best in texas

6 Dallas suburbs make top 10 list of best Texas cities to move to

Allen is the No. 1 best place to move to in Texas, ConsumerAffairs revealed.

Visit Allen, Texas/Facebook

Several Dallas neighbors have been deemed the best Texas cities to move to in a new report.

Advisors at ConsumerAffairs, a customer review and news platform, ranked the 50 most populated Texas cities across five main categories – affordability, safety, economy, health care and education, and quality of life – to determine which were the best places to move to. Each city was given a score out of 100 possible points.

Four of the top five best places to move to in Texas are located in Dallas-Fort Worth: Allen (No .1), Frisco (No. 2), Plano (No. 3), and McKinney (No. 4). Two more DFW suburbs, Mansfield (No. 6) and Richardson (No. 10), rounded out the top 10.

The findings revealed that the Metroplex dominated the list due to each area's prosperous economy, safety, and high quality of life.

Allen topped the list as the second-safest city in Texas, and it has the 6th best quality of life in the state. ConsumerAffairs referenced Allen's low crime rates and its easy accessibility to green spaces as additional popular factors.

"With an award-winning Parks and Recreation department and a jam-packed community calendar, Allen is a bustling suburb that holds its own in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area," the report's author said. "Among the 50 largest cities in Texas, Allen has the highest percentage of people living within a 10-minute walk of a green space, at 87 percent."

In ConsumerAffairs separate ranking of the best places to live in the South, Allen ranked third on the list.

Frisco was ranked as the second best Texas city to move to partly for its "thriving sports culture," its "seventh strongest" economy statewide, and its high-ranking healthcare and education systems. Frisco has the highest high school completion rate in Texas, at 97.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Plano landed in third place as "an ideal suburb for movers looking for green space, safe streets and fun activities."

"For residents who like their adventures on the dinner table, Plano is also home to one of the largest food halls in the United States, where diners can sample duck fried chicken, authentic Mexico City tacos and wine all under one roof," the report said.

Elsewhere in the Metroplex, Dallas proper ranked far down the list as the 46th best place to move to in Texas. Fort Worth appeared slightly higher on the list as the 39th best Texas city to move to.

Eight more Dallas-Fort Worth cities were included on ConsumerAffairs' list:

No. 12 – Carrollton
No. 13 – Lewisville
No. 21 – Irving
No. 24 – Grand Prairie
No. 29 – Denton
No. 35 – Garland
No. 37 – Arlington
No. 45 – Mesquite

real estate dallas allen suburbs plano mckinney frisco consumeraffairs

affordable living

Dallas ranks among top U.S. cities for mobile home living, per report

Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

Manufactured homes have come a long way from the "trailers" of the past, according to StorageCafe.

As North Texas residents navigate the city's fluctuating real estate market, manufactured homes – also known as mobile homes – are gaining traction among potential buyers seeking an affordable path to homeownership.

A recent housing study found Dallas ranks among the top 20 U.S. cities with the largest mobile home inventory. Texas, as a whole, has the second-highest share of manufactured housing in the nation.

StorageCafe's housing insights report analyzed the supply of manufactured housing inventory, average sales prices of new manufactured homes, and compared pricing trends against the median value of all housing units (regardless of construction date) across all 50 states and 100 U.S. cities.

The report's author hails manufactured housing as "a cornerstone of affordability" in the country, with just under 8 million mobile homes representing about 5.4 percent of the U.S. housing supply.

There are 776,232 manufactured homes in Texas, the report found, which is 6.2 percent of the state's entire housing stock. Dallas is home to 6,195 units, which earned the city a rank as No. 20 nationally for the highest mobile home inventory.

Neighboring Fort Worth ranked two spots behind Dallas with 6,069 mobile homes in the city. Arlington (No. 48) and Denton (No. 98) were the only two other North Texas cities to earn spots in the report. Arlington is home to 3,818 manufactured homes, while Denton has 2,441 units.

Why manufactured home living is gaining popularity
Affordability is of the main reasons Texas residents are turning to manufactured home living. The average sale price for a mobile home in Texas was $112,500 in 2024, or less than half of the median sale price for all Texas homes ($313,200).

The report specifies that the cost for a manufactured home does not include the cost of land in the same way that a conventional home does. Depending on zoning and local laws, residents who own a mobile home either lease the lot their home sits on, or they have to purchase a lot outright.

"Most manufactured homes sit either in parks (land rent, higher exposure to rent hikes or park closures) or subdivisions (you own the land)," the report said. "In some communities, resident-owned cooperatives (co-ops) allow homeowners to collectively purchase the land beneath their homes. This setup provides stability and protection against rising lot rents, which can otherwise affect those living in privately owned parks."

Nevertheless, StorageCafe maintains that the generally lower cost of a manufactured home still makes it a viable path to homeownership. Affordability is especially crucial for younger adults like Gen Zers and Millennials who also don't want to "compromise on quality or independence."

"Today’s younger buyers value flexibility, efficiency, and minimal maintenance, and many are drawn to simpler lifestyles that align with financial freedom and mobility," the report said. "With the rise of remote work, more Millennials and Gen Zers are exploring the idea of living affordably in smaller, well-designed spaces, often in communities with shared amenities or scenic settings that were once thought to appeal only to retirees."

Manufactured homes have also experienced a "glow up" in recent years, the report added. Most manufactured homes have open floor plans, "stylish interiors," and come equipped with modern amenities like smart-home technology and energy efficient features.

"As a result, they’re no longer viewed as a fallback option, but rather as a savvy, forward-thinking path to homeownership for cost-conscious Americans of all ages," the report said.

Mobile home living elsewhere in Texas
Two Texas cities – San Antonio (No. 7) and Houston (No. 8) – ranked among the top 10 cities with the greatest supply of manufactured housing in the country. San Antonio has 11,208 mobile homes, while Houston has 10,953.

There were eight more Texas cities that ranked among the top 100 with the highest inventory of manufactured homes:

No. 16 – El Paso (7,089 units)
No. 18 – Laredo (6,785 units)
No. 21 – Austin (6,184 units)
No. 29 – Corpus Christi (4,823 units)
No. 34 – Pharr (4,409 units)
No. 60 – Mission (3,207 units)
No. 65 – Bryan (3,063 units)
No. 67 – Edinburg (3,407 units)

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