Relocating to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Moving to any state can be both exciting and stressful all at once and Texas is no exception. The word “metroplex” is used for a reason in describing Dallas-Fort Worth, as it literally feels like cities within cities all connected by a complex network of highways. With such a wide geographic spread, it’s critical to decide which area of the metroplex will meet your needs based on your lifestyle.
Choosing where to live in any major metropolitan area can be a challenge even if you have friends and family that live in the city. There is a laundry list of things to consider, many of which are personal choices that may differ from the advice of your Realtor, your cousin, or co-workers at your job. Here are a few common considerations and links to tools that may help you in making a final decision.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
or many Dallas parents sending their kids to public school, it is all about the school district. If you don’t have kids, then your options are almost limitless, just be prepared to spend hours driving hundreds of miles to find the perfect neighborhood.
Determining which school districts are the best so that you can move into one of those districts is a little bit of a treasure hunt. The STAAR is the big statewide exam given from grade 3 to grade 8. Even with all the focus put on the STAAR, you are not going to be able to download a single sheet that ranks every school district in DFW from best to worst on the Texas Education Agency site. For obvious reasons, this data is made somewhat difficult to obtain in just one click. There would be a lot of context lost with a single ranked sheet from high to low. You’ll see in some cases where the elementary schools do really well on STAAR in a particular district, but then those results don’t translate all the way up through middle school and high school for the neighborhood you may be looking at. So would a parent prefer an “excellent” middle school, but just a “good” high school, or would they rather have a “good” middle school, but an “excellent” high school? It’s all a matter of personal choice, if you can’t find a district ranked high across the board for every grade level and still have affordable housing. Lastly, even in certain school districts, if the district has 10+ high schools there will inevitably some differences in performance across them – perception plays a big role in Dallas like many other cities where people proudly claim their school or neighborhood is the best. The school districts below tend to be mentioned the most when talking to locals about good districts, but please do your research:
COMMUTE
We have a whole section on Driving around DFW, but the most important thing to consider is commute times to and from your job or other important places. Living and working in Dallas may mean you live in Prosper, TX (far north Texas) but commute to a job in downtown Dallas or Irving. That can be a one-way, hour commute in normal traffic. While it’s not uncommon for people to take an hour to get to work, that can be a long distance in DFW when you’re driving on the Sam Rayburn tollway at 70 mph. Most Dallas residents want a bigger-sized home with a decent backyard for a reasonable price, which will tend to put you away from the major job centers where most companies are based. Downtown Dallas, Downtown Fort Worth, Irving, Plano, Allen, tend to have denser areas of companies that employ large numbers of people. Forty-five (45) minutes during normal rush hour is what you should estimate if you can’t or don’t want to live across the street from your job.
Google Maps by far has become very good at providing directions and predicting travel time (usually only 3-5 minutes off). We suggest using the Google Maps mobile app while you’re sitting in a potential neighborhood you like and entering the address of your job. You can also use the desktop version – Click on the “directions” arrow icon and enter your neighborhood then place of work to see a typical commute time.
WEATHER AND GEOLOGY
he weather and terrain in North Texas can be somewhat of a dirty little secret if you’re not from the area. While everyone knows nationally that Dallas and Fort Worth can get several days of 100+ degree weather in the summer, there are other weather patterns that can equally be damaging to your property. With proximity to Oklahoma, North Texas gets its share of twisters. I heard several tornado sirens within the first year I moved to the area. Dallas and surrounding areas can also get severe thunderstorms, hail, and lightning storms. It is not unusual to find homes that have had their roof replaced several times due to hail damage. I personally have driven by several homes hit by lightning as well. What’s under your house is also something to ask your Realtor about when you buy. Several areas in the Dallas region have really bad pockets of clay soil, which dries out very quickly leading to foundation problems around your home. You may hear people mentioning installing soaker hoses around your house to keep the soil at a consistent moisture level so that it doesn’t contract and expand so much that it leads to cracks in your brick and interior walls as the foundation moves. Again, having the right agent with an inspector who lives or works in a neighborhood often can tell you whether your house is susceptible to this or if its already had problems.
Hail
It is not uncommon to go through a neighborhood and see several homes getting their roofs replaced throughout the year. Yes, DFW gets golf-ball sized hail and you will want to have an insurance policy that picks up most of the cost after your deductible. Policies in Texas may be higher than what you’re used to because insurance companies know that some homes may go through several roof replacements in a 20-year span. While some people have solar panels on their roofs, not all panels can withstand golf-ball size hail, so if you’re thinking of going green, ask your provider about insurance and replacement costs if damaged from hail. As a fun fact, the Ikea store in Frisco has a 114,000-square-foot array of solar panels on the roof, which you can see if you’re driving on the northbound flyover from Sam Rayburn to the DNT Tollway.
Lightning
There are 3 homes just on my block that have been hit with lightning. Lightning strikes occur all over DFW. Sometimes it hits your trees in the front yard, other times you may not be so lucky and it hits the home starting a fire. When buying your insurance policy, make sure you talk to your agent about coverage for lightning and replacement costs for the house as well as your nice 4K television and anything else that may not hold up to a house strike. If they have to rebuild, you may need 6-9 months of housing expenses covered while you live somewhere else. Many people in the north Dallas suburbs have invested in lightning rods on their house.
Tornadoes
Yes, we get these too in the Dallas area. If you’ve read the section on what work requires permits, you may find it quite common for people to have to replace their fencing in their backyard more than once in a 10-year span. While we don’t always get wide tornadoes, 50-70 mph winds are enough to do damage to your fence, either putting holes in it, or uprooting some of the posts. Here again, you’ll want to pay special attention to how your insurance company handles claims for things like this.
