CoworkingCafe's 2026 ranking screened ~300 U.S. small cities (pop. under 250K) across 19 indicators — income, jobs, housing affordability, remote-work conditions, labor-force participation. Five Collin County cities crowd the top. Frisco places #11; McKinney #20. Three more — Flower Mound, Allen, Richardson — round out a north-Dallas suburban cluster the rest of America is still trying to copy.
Source: CoworkingCafe 2026 Best Workplaces in Small Cities, ranks among ~300 U.S. cities under 250K population.
| Rank | City | Pop. | Median Income | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #11 | Frisco | ~234K | $145,444 | #1 housing affordability + #1 remote-work share |
| #15 | Flower Mound | ~80K | $160K+ | Highest income tier in the cluster |
| #20 | McKinney | ~210K | $124,177 | +34% income growth over 5 years — fastest on list |
| #43 | Allen | ~110K | $120K+ | Schools + corporate-park balance |
| #58 | Richardson | ~120K | $95K+ | Telecom Corridor — UTD anchor |
In the megacities, rent eats 40–60% of monthly take-home. In Frisco it's 22.7%. The "earn city, live suburb" math is the entire move.
AT&T announced its global HQ move to Legacy Drive 5400, Plano — a 2M+ sq-ft campus. Plano approved $20M+ in incentives; up to 10,000 jobs. Joins JPMorgan Chase, Liberty Mutual and Toyota North America already in Legacy West.
Frisco has the country's highest share of work-from-home labor — 33.7% (42K+ workers). McKinney #7 at 26.7%. Bay-Area / Seattle salaries arriving without Bay-Area / Seattle rents.
U.S. News 2026 — Frisco ISD's Fowler / Nelson Middle ranked #14 / #15 in Texas; Plano ISD's Rice Middle #17. Frisco ISD graduation rate 97.7% — highest in Texas.
McKinney median household income climbed +34% in 5 years — the fastest pace among ranked U.S. small cities. Frisco median already ~$145K, 1.9× the U.S. median.
Collin County is a premium-tier consumer cluster sitting inside DFW logistics range — Houston-to-Plano is one-day truck. For sellers of furniture, decor, premium home goods, electronics, kids' products and education-adjacent SKUs, this is a higher-yield demand-gen target than population alone would suggest. IAH Houston (atlas-c62) + 5H/9H clearance (atlas-c69) together explain how to land cargo here efficiently.
Source: CoworkingCafe 2026 Best Workplaces in Small Cities rankings (300 cities, 19 indicators); U.S. Census household-income medians; U.S. News & World Report 2026 Texas middle-school rankings. Articles via Dallas community publishers.