Buying or Selling a Home in Allen, TX: One County, Four Districts

Why can one Allen address be in a different school district?

Allen ISD serves most of the city, covers 27.1 square miles and also reaches into parts of Parker and McKinney, according to the Wikipedia article on Allen. Parts of Allen sit in Lovejoy ISD, McKinney ISD and Plano ISD. District lines were not drawn to match the city limit.

For 2025-26 the Texas Education Agency reported 20,092 students in Allen ISD. The district runs one high school for grades 10 through 12 and a separate freshman center for grade 9, so a family moving here should ask how that structure works for their child. Voters approved a 442.1 million dollar bond in November 2024. A bond can change taxes and campus plans, so read the district's own bond page for what it funds. Look up the exact address on the district's tool and confirm with the enrollment office before you describe a school to a buyer. We make no statement about how any district compares with another.

How big is Allen, and how fast did it grow?

Allen counted 1,940 people in 1970 and 8,314 in 1980. It reached 18,309 in 1990, 43,554 in 2000, 84,246 in 2010 and 104,627 in 2020. The Census Bureau's 2025 estimate is 113,447. The city covers about 26.5 square miles and sits at an elevation near 656 feet.

The city was founded in 1870 along the Houston and Texas Central Railway and incorporated in 1953. Growth began in the late 1960s, and most of the housing came in the 1990s and 2000s. That matches the Census table below, where the median home was built around 2003. A home from that period is often on its second roof and second air conditioner.

What do Allen homeowners pay in property tax?

Wikipedia reports that the City of Allen set its fiscal year 2026-27 rate at 41.47 cents per 100 dollars of taxable value, down from 41.54 cents. The city estimated a bill of 2,042.85 dollars for the city portion on a median-valued homestead of 492,609 dollars.

That is only the city line. An Allen home also carries Collin County, Collin College and a school district rate, and the district depends on the address. All of Allen is in Collin County, so there is one appraisal district to check: Collin Central Appraisal District. Search the exact address there before you build a monthly budget, and ask whether the street has a PID or MUD.

How do people get around Allen?

Allen is not a DART member city and has no fixed-route transit, per Wikipedia. The Denton County Transportation Authority runs Collin County Rides for seniors and qualifying residents with disabilities. For everyone else the car is the plan.

US 75, called Central Expressway, runs north and south through the city, and the Sam Rayburn Tollway (SH 121) runs along the northwest edge near McKinney. Main arterials include Stacy Road, Exchange Parkway, McDermott Drive and Bethany Drive. Allen is about 23 miles north of downtown Dallas and eight miles southwest of McKinney. DFW Airport lies to the southwest and Dallas Love Field to the south-southwest.

Wikipedia gives an average commute of 28.0 minutes. Averages hide a lot, so drive the route you would actually take at the hour you would actually leave before you fall for a house.

Who employs people in Allen?

The city's fiscal 2023 annual financial report, as cited on Wikipedia, lists Allen ISD with 2,755 employees, the City of Allen with 937, Experian with 817, Andrews Distributing with 487 and Jack Henry and Associates with 450. Motorola Solutions, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen, Credit Union of Texas, NetScout and Crawford and Company follow.

Wikipedia also reports that 57.5% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher. A job change is one common reason people move, and it can pull a search toward Plano, Frisco or McKinney. We have no Allen relocation counts and make no claim about volume.

What is there to do in Allen?

The Credit Union of Texas Event Center is a city-owned arena with 7,500 seats that opened in November 2009 and hosts the Allen Americans hockey team. Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm is a mixed-use center with a 79,000 square foot convention center. Allen Premium Outlets is the city's main shopping center.

Visit Allen, as cited on Wikipedia, counts 53 parks on 1,864 acres, more than 80 miles of hike-and-bike trails and nine recreation facilities. The Allen Heritage Center sits in the old railroad depot, and the Allen USA Celebration is held around the last Saturday in June. Eagle Stadium, an 18,000-seat football stadium, opened in 2012, closed in February 2014 after cracks were found in the concourse and reopened in June 2015 after repairs. Event traffic is a fact of life near the stadium and the event center, so visit a home on an event day and a quiet day.

What weather risks should an Allen buyer know about?

The area has a humid subtropical climate with long, hot summers and about 40 to 41 inches of rain a year. The soil is Northern Blackland Prairie clay, which absorbs water slowly and moves with wet and dry seasons. That is a reason to ask about foundation history on any home.

On April 9 and 10, 2008, an EF1 tornado with winds of 90 to 95 miles per hour hit north Allen, structurally damaged about 50 homes and left about 300 with some damage. An EF0 tornado tracked 4.8 miles east from west Allen on October 21, 2019. Neither fact predicts the next storm. They are a reason to ask about roof age, hail claims and insurance cost for the exact address.

How does city government affect an Allen homeowner?

Allen uses a council-manager form of government. The council is a mayor and six members, all elected citywide to staggered three-year terms. The city sets zoning and permit rules for additions, fences and pools, and an HOA may add rules on top. Check both before you plan a project or assume you can rent a house out.

What should Allen buyers check?

The whole city is in Collin County, so the tax roll question is simple. These items still come up.

• School district for the exact address, confirmed from two sources
• Drive time to work on a weekday morning, since there is no fixed-route transit
• Age of roof, HVAC and water heater, since the Census median build year is around 2003
• Foundation history and any repair paperwork, given the clay soil
• Whether the street has an HOA, a PID or a MUD, and the yearly cost
• Hail and storm claim history for the address

What should Allen sellers check?

In a built-out city your listing is one of many similar resales.

• Recent closed sales of homes with similar size and age on your own street
• Whether buyers will compare your home with one in a different school district
• Receipts for the roof, HVAC and any foundation work
• The HOA resale certificate, ordered early so a buyer is not waiting
• Updates a buyer will notice in the first five minutes, and a lowest acceptable price set before offers arrive

What did home sales look like in July 2026?

Source: North Texas Real Estate Information System (NTREIS) single-family MLS data for July 2026, prepared by the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. Closed single-family sales for one month. Small cities have few sales, so figures swing. Builder sales and sales not listed in the NTREIS MLS are not counted. This is background, not a price for any home. We do not predict prices.