The Texas Parks website has a really impressive interactive map if you want to know more about the North Texas geology and habitats.
Choosing where to live in any major metropolitan area can be a challenge even if you have friends and family that live in the city. There is a laundry list of things to consider, many of which are personal choices that may differ from the advice of your Realtor, your cousin, or co-workers at your job. Here are a few common considerations and links to tools that may help you in making a final decision.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
or many Dallas parents sending their kids to public school, it is all about the school district. If you don’t have kids, then your options are almost limitless, just be prepared to spend hours driving hundreds of miles to find the perfect neighborhood.
Determining which school districts are the best so that you can move into one of those districts is a little bit of a treasure hunt. The STAAR is the big statewide exam given from grade 3 to grade 8. Even with all the focus put on the STAAR, you are not going to be able to download a single sheet that ranks every school district in DFW from best to worst on the Texas Education Agency site. For obvious reasons, this data is made somewhat difficult to obtain in just one click. There would be a lot of context lost with a single ranked sheet from high to low. You’ll see in some cases where the elementary schools do really well on STAAR in a particular district, but then those results don’t translate all the way up through middle school and high school for the neighborhood you may be looking at. So would a parent prefer an “excellent” middle school, but just a “good” high school, or would they rather have a “good” middle school, but an “excellent” high school? It’s all a matter of personal choice, if you can’t find a district ranked high across the board for every grade level and still have affordable housing. Lastly, even in certain school districts, if the district has 10+ high schools there will inevitably some differences in performance across them – perception plays a big role in Dallas like many other cities where people proudly claim their school or neighborhood is the best. The school districts below tend to be mentioned the most when talking to locals about good districts, but please do your research:
- Carroll Independent School District
- Keller Independent School District
- Lovejoy Independent School District
- Highland Park Independent School District
- Argyle Independent School District
- Frisco Independent School District
- Plano Independent School District
- Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District
- Allen Independent School District
COMMUTE
We have a whole section on Driving around DFW, but the most important thing to consider is commute times to and from your job or other important places. Living and working in Dallas may mean you live in Prosper, TX (far north Texas) but commute to a job in downtown Dallas or Irving. That can be a one-way, hour commute in normal traffic. While it’s not uncommon for people to take an hour to get to work, that can be a long distance in DFW when you’re driving on the Sam Rayburn tollway at 70 mph. Most Dallas residents want a bigger-sized home with a decent backyard for a reasonable price, which will tend to put you away from the major job centers where most companies are based. Downtown Dallas, Downtown Fort Worth, Irving, Plano, Allen, tend to have denser areas of companies that employ large numbers of people. Forty-five (45) minutes during normal rush hour is what you should estimate if you can’t or don’t want to live across the street from your job.
Google Maps by far has become very good at providing directions and predicting travel time (usually only 3-5 minutes off). We suggest using the Google Maps mobile app while you’re sitting in a potential neighborhood you like and entering the address of your job. You can also use the desktop version – Click on the “directions” arrow icon and enter your neighborhood then place of work to see a typical commute time.
WEATHER AND GEOLOGY
he weather and terrain in North Texas can be somewhat of a dirty little secret if you’re not from the area. While everyone knows nationally that Dallas and Fort Worth can get several days of 100+ degree weather in the summer, there are other weather patterns that can equally be damaging to your property. With proximity to Oklahoma, North Texas gets its share of twisters. I heard several tornado sirens within the first year I moved to the area. Dallas and surrounding areas can also get severe thunderstorms, hail, and lightning storms. It is not unusual to find homes that have had their roof replaced several times due to hail damage. I personally have driven by several homes hit by lightning as well. What’s under your house is also something to ask your Realtor about when you buy. Several areas in the Dallas region have really bad pockets of clay soil, which dries out very quickly leading to foundation problems around your home. You may hear people mentioning installing soaker hoses around your house to keep the soil at a consistent moisture level so that it doesn’t contract and expand so much that it leads to cracks in your brick and interior walls as the foundation moves. Again, having the right agent with an inspector who lives or works in a neighborhood often can tell you whether your house is susceptible to this or if its already had problems.
Hail
It is not uncommon to go through a neighborhood and see several homes getting their roofs replaced throughout the year. Yes, DFW gets golf-ball sized hail and you will want to have an insurance policy that picks up most of the cost after your deductible. Policies in Texas may be higher than what you’re used to because insurance companies know that some homes may go through several roof replacements in a 20-year span. While some people have solar panels on their roofs, not all panels can withstand golf-ball size hail, so if you’re thinking of going green, ask your provider about insurance and replacement costs if damaged from hail. As a fun fact, the Ikea store in Frisco has a 114,000-square-foot array of solar panels on the roof, which you can see if you’re driving on the northbound flyover from Sam Rayburn to the DNT Tollway.
Lightning
There are 3 homes just on my block that have been hit with lightning. Lightning strikes occur all over DFW. Sometimes it hits your trees in the front yard, other times you may not be so lucky and it hits the home starting a fire. When buying your insurance policy, make sure you talk to your agent about coverage for lightning and replacement costs for the house as well as your nice 4K television and anything else that may not hold up to a house strike. If they have to rebuild, you may need 6-9 months of housing expenses covered while you live somewhere else. Many people in the north Dallas suburbs have invested in lightning rods on their house.
Tornadoes
Yes, we get these too in the Dallas area. If you’ve read the section on what work requires permits, you may find it quite common for people to have to replace their fencing in their backyard more than once in a 10-year span. While we don’t always get wide tornadoes, 50-70 mph winds are enough to do damage to your fence, either putting holes in it, or uprooting some of the posts. Here again, you’ll want to pay special attention to how your insurance company handles claims for things like this.
The Texas Parks website has a really impressive interactive map if you want to know more about the North Texas geology and habitats.