Moving to McKinney, Texas

McKinney leans on a growing corporate and medical base, plus the north-suburb job market. For work, US-75 and the Tollway into the Collin County job centers. That’s the practical calculus of living here: whether the drive to your job pencils out. The upside is that you’re plugged into the wider Dallas–Fort Worth economy no matter where you land, and with no state income tax, the paycheck stretches further than it would in most of the country.

Housing runs above the metro average — you’re paying a premium for the schools, the setting, and the demand. The trade-off is that you get what you pay for; the discount move is usually to look one ring out to an adjacent town that shares the appeal at a lower entry point. What sets McKinney apart is a beautifully preserved historic square. Schools are a genuine draw here, and families pay attention to that when they shop for a home. Beyond that, it’s the standard North Texas package: you’ll drive for everything, the summers are long, and spring brings the odd hailstorm.

No place is a clean win. McKinney’s strengths — a real historic downtown with character, rare in the boom suburbs, top-rated schools — come with real costs: prices have climbed with the demand, and us-75 traffic at rush hour. Stack that against the metro-wide facts — high property taxes, car dependence, brutal Augusts — and decide with your eyes open. For the right household, it adds up.