Moving to McKinney: Pros, Cons & What to Know
Moving to McKinney is a North Texas exurban move with the same statewide new-resident mechanics as anywhere else in Texas -- a 90-day driver's license window, a choose-your-own electricity provider market -- layered on top of McKinney-specific realities: a fast-growing city where a large share of housing stock is brand-new construction in master-planned communities, alongside a genuinely historic downtown square that predates all of it.
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Learn moreTexas New-Resident Deadlines
New Texas residents have 90 days from their move-in date to obtain a Texas driver's license in person at a Department of Public Safety office; a valid out-of-state license remains legal to drive on during that window. Vehicle registration carries a separate, shorter 30-day deadline, and because DPS generally requires a vehicle to already be registered in Texas before processing a license application, handle registration first despite its earlier deadline. New-resident vehicle registration also carries a one-time $90 new-resident use tax if sales tax wasn't already paid on the vehicle in another state -- these are statewide Texas rules, not McKinney-specific, but apply in full here.
Choosing Your Own Electricity Provider
McKinney sits in Texas's deregulated ERCOT electricity market, the same as the rest of North Texas: the local utility (Oncor, for most of McKinney) delivers power over its lines but does not sell electricity directly to residential customers. New residents choose a retail electric provider by comparing plans on the state's Power to Choose comparison site -- a genuinely different process from a typical one-call utility setup, and worth arranging before move-in day given how much plan terms (fixed vs. variable rate, contract length) vary.
A Growing City Where 'New Construction' Is the Norm, Not the Exception
McKinney added more than 11,000 residents between July 2023 and July 2024 alone, per U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates, placing it among the top 15 U.S. cities for numeric population growth and in the top five Texas cities for population gains in that window. Large master-planned communities on the city's edges -- Trinity Falls, Craig Ranch, and others -- are actively building new inventory, meaning many McKinney movers are buying pre-construction or newly built homes with builder-specific closing processes, HOA structures, and amenity timelines rather than resale homes. See the buying-a-home and best-areas topic pages for more on how that differs from buying in the historic core.
The Historic Square Is a Real, Separate Character Anchor
Distinct from the new-construction growth described above, McKinney's downtown square is a genuinely historic center -- a Shelbyville-style courthouse square whose land was donated by early settler William Davis to Collin County, with a courthouse dating to the 1850s (rebuilt and expanded over the following century) still anchoring it today. A move to McKinney can mean landing in walking distance of that historic core, in an established inner neighborhood, or in a brand-new subdivision on the city's growing edge -- these are genuinely different versions of "living in McKinney," not interchangeable ones. See the best-areas topic page for the specific character of each.
No Rail Transit -- Plan Around Car Ownership
Unlike some DFW-metro suburbs closer to Dallas, McKinney is not currently served by DART rail -- the nearest DART rail station is Parker Road in Plano, and the DART Silver Line (which began service in October 2025) does not reach McKinney either. A regional study into a possible future Plano-to-McKinney rail extension was approved by North Texas transportation leaders in March 2026, but this is a study, not funded or under-construction transit -- plan on car ownership as the default, not an eventual rail option. See the traffic-transportation topic page for the fuller picture, including the city's own limited transit service.
Key takeaways
- Texas driver's license: 90 days from move-in. Vehicle registration: 30 days -- register the vehicle first, since DPS generally requires it before processing a license.
- McKinney is in the deregulated ERCOT market -- new residents choose their own retail electric provider via Power to Choose rather than calling a default utility.
- McKinney added 11,000+ residents in a single year (July 2023-July 2024, Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates), so much of the housing stock is new construction in master-planned communities with builder-specific processes -- different from buying resale.
- The historic downtown square (a Shelbyville-style courthouse square dating to the 1850s) is a real, distinct character anchor separate from the newer master-planned growth around it -- both are genuinely "McKinney," but different experiences.
- No DART rail currently serves McKinney (nearest station: Parker Road in Plano); a possible future rail extension is only at the study stage as of March 2026. Plan on car ownership as the default.
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