Dallas Suburb Stereotypes (Arlington, Plano, Irving: middle-class, new house, neighborhoods)

[Chi2Dallas89]

Hi all, are there any stereotypes or opinions when you think of the following suburbs?

-Plano
-Frisco
-Richardson
-Savannah
-Irving
-Grand Prairie
-Desoto

I'm just interested to see people's general opinions about each place.

[texstout]

-Plano -- I used to think it was BFE, but now its a closer-in suburb. Good schools, middle-class, fairly diverse, mature.
-Frisco - Newish. Far Away. Many neighborhoods are majority South East Asian families. Must have a good marketing team as very popular on lists. Good schools..smaller sized than Plano or Allen. Not really a town before the last 20 years.
-Richardson -- Old school suburb that is much closer in. Was a town of its own before Dallas spread up to it. Not as popular as some of the new suburbs. Good schools, but diverse. Cool older neighborhoods with some big homes.
-Savannah - Never heard of it.
-Irving -- Somewhere in the middle of DFW area.Includes Las Colinas which has some businesses and popular for consultants who fly alot.
-Grand Prairie -- No impression, but at least I've heard of it
-Desoto -- Ditto

[DFWGuy422]

Plano: it used to be a bedroom community, but that stereotype is slowly changing due to recent-ish business relocations. West Plano, Central Plano, and East Plano could practically be three different cities. West Plano is the nicest area in Collin County, pretty flashy, and could be California Jr. with all of the people moving in from there. Central Plano is normal, maybe a bit bland, middle class, and feels like it could be anywhere in the U.S. East Plano is maybe a little bit rougher

Frisco: Brand new, very flashy, relatively nice but nothing jaw-dropping save a few neighborhoods. The Star is located there, so tons of Cowboys players live there.

Richardson: very normal middle class suburb. Definitely a bit of a sleeper - it doesn’t get talked about the way that Plano and Frisco do, but it has a great location, good neighborhoods, and from what I can tell, a much stronger community feel than other North Dallas suburbs.

Savannah: Never heard of it.

Irving: seemingly pretty industrial, not sure about this one.

Grand Pratie: a bit rougher than some of the others listed, but not terrible.

Desoto: I’ve heard of it, but I don’t really know anything about it

[TX Rover]

Originally Posted by Chi2Dallas89

Hi all, are there any stereotypes or opinions when you think of the following suburbs?

-Plano
-Frisco
-Richardson
-Savannah
-Irving
-Grand Prairie
-Desoto

I'm just interested to see people's general opinions about each place.

All of them are almost interchangeable. Savannnah (basically Little Elm) and GP schools get a bit dodgy here and there, as can Irving. Otherwise, similar houses, similar geography.

[Chi2Dallas89]

I forgot to add Mckinney!

[TurtleCreek80]

-Richardson: cheap new houses in the 1970’s
-Plano: cheap new houses in the 1980-1990’s
-DeSoto: cheap new houses in the 1980’s
-Frisco: cheap new houses in the 2000’s
-Savannah: cheap new houses in the 2010’s

All kidding aside…

Richardson: diverse inner-ring suburb known for excellent public schools
Plano: diverse outer ring suburb known for corporate HQ’s and excellent public schools
Frisco: newer hot suburb known for being home to several pro league practice facilities and the PGA’s new HQ. Excellent public schools. Very high HHI.


Savannah: bedroom community with ok public schools. No real tax base other than residential compared to the other northern burbs on your list. Where young people priced out of Frisco / Prosper / Little Elm are building new houses.


Irving: very diverse suburb with great central DFW location, easy access to both major airports and near several major business centers. Schools & housing stock vary drastically by location within Irving.

DeSoto: middle class majority black suburb on the south side of Dallas. Easy commute into downtown Dallas / nearby job centers. Athletic powerhouse. Schools can vary by campus.

Grand Prairie: diverse suburb, good central location for access to Dallas, Arlington, Irving, DFW airport, etc.. Working class to middle class incomes. Schools not great.

[TheProtege]

Plano - Established larger suburb that I've hard many great things about even when it comes to the older/less expensive parts. suburban and urban appearing areas, and upper middle class.
Frisco - New, master plan communities, good schools, Asians, desirable, wealthy and overrated.
Richardson - A city that I never hear about surprisingly. A great city that seems to get over shadowed by it's larger neighbors.
Savannah - One large master plan community. Middle class boxes on small lots where streets all look similar.
Irving - Las Colinas, corporate offices, beautiful neighborhoods with some not so nice neighborhoods, and a good central location.
Grand Prairie - Lots of Blue collar jobs, very diverse, old and tired, nice newer southern portion that wealthy minorities like to move to, Joe Pool Lake, and right in between Dallas and FW.
Desoto - Middle class with some very nice areas, great topography, meh schools, residential suburb, very black (compared to the other cities on this list),
McKinney - A larger slightly older version of Frisco.

[Lorne]

Can I add Allen to the mix? What are some stereotypes associated to Allen?

Thanks.

[TX Rover]

Originally Posted by Lorne

Can I add Allen to the mix? What are some stereotypes associated to Allen?

Thanks.

Other than the giant HS, Allen is basically the same as The other CoCo suburbs. In fact, they’re all pretty dang similar, it’s not like you can tell when you cross city lines, they just blend together.

[texstout]

Originally Posted by TX Rover

Other than the giant HS, Allen is basically the same as The other CoCo suburbs. In fact, they’re all pretty dang similar, it’s not like you can tell when you cross city lines, they just blend together.

So true. I'm always surprised when people moving to the area are hellbent on moving to one of these communities (Vs. another) since to locals they are all pretty much interchangeable. The big differences may be are they more East or West or North - and the high schools strategy of one HUGE school (Allen), multiple medium sized schools (Frisco), or a couple of large schools that are broken into 9-10 and 11-12 campuses (Plano). McKinney at least has a cool, historic downtown area - but most people that are moving there aren't living in that area.