North Texas Suburbs Are Among The Most Prosperous In The Country, Index Shows

While economic conditions vary across North Texas, its suburbs are considered some of the most prosperous in the country.

Plano, Flower Mound, Allen and Frisco rank highly in a survey detailing the economic health of communities across the U.S. 

The 2017 Distressed Communities Index from the Economic Innovation Group compares the economic well-being of more than 26,000 U.S. zip codes. The index measures the communities using seven metrics:

• No high school diploma: Percentage of population 25 years and older without a high school diploma or equivalent.
• Housing vacancy rate: Percentage of habitable housing that’s unoccupied.
• Adults not working: Percentage of population (ages 25-64) not working.
• Poverty rate: Percentage of the population whose household income falls below the poverty line.
• Median income ratio: An area’s median income expressed as a percentage of its state’s median income.
• Change in employment: Percentage change in the number of jobs from 2011 to 2015.

The group used census data from 2011 to 2015. The index groups zip codes into five tiers based on their scores: Prosperous (below 20), comfortable (20 to 40), mid-tier (40 to 60), at risk (60 to 80) and distressed (above 80).

Nearly 23 percent of Texans live in an economically distressed zip code. That's compared to 17 percent of the U.S. population who live in such communities.

Nearly 30 percent of Texans live in an economically prosperous zip code. Twenty-seven percent of the country’s population lives in a prosperous community.

Plano is the second most prosperous city of the 100 largest cities in the country. All of the top 10 prosperous large cities are located in Texas or the West. Austin ranked at No. 9.

Three North Texas suburbs placed in the top 10 for most prosperous small and mid-sized cities: Flower Mound (No. 1), Allen (No. 2) and Frisco (No. 4). League City and Cedar Park rounded out the group at Nos. 9 and 10.

In Dallas County, 541,570 people (or about 22 percent of the population) live in distressed zip codes. Among counties nationwide with the most people living in distressed zip codes, Dallas County ranks No. 7. Harris County ranks second with 990,690 living in such communities, or 22.7 percent of its population.

North Texas has the two most prosperous congressional districts in the country — District 3, represented by U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Richardson, and District 26, represented by U.S. Rep.  Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville.

Learn more

Explore the full report from the Economic Innovation Group to learn how the economic health of the country compares by region, state, county, congressional district and more.