208,487
Population
Sunny Days: 229
95100 Affordability
95100 Schools
80100 Diversity
100100 Safety
McKinney, Texas
Home of the Lions
McKinney Aerial
McKinney Downtown
McKinney Farmer's Market
McKinney Christmas
LookyLOO Review of McKinney
If you like conservative family towns!
McKinney is frequently rated high on lists for the city overall and for raising families in particular. If you like your politics and schools red, you’re going to like it here. Banning CRT (regardless of it not being taught), banning books, and sexuality and gender regulations are hot-button issues that are generally passed in the McKinney school district. Expect local and national elections to vote conservative or extreme conservative here. If that’s your cup of tea, this could be your place.
There are plenty of families moving to southern states like Texas, looking to take advantage of the lower cost of living. If you’re liberal and are considering McKinney, you may want to double-check yourself. While growth has brought a bit of diversity, at least in thinking, overall, the population and the schools will feel unwelcoming on the political and policy front.
Lifestyle
As recently as 2014, McKinney was rated the best city in the U.S. to live by Money Magazine. That ranking, plus overall migration trends, have driven tremendous growth in McKinney and the other north Dallas suburbs. This is a deeply family-driven suburban city of Dallas, and the lifestyle mirrors that role. It has very high-ranked schools, great parks, tons of family-friendly activities, and, relative to other parts of the country (we see you, Cali), amazing prices on homes. You are very close to Downtown Dallas here, so expect to head into the big city for more glamor nights out, but also know there are plenty of more casual restaurant/bar options in town.
If you want to know what's happening in McKinney, check out the calendar of events.
We highly recommend visiting McKinney and staying in the community in a VRBO rather than a hotel to get a feel for what it's like to live among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our partnership with Expedia as well.
Worklife
Many of the north Dallas suburban cities cater to commuters heading to Dallas-based headquarters, but there are several big employers here: Raytheon in the defense space, Torchmark in insurance, and several health/medical facilities overall, though the majority of residents live in McKinney and other northern suburbs to get affordable housing and commute to work.
Why You Should Move Here Now?
Education/Family Lifestyle > Cost of Living
The cost of living relative to the quality of education and family lifestyle is hard to beat. There are tons of apartment buildings that are going up nonstop in the area if you’re looking to rent, and even though housing costs have gone up quite a bit if you’re coming from the west or east coasts you’ll find it affordable.
Reviews of McKinney from Locals
AvariciousAltruist
2y ago
🦉🦉🦉🦉
So I just moved to McKinney a couple months ago thanks to getting a new job in the area. So far, it's been pretty awesome. This place is growing quickly. There are already a lot of shops, homes, apartments, etc. and more being built.
Collin county has an excellent community college system as well. Everyone around here seems to know someone who goes, is going, or has been to one of the campuses.
There are also lots of great places to eat and hang out. I don't think I've ever been so spoiled for choice when it comes to non-chain restaurants.
I can't speak much for homes in the area, but my apartment is $1500/month for a single bedroom.
My biggest gripe is with the horrible traffic. I won't get into the details of why I think that is, but it can be pretty bad at certain times in certain places. Honestly, though, it's probably not as bad as LA (yet, lol). Unfortunately, there is no public transit at all. The nearest DART light rail station is in Plano, which is 10 miles away from the edge of McKinney.
The only other thing to keep in mind is that this is Texas. It's hot, it's heavily conservative, and it's hot. If you can live with that, it'll work out for you.
Want to give McKinney a shot?
Use our friends at VRBO and Expedia to help get you going!
Living in McKinney
Neighborhoods in McKinney
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The Area
McKinney is on the north side of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, more commonly known as DFW Metroplex. It’s farther north than other suburban cities like Plano or Frisco but not by much. All of DFW is easily accessible by car and there is a train but it doesn’t reach McKinney so not practical for commuting.
Many people think of DFW as a great big giant city (with 7.2 million people) with borders among the cities, suburbs and towns as largely irrelevant given the lack of natural borders from things like rivers or lakes. While there can be plenty of traffic in DFW for the most part the freeway system/turnpike gets everyone around in very short drives (or train rides) relative to most of the other large metroplexes. DFW is extremely new compared to the other big developed metroplexes and that means it is just more convenient. You’re 15-35 minutes into downtown Dallas or Fort Worth from a great majority of the suburbs which means if you choose to live that rolling lawn lifestyle it’s not far to hit the big cities. Most of the popular suburbs are directly north Dallas: Plano, McKinney, Frisco among others but there are also plenty in between the two cities: Irving, Arlington and Grand Prairie that draw a lot of attention as well.
If you’re looking for the most “developed” of the north suburbs in terms of a commercial district then Plano is a good option. Frisco is the fastest growing with the most development happening and McKinney as the farthest north tends to be a bit better on pricing. It also tends to be the most conservative if that is to your liking.
None of this means you have to live close to one of the big cities. The Metroplex is nearly 9,300 square miles, which means it is larger than the land areas of six U.S. states. If you want rural you can find it here.