Rural Areas Near Dallas (Waco, Wichita Falls: renting, low crime, buying)

[Jahairamm97]

Hello! I'm here ask for advice on somewhere to live in a rural area that is about 2 hours or closer to Dallas. I would like to live in an area that is not too small but nowhere near as big as Dallas. I do not have any kids so school district doesn't matter. I would be living alone as a single women so a low crime area would be ideal. If you could suggest some areas for me that would be great, thanks!

[ChristieP]

What's your budget for housing?
What kind of housing are you looking for? Buying or renting?
Where will you be commuting to for work?

There are nice small towns within 2 hours all around Dallas, so we will need more specifics in order to help narrow them down for you.

[Johnhw2]

I will take your requirements as they are. Id recommend checking out Sherman or Denison Texas and Durant Oklahoma. Durant is about 100 miles from DT Dallas while Denison and Sherman will be 20 and 30 miles closer respectively. All three are well under 100k but nice towns on their own.

This approach lets you compare Oklahoma to Texas too. Oklahoma is a simpler slower moving place than Texas. But Durant (Bryan County)i is the fastest growing county outside of Tulsa and OKC metro. It is closely tied to Dallas as it is the only part of Oklahoma that is part of the DFW combined metro area. All that means is lots of businesses located there that do business with DFW and vice versa. Its a very friendly area of just under 50k.

Up that direction. along SH 289 or Preston Road is where Dallas tends to grow fastest. So Dallas will be coming your way up there but wont be there anytime soon

[cordata]

Given the distance there are many areas. You might check out Waco if you can stand the Gaines. For a smaller town look at Athens.

[platon20]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

This approach lets you compare Oklahoma to Texas too. Oklahoma is a simpler slower moving place than Texas. But Durant (Bryan County)i is the fastest growing county outside of Tulsa and OKC metro. It is closely tied to Dallas as it is the only part of Oklahoma that is part of the DFW combined metro area. All that means is lots of businesses located there that do business with DFW and vice versa. Its a very friendly area of just under 50k.

I grew up in Oklahoma before I relocated to Texas.

Texas and Oklahoma were very similar 40 years ago and were just oil/gas base for their economies.

The difference is that Texas greatly diversified the economy whereas Oklahoma just stayed married to the oil/gas industry. As a result you get oil boom/bust cycles that have put Oklahoma far behind Texas and many Okies are now moving south of the border due to the better economy.

[move4ward]

Originally Posted by Jahairamm97

Hello! I'm here ask for advice on somewhere to live in a rural area that is about 2 hours or closer to Dallas. I would like to live in an area that is not too small but nowhere near as big as Dallas. I do not have any kids so school district doesn't matter. I would be living alone as a single women so a low crime area would be ideal. If you could suggest some areas for me that would be great, thanks!

I knew a guy lived across the Oklahoma border. He would drive 2 hours to Dallas for years. He loved being far away from city life. You could check the Oklahoma forum for suggestions also.

[KathrynAragon]

Don't forget to check out the Tyler area (1.5 hour drive to Dallas, east along I-20).

[RonnieinDallas]

Is there a particular reason you need to be close to Dallas? A 2 hour distance is long enough to where most people would never go into Dallas at all. I personally wouldn’t go anywhere that required me to drive 2 hours on a regular basis, especially when a lot of that will be in crazy traffic.

I would also keep in mind that a lot of small towns are not crime free. A lot of them have major drug problems and a ton of poverty.

There’s really not a lot of information in your post, so any suggestion would be like throwing a dart on the map. Do you work? Budget? Interests?

[turf3]

There is a big difference amongst:


"as large as Dallas" - a huge metro area of 7 million people


"smaller than Dallas" - how small? Tyler or Wichita Falls, small cities of about 100,000? Athens with 13,000? Eustace with 1000?


"rural" - to me this means either you live in a town of less than 10,000, or you live on your own land well outside any town or city limits.


So, OP, what do you actually want?


Within a 2 hours drive of downtown Dallas are all of these options.