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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). 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.

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One Texas community makes list of the richest small towns in America

Photo courtesy of Compass

Bunker Hill Village is a coveted address in the Houston area.

An upscale community in Texas is among the top 10 richest towns in America, according to a new 2024 report. The community is Bunker Hill Village in Houston, and it's home to the richest residents in Texas. Sorry, Colonial Hills.

The analysis, by loan provider TitleMax, lists the 50 richest small towns — one from each state — using median household income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Bunker Hill Village, the median household income is about $250,000, the report says.

Of course, "small town" is a bit of a misnomer for Bunker Hill Village. Situated 13 miles west of downtown Houston, Bunker Hill joins five other communities – Hunters Creek, HiIlshire, Hedwig, Piney Point, and Spring Valley – to make up Houston's iconic Memorial Villages. In 2023, Bunker Hill was ranked the third-most expensive Houston neighborhood, with homes on the market for upwards of $2.7 million.

Notably, the area is home to Houston's only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house.

"We are very proud of our quiet, wooded environment, and as a community, we work hard to preserve it for future generations," the city's website says.

The study found that more than half (56.5 percent) of the 1,250-home community make over $200,000 a year, while the enclave's median household income amounts to $247,188.

To put that into perspective, TitleMax revealed that the national median household income is $67,521. The Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey estimates the median income of a household in Texas came out to $75,780 in 2023.

Bunker Hill joins the likes of Houston's Bellaire and West University Place as some of the most affluent suburbs in America. The North Texas suburb of Southlake also made it on that list.

The No. 1 slot went to Monte Sereno, a suburb of San Jose, California with a median household income of more than $250,000, according to the report.

"While many people consider cities to be the epicenters of the rich, many retreat to small towns that offer safety, beauty, and privacy," the report's author wrote.

These are the top 10 wealthiest small towns in America, with their median household incomes:

No. 1 – Monte Sereno, California ($250,000-plus)
No. 2 – Cherry Hills Village, Colorado ($250,000-plus)
No. 3 – Mission Hills, Kansas ($250,000-plus)
No. 4 – Short Hills, New Jersey ($250,000-plus)
No. 5 – Scarsdale, New York ($250,000-plus)
No. 6 – Belle Meade, Tennessee ($250,000-plus)
No. 7 – Glencoe, Illinois ($248,851)
No. 8 – Bunker Hill Village, Texas ($247,188)
No. 9 – Clyde Hill, Washington ($238,958)
No. 10 – Chevy Chase Village, Maryland ($238,333)

The full report can be found on titlemax.com.

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