The suburbs of Plano call to all types of people looking to escape city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Plano to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Plano ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Plano area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Plano proper, although University Park certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Plano are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones.
We examined the 68 biggest suburbs of Plano to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Plano in terms of quality of life.
The 10 worst suburbs around Plano for 2023
Now don’t freak out.
What’s the worst suburb of Plano? Hutchins ranks as the worst suburb of Plano for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Plano that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.
Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Texas check out the best places in Texas overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Plano too.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
For more Texas reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Plano Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
Population: 5,613
Median Income: $40,129 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.3% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $80,700 (lowest)
More on Hutchins:
We’ll get the ball rolling with Hutchins, the absolute worst place to live around Plano according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Hutchins beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the Plano area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Hutchins.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
/10
Population: 18,263
Median Income: $59,950 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.3% (5th highest)
Median Home Value: $162,800 (4th lowest)
More on Seagoville:
Welcome to Seagoville. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 29.9 miles to Plano. Income levels here are the 5th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $59,950 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
/10
Population: 27,369
Median Income: $55,817 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.7% (highest)
Median Home Value: $153,600 (3rd lowest)
More on Balch Springs:
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Plano suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Balch Springs on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Plano suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
Population: 4,393
Median Income: $75,754 (20th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $172,500 (6th lowest)
More on Pilot Point:
If you live in Pilot Point, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 20th lowest Plano suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 6th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Plano. Remember, we looked at 68 cities for this study.
Pilot Point is about 26.6 miles to downtown.
/10
Population: 3,858
Median Income: $54,088 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.7% (7th highest)
Median Home Value: $122,600 (2nd lowest)
More on Cockrell Hill:
Cockrell Hill has the distinction of being a Plano suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Cockrell Hill has the 2nd lowest home values in the metro Plano area, where the median price is $122,600. The median income is $247,045.
Cockrell Hill has an unemployment rate of 6.72% which ranks 7th worst.
/10
Population: 40,575
Median Income: $60,666 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $178,800 (7th lowest)
More on Duncanville:
Duncanville has 40,575 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 9.262787992773887%.
/10
Population: 1,300,239
Median Income: $58,231 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.1% (19th highest)
Median Home Value: $230,000 (15th lowest)
More on Dallas:
Ah, Dallas. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Plano.
It’s the place with the 19th most out of work residents in the Plano metro area (5.14%).
/10
Population: 245,075
Median Income: $65,278 (11th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.5% (17th highest)
Median Home Value: $190,700 (8th lowest)
More on Garland:
Garland is a city about 11.9 miles from Plano, but Plano probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Garland has the 6th most uninsured people, 11th worst incomes, and has the 17th highest unemployment rate (5.5%) in the entire Plano metro area.
Homes only cost $190,700 for a reason. That’s cheap for Plano standards.
/10
Population: 149,848
Median Income: $63,706 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.7% (25th highest)
Median Home Value: $170,600 (5th lowest)
More on Mesquite:
If you absolutely have to live near Plano, then Mesquite might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Plano suburb.
About 4.66% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 195,992
Median Income: $73,352 (16th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.2% (18th highest)
Median Home Value: $203,600 (10th lowest)
More on Grand Prairie:
Rounding out the ten worst Plano suburbs to call home is Grand Prairie.
Located 29.9 miles outside the city, Grand Prairies is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 18th highest unemployment rate (5.17%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Plano for 2023
To figure out how bad a Plano suburb is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
It’s Saturday Night Science.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2017-2021, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Plano.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 68 suburbs to evaluate around Plano.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 68 in each category, where 1 was the “worst.”
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Plano.” We’re looking at you, Hutchins.
We updated this article for 2023, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Plano.
Summary: The areas around Plano where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Plano with Hutchins casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Plano aren’t all bad. University Park takes the cake as the best place to live around Plano.
- University Park
- Highland Park
- Southlake
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Detailed List Of The Worst Plano Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Hutchins | 5,613 |
2 | Seagoville | 18,263 |
3 | Balch Springs | 27,369 |
4 | Pilot Point | 4,393 |
5 | Cockrell Hill | 3,858 |
6 | Duncanville | 40,575 |
7 | Dallas | 1,300,239 |
8 | Garland | 245,075 |
9 | Mesquite | 149,848 |
10 | Grand Prairie | 195,992 |
11 | Denton | 139,704 |
12 | Irving | 254,184 |
13 | Anna | 16,792 |
14 | Forney | 22,770 |
15 | Lewisville | 110,077 |
16 | Princeton | 16,683 |
17 | Hurst | 40,114 |
18 | Euless | 60,134 |
19 | Farmers Branch | 36,091 |
20 | Lakewood | 62,972 |
21 | Lake Dallas | 7,594 |
22 | Little Elm | 45,124 |
23 | Wylie | 55,426 |
24 | Van Alstyne | 4,386 |
25 | Aubrey | 5,229 |
26 | Shady Shores | 2,759 |
27 | Richardson | 115,904 |
28 | Carrollton | 131,388 |
29 | Sunnyvale | 7,647 |
30 | Rowlett | 62,606 |
31 | Grapevine | 50,548 |
32 | Hackberry | 2,720 |
33 | Addison | 16,405 |
34 | The Colony | 43,489 |
35 | Fate | 17,403 |
36 | Bedford | 49,576 |
37 | Sachse | 26,797 |
38 | Roanoke | 9,270 |
39 | Mckinney | 189,394 |
40 | Fairview | 10,062 |
41 | Oak Point | 4,550 |
42 | Celina | 16,542 |
43 | Melissa | 13,671 |
44 | Northlake | 5,294 |
45 | Parker | 5,352 |
46 | Rockwall | 46,150 |
47 | Corinth | 22,216 |
48 | Lavon | 4,412 |
49 | Murphy | 20,655 |
50 | Allen | 102,778 |
51 | Providence | 8,199 |
52 | Hickory Creek | 4,669 |
53 | Mclendon-Chisholm | 3,437 |
54 | Prosper | 28,825 |
55 | Frisco | 193,140 |
56 | Double Oak | 3,020 |
57 | Flower Mound | 75,050 |
58 | Keller | 45,190 |
59 | Heath | 9,362 |
60 | Lucas | 7,437 |
61 | Trophy Club | 12,659 |
62 | Colleyville | 25,827 |
63 | Argyle | 4,336 |
64 | Coppell | 42,420 |
65 | Highland | 18,913 |
66 | Southlake | 30,754 |
67 | Highland Park | 8,895 |
68 | University Park | 25,029 |