Guides

Guides to moving to DFW

The things the numbers can't tell you: what a school rating measures, why property tax differs so much, and what nobody mentions until closing.

Housing · in preparation
What "median home value" hides when you compare suburbs

Two suburbs with the same median can be different places to buy in.

Schools · in preparation
What a school proficiency percentile actually measures

Why school scores cannot cross state lines, and what a district average is not.

Amenities · in preparation
What a two-mile amenity count can and cannot see

Good at telling isolated from well-served; bad at ranking two well-served towns.

Cost · in preparation
Reading an effective property tax rate

What an effective rate includes, what it leaves out, and why the listing rate is never the bill.

Methodology · in preparation
What the scores deliberately do not cover

Crime, politics, weather and schools by name — why each is left out.

Schools · in preparation
How to read a Texas school accountability rating

What the A–F ratings actually measure, and what they miss.

Cost · in preparation
Property tax across DFW suburbs, and why the rates differ so much

The single biggest cost surprise for out-of-state movers.

Cost · in preparation
MUD and PID districts in North Texas

The cost nobody mentions until the closing statement.

Commute · in preparation
The DFW commute, corridor by corridor

What the averages don't tell you about the Dallas North Tollway at 8am.

Schools · in preparation
How school attendance zones change — and how to check before you buy

Rezoning is common in fast-growing districts.

Growth · in preparation
Which DFW suburbs are growing fastest

And what that growth does to class sizes three years later.

Housing · in preparation
Renting first in DFW

Which suburbs have deep rental stock, and which barely have any.

Moving · in preparation
Moving to DFW: a month-by-month timeline

What to do when, from twelve weeks out to week one.

Cost · in preparation
HOA fees across North Texas

What they cover, what they don't, and the range to expect.

Housing · in preparation
New-build versus established neighbourhoods

The trade-offs that matter in North Texas specifically.

Methodology · in preparation
How we score DFW suburbs

The methodology, written as an article rather than a spec page.