Finding the right place to live in such a densely populated metro as Dallas-Fort Worth may be intimidating, but certainly not impossible. And a new housing affordability report has revealed suburbs like Melissa, Celina, and Princeton have topped the list of Dallas-area neighbors that offer the best value (and affordable housing prices) for homebuyers.
Online real estate marketplace Zoocasa compared 42 Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs across these four metrics to determine the best places to live: Average single-family home prices, median income, walkability score, and population change from July 2023 to July 2024.
Overall, Zoocasa’s report found the best suburbs to live aren’t popular cities like Southlake or Flower Mound (the latter didn’t even make the list). Instead, the top three best DFW suburbs are in neighboring Collin County, northeast of Dallas, which stand out because residents “earn relatively high incomes while home prices remain comparatively affordable.”
The far-flung suburb Melissa topped the list with a median household income of $137,875, which the report says is “more than enough” to afford the average price of a home in the area, which adds up to $476,813. The city is situated 40 miles from downtown Dallas, or a 50-minute drive (depending on traffic).
Naturally, there’s more to love about this suburb than just its housing prices and its residents’ comfortable income. According to the city website, Melissa provides “a small town feel and strong sense of community” that’s not too far away from larger cities like McKinney (which ranked as the 15th best Dallas-Fort Worth suburb).
“While remembering and honoring our past, embracing small-town charm and sensibilities, we have positioned ourselves for quality and managed growth in the years to come,” the site says.
Melissa is definitely positioned to accommodate future population growth, especially with its recent string of grocery store openings. Kroger chose Melissa for its first North Texas supermarket since 2019, which finally opened last October, and Texas cult-favorite grocery chain H-E-B followed suit with its own Melissa store debut in May 2025.
Celina, which is less than 20 miles west from Melissa, scored the No. 2 spot thanks to its relatively high median household income of $155,875. But with a higher median income also comes a higher average home price, the report says.
“With that income, a buyer could afford a home priced up to $719,282 (assuming a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.5 percent and a 20 percent down payment),” the report’s author wrote. “That figure is well above Celina’s average home price of $536,374.”
Earlier this year, this affluent suburb turned heads when it was dubbed the U.S. city with the second-highest population growth rate over the last decade. Celina’s population skyrocketed an astonishing 314 percent from from 2014-2023.
Princeton, the fastest-growing city nationwide in 2024, ranked No. 3 on the list with average home prices coming out to $316,983 and a median household income of $96,766.
Princeton’s population has more than doubled in the last five years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Located 13 miles southeast of Melissa and 42 miles northeast from downtown Dallas, the city boasts a population of just over 37,000 residents.
“While its 10-year home price growth has been a more modest 88.7 percent, prices are likely to rise more rapidly going forward,” the report said. “As new residents arrive, additional services and infrastructure will follow to keep up with demand, further boosting Princeton’s desirability.”
The top 10 best suburbs to live in Dallas-Fort Worth are:
- No. 1 – Melissa
- No. 2 – Celina
- No. 3 – Princeton
- No. 4 – Cedar Hill
- No. 5 – Weatherford
- No. 6 – Grand Prairie
- No. 7 – Sachse
- No. 8 – Anna
- No. 9 – Garland
- No. 10 – Mesquite