5. Prosper

What they say: Residents move here primarily for the schools and the wide-open spaces. These are people who like to work in the yard and grow gardens. They don’t mind seeing their neighbor’s house from their porch, but they’d rather not. One resident has a neighbor with buffaloes and enjoys the cows in the pasture near her children’s school. Speaking of, the school district is rearranging things next year. Instead of three elementary schools feeding into a middle school, then a high school, the three lower-level schools will feed into a fifth- and sixth-grade campus, a seventh- and eighth-grade campus, then a high school. Parents like it. The town doesn’t have much (you’ll always see someone you know at Palio’s Pizza Cafe and Ernesto’s Mexican Restaurant), but residents seem content to drive to Frisco for more varied dining and shopping. In 2008, the Prosper Eagles beat the Celina Bobcats for the first time in 25 years, going on to win the Class 3A football state championship. They beat the Bobcats again last season. People talk about it like the birth of their first child. Even Prosper’s most famous resident, Deion Sanders, has been spotted at an Eagles game. Houses here start at $130,000 and go up to, well, keep reading. Average is in the $400,000s.

What we say: Prosper was so close last time we did this. The town came in at No. 11 then but would not be denied this year. When you come into Prosper, past the corn fields, you’ll see a Sonic, a couple of restaurants, a dentist, an eye doctor, a couple of gas stations—then Sanders’ $21 million estate, which happens to be on the market. Whether you’re looking for Friday night football or “your own Dave & Buster’s” with an indoor basketball court, bowling alley, and Hall of Fame gallery (as Sanders’ listing touts), Prosper is for you.
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Read about our visit to the city’s downtown.