150 years in pictures
Census counts: 96 in 1880, 104,627 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 3 maps from 1929 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
- 1876Allen is settled
Each edition grades its towns against each other only.

A city of 113,447, settled in 1876. Public schools that outperform most of Texas.
Trash & recyclingAllen is a city of 113,447, and it grades A− overall, 29th of 640 graded towns in Texas. Its schools outperform 92% of the state's and the median household earns $131K. The trade-off: homes are expensive, about $488K for a typical one and 5.4 times the Dallas metro’s $90K median household income. 57% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Allen, against 23% in Texas’ towns and 29% across U.S. towns. On health, just 55 of Texas’ 998 towns do better. Allen Water Station is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Allen beats most towns.
84,246 counted in 2010 and 104,627 in 2020; an estimated 113,447 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 8.4% since 2020, after 24.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Allen is from typical.
Its grades run from A for schools (better than 92% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 5%), so the A− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 96 in 1880, 104,627 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 3 maps from 1929 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Allen. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaAT&T Stadium
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaCotton Bowl
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaTexas Stadium
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaGlobe Life Field
10 mi Stadium & arenaToyota Stadium
11 mi Theme parkUniversal Kids ResortAT&T Stadium: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cotton Bowl: Robbiewest88, Public domain · Texas Stadium: Allspamme, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Globe Life Field: Drone To Fly, CC BY 3.0 · Toyota Stadium: Flavius Constantine, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Universal Kids Resort: CANthony0125, CC0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Allen, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Allen.
Allen has schools in the top 5% of Texas, fares better on crime within Texas than nationally and has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns.
The typical value, about $488K, is 11% below its July 2022 peak. The median property tax bill is $7,844, against $4,232 across Texas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent in Allen is $1,932 a month. Typical home values fell 5.1% in the year to September 2026.
| Allen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,932 a month | $1,206 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 54% | 50% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A ranks #17 of the 642 Texas towns we grade for schools. Its A for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $488K.
Its public schools are run by Allen ISD. Three of its 32 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter & Lois Curtis MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 1,323 | A |
| Allen H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 5,206 | A− |
| Ereckson MiddleTop results in townGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 1,263 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Texas is no health insurance: 8.9% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 19.1% statewide. Against the 4,442 U.S. towns with household incomes like Allen’s, it is healthier than 77%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Allen beats the Texas average on 18 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 10% of adults report frequent physical distress in Allen.
| Allen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 15% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 30% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 24% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Allen | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.9% | 19.1% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.2% | 19.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
11 miles of trail in 44 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Allen Station Park, at 130 acres.
| Allen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.5% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Trail at the Woods | 1.7 mi | 74 |
| 2. Bethany Lakes Park | 0.7 mi | 43 |
| 3. Allen Station Park | 0.5 mi | 130 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Jobs based here grew from 24,274 in 2013 to 38,467. 26.7% of workers work from home, against 14.4% across Texas.
Most working residents leave Allen for work: only 11% work in town. 27% of Allen workers work from home. Since 2013, Allen has added 14,193 jobs, to 38,467 in 2023.
| Allen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 27% | 9.6% | 11% |
| Median household income | $131,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6.1% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 11.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 81% of Texas’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 1,072 to 897 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Allen’s violent crime rate is 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Allen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 7 per 1,000 residents | 10.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
July afternoons average 94.4°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 34.8°.
Allen has mild winters and hot summers. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Allen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 95°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 1998, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Allen.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
9 within 15 miles of the center of Allen
About 7 of every 100 Allen residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
Where Allen’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
20 notable people were born in Allen.
City in North Texas, United States
Allen is a city in Collin County in the U.S. state of Texas, and a northern suburb in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The population was 104,627 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 111,551 in 2022. Allen is located approximately twenty miles (32 km) north of downtown Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Allen.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Allen grades A− overall, better than 81% of U.S. towns and #29 of 640 in Texas. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
20 notable people were born here, including Jim Parrack and Matt Barr.