List News

Plano makes top 5 on list of best cities in the U.S. to raise a family

Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation Center plano texas

Plano's family-friendly Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation Center.

scontent-dfw5-1.cdninstagram.com

A study proves what Plano residents already know: that the Collin County city is one of the best places to raise a family.

The list of "2023’s Best & Worst Places to Raise a Family," done by personal financial website WalletHub, ranks Plano in the top five cities, as follows:

1. Fremont, California
2. Overland Park, Kansas
3. Irvine, California
4. Plano, Texas
5. South Burlington, Vermont

WalletHub compared 182 cities across the U.S., using five criteria: Family Fun, Health & Safety, Education & Child Care, Affordability, and Socio-economics.

Plano earned high marks for its socioeconomics (factors like divorce rate, unemployment, and home foreclosures), health & safety (factors such as air quality, number of pediatricians, and access to healthy food), and affordability.

The results of this latest 2023 survey are similar to one conducted in 2022, with four of the five top cities, including Plano, returning to make the list again this year.

WalletHub is not alone in its admiration of Plano; a similar study by StorageCafe in 2022 ranked Plano the No. 1 city in the U.S. to raise a family, with excellent public schools, reasonable cost of living, fantastic parks system, and safe and clean environment being cited as factors.

Plano is the highest ranking city Texas on the WalletHub list, but 15 other Texas cities also get a mention, including six other DFW-area cities: Grand Prairie (No. 51), Irving (No. 85), Fort Worth (No. 90), Arlington (97), Garland (98), and Dallas (138).

plano texas reports wallethub

Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

politics