flock to flower mound

Dallas-Fort Worth suburb blooms as No. 1 best place to live in U.S.

Flower Mound is overflowing with family-friendly things to do.

Flower Mound/Facebook

One Dallas-area city took the top slot on a new list of "the 100 Best Places to Live in 2025." The list — from relocation marketing platform Livability.com — put Flower Mound at No. 1 for its appealing size and affordability.

The list was restricted to small and mid-size cities with populations between 75,000-500,000 residents. And it also considered only cities with a median home value of $500,000 or less.

They considered factors such as average rent and home prices relative to income to keep their list centered around affordability.

And while Flower Mound did come in at No. 1, the site specifies that the list is not a numbered ranking but one where users are encouraged to create their own ranking based on personal priorities.

Nonetheless, Flower Mound earned the highest score out of all the cities on the report, with a LivScore totaling 875 out of 1,000 possible points.

Flower Mound is 28 miles northwest of Dallas, with a population of more than 77,000 residents and a median household income that's well into the six-figures, at $216,000. These affluent residents have median home values of $476,609, according to the report's findings.

Across the eight main categories, the suburb ranked the highest for its health (88), economy (87), and safety (84). The report said Flower Mound has a "diverse and robust" economy, bolstered by more than 2,000 locally based businesses in tech, manufacturing, and other professional services.

Rheudasil Park is a great place for families to enjoy the outdoors.Town of Flower Mound, Texas-Government/Facebook

Livability's profile of Flower Mound praises its safe neighborhoods, school districts, recreational activities, and more.

"Local residents (and their pets) have all kinds of fun ways to enjoy the great outdoors thanks to more than 1,000 acres of parkland," the profile says. "Heritage Park is a local favorite, with amenities galore — including a splash pad, playground, performance pavilion, 18-hole disc golf course and bronze statues of animals native to the area. On top of all that, there’s a boardwalk, a waterfall and a 5-acre dog park."

Flo-Mo is a repeat award winner: In 2024, the city was found to be the 29th most livable small city in America in a separate study by SmartAsset.

Seven other Texas cities were also included in the list of best places to live in the U.S.: Sugar Land (854 points), Round Rock (793 points), New Braunfels (758 points), Midland (712 points), College Station (711 points), Tyler (676 points), and Abilene (659 points).

The top 10 cities that earned the most points on Livability's list are:

Flower Mound, Texas
Carmel, Indiana
Sugar Land, Texas
Naperville, Illinois
Roswell, Georgia
Overland Park, Kansas
Troy, Michigan
Columbia, Maryland
Olathe, Kansas
Round Rock, Texas

Hottest Headlines of 2025

Popular suburbs move into Dallas' hottest real estate headlines of 2025

Photo courtesy of City of McKinney

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Editor's note: As the year comes to a close, we look back at the 10 most-read real estate stories in Dallas for 2025 — including new honors for several local suburbs, market trends, and all-important Walmart news. These are the 10 hottest real estate headlines of 2025 in Dallas:

1. Dallas-Fort Worth suburb blooms as No. 1 best place to live in U.S. One Dallas-area city took the top slot on a list of "the 100 Best Places to Live in 2025." The list — from relocation marketing platform Livability.com — put Flower Mound at No. 1 for its appealing size and affordability. The suburb also claimed the No. 7 spot in a ranking of America's most livable small cities.

2. North Dallas neighbor ranks as No. 1 most affordable city in U.S. A Dallas suburb landed on top of a list of the most affordable places to live: McKinney ranked No. 1 based on its relative cost of living and high median household income.

3. Massive mixed-use development coming to key intersection in McKinney. McKinney is getting a new $1.3 billion mixed-use development. Called Long Branch, it will be a 155-acre project at the northwest corner of US-75 and the future 380 bypass, consisting of housing, retail, office, grocery, and hospitality. The development has 80 acres slated for active development, and will unfold over the next decade in four tracts.

4. Dallas-area suburb ranks as 3rd best place to live in Texas in 2025. The Dallas-Fort Worth mid-city of Coppell has been ranked the third best place to live in Texas in 2025 by rankings and review website Niche.com. The survey determined the best places to live in based on crime rates, public school rankings, the local cost of living, job opportunities, and more using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, and others.

Coppell, Dallas suburb Coppell was ranked the third-best place to live in Texas for 2025. City of Coppell, TX Municipal Government/Facebook

5. 11 Dallas suburbs soar as fastest-growing U.S. cities in last decade. It's no secret that Dallas-Fort Worth's population is growing faster than most other metros in the U.S., but now several surprising Dallas neighbors have been named among the top 10 fastest-growing suburb nationwide over the last decade. Celina nearly led the nation with an astonishing 314 percent increase in population from 2014 to 2023, according to a growth study by marketplace platform StorageCafe.

6. Dallas neighbor is the No. 1 fastest-growing affordable city in U.S. A national study has declared Texas is home to the most affordable, fast-growing cities in the country, with Dallas suburb Frisco taking the lead at No. 1. Frisco and five more Dallas neighbors ranked high on GoBankingRates.com's list of "50 Most Affordable, Fastest-Growing Cities in 2025."

$Millennials moved to Texas more than any other state in 2019, with Frisco being\na top choice.$ Frisco is the most-affordable, fastest-growing city in the country. Photo by Roger Robinson/Visit Frisco

7. Dallas neighbor beckons movers as top U.S. suburb with small-town feel. Wylie, a city less than 30 miles from downtown Dallas, ranked as the No. 7 most highly sought-after U.S. suburb of 2025 in MoveBuddha's national survey. In addition to being recognized as the 7th most desirable American suburb, Wylie also ranked as the second-most desirable suburb to move to in Texas.

8. 2 Dallas neighbors rank among fastest-growing wealthy suburbs in U.S. Celina and Prosper, two boomtowns north of Dallas, are among the top three fastest growing affluent suburbs in the country. The cities' affluent status was unveiled in a GoBankingRates' study ranking the "30 Fastest-Growing Wealthy Suburbs in America" for 2025.

The Old Celina Park in Celina, Texas Celina is the No. 2 fastest-growing wealthy 'burb in America. Photo courtesy of celina-tx.gov

9. 6 Dallas suburbs make top 10 list of best Texas cities to move to. 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.

10. Booming Celina hits the big time with its first Walmart Supercenter. The city of Celina is getting its first mega Walmart: According to a release, it will be a Walmart Supercenter located at the northwest corner of Preston Road (Highway 289) and the West Outer Loop. The store has been in the works for a few years, but the Celina Economic Development Corporation celebrated the opening in a groundbreaking on April 16.