Where Are the Best Mid-Sized Cities to Take Root? 3 D/FW Suburbs Make the List

We moved here nearly 30 years ago. Based on the availability of our jobs, it was a hasty move. Thanks to weak research, we landed in a garage apartment in rural Wylie, just off a two-lane road near a chicken-crossing sign. We were sure that Dallas/Fort Worth offered better choices. Within a month, we did move closer to Dallas. Did we have second thoughts on settling for a garage apartment? A little.

Now, nearly three decades later, we feel vindicated. Wylie made the list of 101 Most Popular Mid-Size Cities for Movers in 2020, according to a study by moveBuddha, an Athens, Ga.-based relocation company.

Wylie came in 90th. Of North Texas cities, Flower Mound came in 74th and Rowlett 82nd. Texas had 15 cities on the list, most of them in the Austin area, and the second-most nationally behind Florida, which had 18 — suggesting that states with no state income taxes had an advantage.

Leander is Texas’ mid-size city of choice for movers, joining Austin-area suburbs Georgetown, New Braunfels, Pflugerville, and San Marcos.

In moveBuddha’s rankings, Flower Mound had the nation’s second-highest median household income at $137,285. Rowlett had the nation’s second-highest County Health score.

MoveBuddha churned data from the more than 400,000 moves it assisted in the past year to come up with its list of 101 mid-size cities, each of which experienced more inbound than outbound moves in 2020. MoveBuddha points out that its proprietary data doesn’t claim to be a comprehensive reflection of U.S. migration patterns. But the study does offer a snapshot of trending mid-size cities and context on what’s motivating movers.

To gather additional insight, moveBuddha crossed its list with U.S. Census data and County Health rankings. Check moveBuddha’s dataset to see how cities rank in all categories.

Of the mid-sized cities, 46 saw at least 50 percent more inbound than outbound moves.

Texas cities occupied four out of the top five slots for quality-of-life ratings and social and economic scores. Texas cities also swept all top five slots for physical environment rankings.

These rankings sure would’ve come in handy 30 years ago.