calling texas home

2 Dallas-Fort Worth towns top America's best places for young families

Few cities in America are better for families than Flower Mound and Mansfield.

Photo courtesy of Flower Mound Parks and Recreation

When starting a family, there's a lot to consider, and a new study might help answer one of the biggest questions: Where should we live?

Apartment List analyzed more than 500 U.S. cities to find the best places for young families in 2019. The site considered safety, rent affordability, education quality (high school graduation rates among public schools), and child friendliness, ultimately naming two Dallas-Fort Worth towns at the top of the list: Flower Mound (No. 4) and Mansfield (No. 9).

Flower Mound shines with an A-plus rating (weighted score of 92.76), performing best in high school graduation rate (97.4) and safety (97.3), and faring well in rent affordability (87.5) and child friendliness (81.3). Flower Mound is on a roll, as another study just named it the safest city in Texas.

Mansfield stands out with an A rating (weighted score of 89.54), earning its highest marks for safety (95) and child friendliness (90.7), while having good standing for its high school graduation rate (88.2) and rent affordability (83.9).

In all, four of the top 10 spots go to Texas cities, with Cedar Park near Austin at No. 7 and League City near Houston at No. 8.

Texas' largest cities, however, don't look so hot compared to the other 500-plus studied, scoring especially poorly in safety and high school graduation rates. Dallas ranks No. 205, with a weighted score of 54.86 and a B. Fort Worth, also earning a B, lands further down the list with its No. 240 ranking and weighted score of 51.82. Between them is Austin, No. 208, with a score of 54.62 and a B. Houston ranks No. 400, with a score of 37.55 and a C, and San Antonio isn't that far off, ranking No. 450, with a score of 31.91 and a C.

But those rankings shift significantly in a second list that compares the 50 largest cities in the country, for families only eyeing urban areas. Four Texas cities place in the top 10 of that list, too: El Paso (No. 2), Dallas (No. 5), Austin (No. 6), and Fort Worth (No. 8).

On the overall list, the top two spots go to Fishers and Carmel, Indiana. On the other end of the spectrum, Santa Cruz, California, ranks worst, with abysmal scores for high school graduation rate, safety, rent affordability, and child friendliness.

lists rankings reports texas

Anna Land Buy

Cox Family sells 116 acres in Anna for mixed-use development

Courtesy photo

Anna, Texas

A major land sale in Anna is paving the way for new mixed-use development. According to a release, Frisco-based Rockhill Capital & Investments struck a deal with the Cox Family to acquire 116 acres at County Road 371 and SH-5, approximately two miles east of US-75.

Younger Partners Executive Managing Director John St. Clair, Vice President Tyler Hemenway, and Associate Davis Willoughby represented the seller in the transaction. The sales price was not disclosed.

Rockhill will sell fully entitled tracts of land to homebuilders, multifamily, and commercial developers.

The single-family portion will be built in phases with development of 325 single-family lots, says Rockhill Chief Development Officer Brent Libby in a statement.

“Construction will likely begin early in Q2 2025,” Libby said. “We’ve already sold 82 of the 116 acres to homebuilder Taylor Morrison and they should break ground first.”

The remaining acres are already being snapped up including 9.5 acres on SH 5 that is under contract to a commercial developer, and interest from a user/developer on the remaining 24 acres, which is zoned for multifamily.

The Cox Family owned the land for decades and had received multiple offers on the property over the years, but were never ready to sell.

“Ultimately, the family wanted to capitalize on the land market before unforeseen market factors took place,” said St. Clair of Younger Partners. “This deal took place at the right time with the right buyer.”

The acquisition nvolved a lengthy zoning process to acquire the land. Rockhill created a Public Improvement District (PID) on the single-family portion of the land, which helped the deal move forward.

Rockhill already has land holdings in nearby high-growth cities of Howe, Van Alstyne, and Sherman, and it ain't stopping here.

“We’ll continue to source and acquire land in the area where we can add value through entitlements, and either develop the property or hold it for some time and exit to another developer or end user,” Libby says.

openings

calling texas home

2 Dallas-Fort Worth towns top America's best places for young families

Colorful Dallas musician and DJ Mark Ridlen passes away at 65

Fill up on the festive fare in this roundup of Dallas restaurant news

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat dies at 69 after ALS battle

Anna Land Buy

Cox Family sells 116 acres in Anna for mixed-use development