chick79 said:

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Wife and I went to Fortunate Son for dinner last night. We loved our meal. Bar was fantastic too. Downtown was really the happening place last night. Great vibe!

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The city is having a party downtown on July 3. We went last year, and it was a good time.


https://www.visitgarlandtx.com/events/2025/red-white-and-you

You will have to decide on how much of a commute you are open to. Wylie ISD is much better rated and the city has focused on remaining primarily single family homes and not apartments unlike many other suburbs in the area.

Joe Schillaci 48 said:

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JJ Pearce is a good choice. Grandchildren did the Bowie Elementary, Park Hill Junior High and JJ Pearce High School route.. I can't recall a bad thing about their education experince.

Housing in that area may be a little on the high end of your price range but well worth it.

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I think that's going to be north of the price point OP listed. Housing costs in west Richardson have skyrocketed over the last few years, with the exception of Greenwood Hills neighborhood where you can still find some options sub 500K.

Not sure if you already made your decision or not, but I can offer some younger input. Born & raised in Garland, Firewheel area. My mom and some of my HS buddies still live in Garland after graduating from state universities. I went to Naaman Forest High School 2012-2015 and we had at least 6 of us I can remember that went on and graduated from A&M. Everyone will want to push to Sachse High School as it is nicer and better at sports, but you can get a quality education in GISD from most high schools if your head is on straight.

The GRCTC was a big project that I believe any GISD students can apply to and take career driven classes at. My HS friend teaches a class in there and the things the students are exposed to are pretty neat. https://www.garlandisdschools.net/grctc

Every school will have a diverse mix of kids as Garland was once the 6th or 7th most diverse city in America at the neighborhood level (circa sometime 2010's). We had choice of school if you can provide your own transportation, otherwise the buses would route you to the nearest school.

Firewheel neighborhoods around the golf course have an aging population with houses going on the market more frequently and new young families moving in. As others have said, there are some rougher parts of town but I would have no issue raising my family in Garland if the opportunity arose. Its close enough to go to downtown Dallas at a moments notice, but far enough away to to avoid big city messes.

Lavon, Sachse, Wylie, Rowlett, and Murphy would be good options to look into as well

Divot dudes made it to duck creek recently. Many memories there

Funny story about this movie. When they were filming it they shot a scene in nearby Sachse. They left a prop car overnight and the cops came up on it. Looked like a murder scene. I worked for the tow truck company that impounded it.

I grew up in Garland in the 80's and 90's and could not wait to get out of there. I have rarely ever gone back because where I grew up has become so run down. There are a lot better places to live than Garland IMO.

Sunnyvale has great schools and a great community. just east of Garland