Best places in Texas info please Moving to Texas from Chicago (Dallas: homes, employment)

[kklaudia06]

I'm planning on moving to Texas and I'd like to find out info on which areas would be best. I read some posts that for a family the best ones are Plano, Richardson, Frisco, Southlake, Grapevine. Would anyone give me some more info about those places? Thanks in advance!

[RockyJoe817]

Location, Location, Location.
What type of area are you looking to live in.
What are your needs wants and desires.
What type of budget.
What style of living.
Work commute.

These locations listed are all nice, close to shopping, malls, good employment locations.
The question or rule of thumb will be your budget and what type of location you want to live in.
Quiet neighborhoods are everywhere.

Dallas/Collin County Contain these Cities


Richardson:
UTD, established neighborhoods, close to downtown dallas, close to freeway system,
good schools and hospital.
Plano: IMO, central for the northern suburbs, still close enough to dallas, close to freeway
and tollway systems, shopping, malls, good schools, good place to raise a family.
Frisco: Growing fast, malls and housing


Tarrant County has these two cities that are located nearby to Grapevine Lake and the DFW airport.

Grapevine: Good schools, centrally located to access dallas and fort worth
Southlake: Good schools, nice housing, many people moving in from out of town, good proximity to freeway system, nice neighborhoods.


City taxes cities are just about equal for all,
political views:
Demographics/population: Nice if you can afford to live in any of these cities.
Its more of a new money vs old money kind of thing.

P.S.
I noticed your other entry about wanting to be in a small town feel
close to water.
Within your list, I would suggest looking at Grapevine.


Your question is very open, the metro is big place.
There are many quiet neighborhoods close to waterways all the way up to the Texas/Oklahoma border.

[expatChicagoan]

I moved from Chicago to Fort Worth almost 3 years ago. Love living down here. The most important factor to me in the move was location to where I work. I got sick of the commute in Chicago.

I have no advice about any of the places you asked about, as I don't live in any of them, but just wanted to say "welcome".

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by kklaudia06

I'm planning on moving to Texas and I'd like to find out info on which areas would be best. I read some posts that for a family the best ones are Plano, Richardson, Frisco, Southlake, Grapevine. Would anyone give me some more info about those places? Thanks in advance!

There's lots of former Chicagoans posting on these forums, I'm one of them, been down here almost a year and a half.

As already noted, a lot depends on where you'd be working (as well as, obviously, price range and such). The Metroplex is very spread out. If you're living south of Fort Worth but working in Plano you'd have a hella-long commute. The traffic is not as bad as Chicago, but IMHO the drivers are worse. DFW is more like LA in that it's spread out with multiple "city centers" rather than the Chicago hub & spoke model. DFW is also much more car-centric.

I also read your other post, re: small-town feel. I'm not sure how "small-town" you're looking. DFW in general feels much more (to me) like a giant sprawled out suburb. Part of that is because of the rapid population growth in the area so there has been tons of new construction. Frisco in particular is a very rapidly growing new suburb. Dunno how familiar you are with Chicago 'burbs since you were apparently there for a short time, but think Plainfield and such (SW) or southeastern McHenry county (NW), only more so. DFW in general has a lot of small lot sizes relative to home size, and Frisco is a strong example of that as well (many "zero-lot-line") homes.

With no other info, the best choice I might have for "small-town feel, with parks, walking trails and near water" would probably be Grapevine, which has a wide range of housing price points and good schools. It's also centrally located in the Metroplex overall, and has lots of shopping (Grapevine Mills is an outlet similar to Gurnee Mills in far north Chicagoland).

THBS, you really need to know where you'll be working, and then people can suggest options. The eastern Dallas burbs might be better if you're working in downtown Dallas or generally on that side of the Metroplex. If your job is further W or NW then Lewisville, Highland Village or Flower Mound might be preferable. It all depends.