach.

I thought you were talking about the city itself. School ratings are important to me. However, if I had a choice between a "great" school district where minorities are few and far between and a "very good" school district only a few notches below the before-mentioned "great" district with a moderate number of minorities I would go with the latter for diversity sake.

[Soon2BTXN]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

The closest you're going to get to the diversity "utopia" you're seeking is East Plano. The majority of the northern suburbs are "lilly white" with a few affluet Indians and Asians mixed in.

These are the demographics of Plano East Senior High:
52% white
20% Hispanic
15% Black
13% Asian
1% "other"

East Plano should hold value well due to being built out, but it is less desirable than west Plano or north Plano (Allen bordering) so don't count on much appreciation either.

My best friend teaches in an elementary school that feeds into PESH. It is a mini-United Nations, which has strong points (kids are basically all accepting of one another) and also weaknesses (a LOT of kids are learning English as a second language and don't have English speaking parents at home to reinforce school learnings or help with homework, other kids are from low income apartments and have deadbeat parents or bad bad home situations). My friend has had an enormous amount of parents over the years tell her "school is pointless", "don't care that kid is failing", "refuse to discipline for things kid does at school", etc. At a certain point, it's extremely disruptive. There are very good schools in East Plano and many elementaries and middle schools are rated exemplary, but the feeder more closesly resembles an inner city district like Dallas than a suburban district in terms of % of ESL, % on free lunch/ under poverty level, etc. It's not a diverse upper-middle class neighborhood; it's a diverse upper-lower class/lower to true middle class. Not saying this is good/bad/whatever, just more data to consider.

There are some great neighborhoods in East Plano (check neighborhood by Wells Elementary), but take extreme caution not to look near apartments, Section 8 Housing, trailer parks, etc.

I'm not interested in East Plano. There is enough investigative work required during home buying than to add in so many E. Plano variables. I understand there are "good" and "bad" points of every area. However, I would rather lean toward areas where there is more "good" points. This is my opinion. My goal was not to offend anyone. If I have offended anyone reading this post, I apologize as it was not my intent.

[Soon2BTXN]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

The closest you're going to get to the diversity "utopia" you're seeking is East Plano. The majority of the northern suburbs are "lilly white" with a few affluet Indians and Asians mixed in.

Where do the affluent African Americans and Hispanics live in Texas?

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by Soon2BTXN

Where do the affluent African Americans and Hispanics live in Texas?

They live where affluent whites live. Wealthy people live in the wealthy areas.

Consider University Park, TX (one of the Park Cities), the seventh most expensive neighborhood in the US.

University Park, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 23,324 people, 8,005 households, and 5,291 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,269.2 people per square mile (2,420.8/km2). There were 8,492 housing units at an average density of 2,282.5/sq mi (881.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.33% White, 1.43% African American, 0.22% Native American, 2.23% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.10% of the population.

That 1.43% A-A and 3.10% hispanic and latino are likely to be very wealthy (some would say it's a given due to the COL there). Those wealthy areas aren't racist, they are all about the cash. If you don't have it, you don't belong, no matter what you look like.

It's a shame how much you want diversity but want a decent commute to Sherman. Garland is probably the closest to what you want in terms of diversity, but a commute from Garland to Sherman might be too long:

Garland, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As of the census[1] of 2010, there were 222,013 people, 73,241 households, and 55,443 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,778.1 people per square mile (1,458.7/km²). There were 75,300 housing units at an average density of 1,318.5/sq mi (509.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 41.87% White, 10.27% African American, 0.60% Native American, 7.35% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 11.99% from other races, and 2.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 45.58% of the population.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by Soon2BTXN

Where do the affluent African Americans and Hispanics live in Texas?

Bluntly put, it's human nature to NOT want to assimilate. Even when I lived in NYC, wealthy Jews lived together, middle class Jews lived elsewhere. There are neighborhoods for Chinese, Indians, Russians, Armenians, Dominicand, and the wealthiest of each of those ethnicities live in majority (like 80%+++) white neighborhoods because they have more in common socioeconomically with wealthy whites than middle class or below people from their own culture.

Same in Texas. The city with the wealthiest concentration of Hispanics is San Antonio - although it's also home to some of the poorest Hispanics, too. Wealthy blacks tend to live in affluent majority-black suburbs, like Cedar Hill just southeast of Downtown Dallas.

The rest of wealthy non-whites live where the wealthy whites do, they just make up a fraction of the population. In Dallas, these areas are Highland Park/ University Park, Lakewood, North Dallas and Preston Hollow, Southlake, Coppell, and West Plano.

Garland, Richardson, & East Plano are by far the most diverse northern suburbs, but they are also solidly middle class to a smidge below middle class, socioeconomic speaking.

Rural north/ east/ west Texas is overwhelmingly white. That is why the suburbs/ex-burbs going north towards Sherman are overwhelmingly white, too. They were rural areas just 10 or so years ago (Anna, Melissa, Prosper). South Texas is where you will find a large portion of Hispanics in rural areas. Not many blacks in Texas are rural- far more common in big cities and inner-ring suburbs.

I know you will do what is right for your family, but caution you to not get so focused on diversity that you sign up for a horrendous commute. Kids' attitudes about racism and acceptance are largely shaped by how their parents see the world and their travel experiences.

[FarNorthDallas]

I would just live in Sherman so the parent who is working in Sherman can also be involved in the children's lives.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

I would just live in Sherman so the parent who is working in Sherman can also be involved in the children's lives.

+1. Unless someone has exceptionally brilliant (not just TAG) kids or kids who are literally training for the Olympics and need to be near a city gym/facility to train, Sherman is the easiest choice. The schools within an hour's drive aren't THAT much better to warrant the commute.