McKinney

McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas, United States. It is Collin County’s third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about 32 miles (51 km) north of Dallas.

The U.S. Census Bureau listed McKinney as the nation’s fastest-growing city from 2000 to 2003 and again in 2006, among cities with more than 50,000 people. In 2007, it was ranked second-fastest growing among cities with more than 100,000 people and in 2008 as third-fastest. In the 2010 census, the city’s population was 131,117, making it Texas’s 19th-most populous city. The population estimate produced by the city as of 2019 was 199,177, which made it Texas’s 16th-most populous city. In 2020, its population was 195,308. As of May 2017, McKinney was the third-fastest growing city in the United States.

The Census Bureau defines an urban area of northern Dallas-area suburbs that are separated from the Dallas–Fort Worth urban area, with McKinney and Frisco as the principal cities; the McKinney–Frisco urban area had a population of 504,803 as of the 2020 census, ranked 83rd in the United States.

On March 24, 1849, William Davis, who owned 3,000 acres (12 km2) where McKinney now stands, donated 120 acres (0.49 km2) for the townsite. Ten years later, McKinney incorporated, and in 1913, the town adopted the commission form of government.

For its first 125 years, McKinney served as the county’s principal commercial center. The county seat provided farmers with flour, corn, cotton mills, cotton gins, a cotton compress, and a cottonseed oil mill, as well as banks, churches, schools, newspapers, and from the 1880s, an opera house. Businesses also came to include a textile mill, an ice company, a large dairy, and a garment-manufacturing company. The population grew from 35 in 1848 to 4,714 in 1912. By 1953, McKinney had a population of more than 10,000 and 355 businesses. The town continued to serve as an agribusiness center for the county until the late 1960s.

By 1970, Plano surpassed McKinney in size. McKinney experienced moderate population growth, from 15,193 in the 1970 census to 21,283 in the 1990 census. By the mid-1980s, the town had become a commuter center for residents who worked in Plano and Dallas. In 1985, it had a population of just over 16,000 and supported 254 businesses. Since then, McKinney’s rate of increase has been much more dramatic. In the 2000 census, McKinney had grown to 54,369 with 2,005 businesses and in the 2010 census the population had more than doubled to 131,117 residents. The Census Bureau’s most recent estimated population for McKinney (July 1, 2015) is 162,898. The most recent population estimate, produced by the city as of January 1, 2019, is 187,802.

Both the city and the county were named for Collin McKinney, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and a congressman for the Red River district of the Republic of Texas. He was the author of a bill establishing counties in the northern part of the state.

Colleges

McKinney is the home of the Central Park Campus of Collin College near the city’s center at US 75 and US 380, which opened in 1985 as the initial campus for the community college district. The Collin Higher Education Center campus of Collin College opened in southern McKinney in 2010 and offers select bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in partnership with Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman’s University, The University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of North Texas.

Public school districts

Two-thirds of McKinney residents are in the McKinney Independent School District; the remaining third are part of Frisco Independent School District, Prosper Independent School District, Allen Independent School District, Melissa Independent School District, Lovejoy Independent School District, or Celina Independent School District.

Five of the seven school districts serving the city placed in the top 5% in the Niche 2018 Best School Districts in America rankings; Allen ISD ranked #33 nationally, Frisco ISD ranked #60, Prosper ISD ranked #73, Lovejoy ISD ranked #78, and McKinney ISD ranked #268.

Public high schools

For high school, the two thirds of the city’s students who are in McKinney ISD attend McKinney High School, McKinney North High School and McKinney Boyd High School. The remaining third of McKinney students attend Emerson High School (Frisco ISD), Heritage High School (Frisco ISD), Rock Hill High School (Prosper ISD), Allen High School, Melissa High School, Lovejoy High School, or Celina High School.

In the 2018 U.S. News & World Report high school rankings, Lovejoy High School ranked #49 in Texas rankings and #283 nationally; McKinney North High School ranked #76 and #627, respectively; McKinney Boyd High School ranked #85 and #722 respectively; and Allen High School ranked #130 and #1228, respectively.

Public charter schools

Imagine International Academy of North Texas is a no-tuition open-enrollment public charter school for grades K–12 in McKinney. It is open to students in any school district that serves McKinney residents. It is state-funded, independently run, and not part of any school district.

Private schools

There are two private schools in the city that serve all grades from K–12, McKinney Christian Academy and Cornerstone Christian Academy.

The McKinney Courier-Gazette is a daily newspaper published in McKinney, covering Collin County. It is owned by American Community Newspapers. It has a daily circulation of 4,400 and a Sunday circulation of 26,400.

McKinney is served by two U.S. Highways: US 75 and US 380. The city is also bordered by the Sam Rayburn Tollway, a toll road administered by the North Texas Tollway Authority that runs to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

McKinney offers discounted transit services to elderly, disabled, or low-income residents through the Collin County Transit Program.

The far southwestern corner of McKinney, in the large Craig Ranch development, has a trolley bus that serves the development and some shopping centers in the surrounding area.