Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 236,001, McKinney does well: it grades A−, 52nd among Texas's 640 graded towns. The median household earns $124K and it is healthier than 86% of U.S. towns. The trade-off: the typical home is worth about $473K, 5.2 years of the Dallas metro’s $90K median household income. 54% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in McKinney, against 23% in Texas’ towns and 29% across U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Heard-Craig House and McKinney Cotton Mill Historic District. Only 74 of Texas’ 1,000 towns score higher on the outdoors.
Where McKinney beats most towns.
Its 57 National Register listings are more than in 95% of Texas towns with a listing.
Census counts: 315 in 1850, 195,308 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1876 and 2 maps from 1929 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far McKinney is from typical.
Its grades run from A for jobs and income (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 →
Who provides power, water and the rest in McKinney, 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 McKinney.
McKinney fares better on crime within Texas than nationally, has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns and has less no health insurance than most of Texas.
59 miles of trail in 78 parks and preserves. The trail density in McKinney is 0.9 miles per square mile. Erwin Park, at 208 acres with 8.2 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| McKinney | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.5% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Erwin Park | 8.2 mi | 208 |
| 2. Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary | 3.3 mi | 276 |
| 3. Finch Park | 1.2 mi | 30 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $473K.
Its public schools are run by McKinney ISD. Three of its 67 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Jack Cockrill MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,210 | A |
| McKinney H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,668 | A |
| McKinney North H STop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,387 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
The typical value, about $473K, is 14% below its July 2022 peak. The median property tax bill is $7,791, against $4,232 across Texas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
McKinney’s median rent is $1,901 a month. Typical home values fell 5.1% in the year to September 2026. 64% of McKinney households own their home.
| McKinney | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,901 a month | $1,206 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 64% | 69% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its widest gap with Texas is no health insurance: 10.9% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 19.1% statewide. Against the 5,142 U.S. towns with household incomes like McKinney’s, it is healthier than 66%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
11% of adults report frequent physical distress in McKinney. McKinney beats the Texas average on 18 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 9.1% of adults have diabetes in McKinney.
| McKinney | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 15% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 13% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 30% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 24% | 19% |
| What stands out | McKinney | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 10.9% | 19.1% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.9% | 19.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 35,829 in 2013 to 64,977. 24.5% of workers work from home, against 14.4% across Texas.
Most working residents leave McKinney for work: only 13% work in town. Since 2013, McKinney has added 29,148 jobs, to 64,977 in 2023. The top destinations are Dallas (16%), Plano (14%) and Frisco (6%).
| McKinney | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 25% | 9.6% | 11% |
| Median household income | $124,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.7% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 12.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 80% of Texas’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 2,154 to 1,859 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
July afternoons average 94.4°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 34.1°.
McKinney has mild winters and hot summers. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| McKinney | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 95°F | 85°F |
| January low | 34°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 52% of U.S. communities. Since 1993, 12 flood insurance claims have been paid out in McKinney.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around McKinney. Close and well known come first.
Big draw40 mi Stadium & arenaAT&T Stadium
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaCotton Bowl
10 mi Theme parkUniversal Kids Resort
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaTexas Stadium
10 mi Stadium & arenaToyota Stadium
Big draw40 mi Stadium & arenaGlobe Life FieldAT&T Stadium: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cotton Bowl: Robbiewest88, Public domain · Universal Kids Resort: CANthony0125, CC0 · Texas Stadium: Allspamme, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Toyota Stadium: Flavius Constantine, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Globe Life Field: Drone To Fly, CC BY 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of McKinney
About 6 of every 100 McKinney residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
131,117 counted in 2010 and 195,308 in 2020; an estimated 236,001 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 20.8% since 2020, after 49% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
57 places in McKinney on the National Register of Historic Places.
29 notable people were born in McKinney.
City in Texas, United States
McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas, United States. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about 32 miles (51 km) north of Dallas. The Census Bureau ranked McKinney as the nation's fourth fastest-growing large city from 2010 to 2019 and determined the city's 2020 population was 195,308. Based on Census Bureau estimates, as of July 2022 the city's population was 207,507, making it Texas's 15th-most populous city and the 99th most populous in the United States. The Census Bureau defines an urban area of northern Dallas-area suburbs that are separated from the Dallas–Fort Worth urb…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with McKinney.
| Town | TX rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKinney | #52 | A− | D− | B+ | A− | A |
| Fairview | #140 | B | D− | B+ | A | A− |
| Melissa | #21 | A− | D | A | A | A− |
| Lowry Crossing | #133 | B | C | — | A− | B− |
| Frisco | #31 | A− | D− | B | A | A+ |
| Prosper | #43 | A− | D | B+ | A | A |
| Allen | #29 | A− | D− | B+ | A | A |
Lowry Crossing reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare McKinney with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. McKinney grades A− overall, better than 76% of U.S. towns and #52 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−.
29 notable people were born here, including Guinn Smith and Chad Haga.
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