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DALLAS Newcomer and Relocation Guide: The Insider’s Guide to Dallas-Fort Worth

Here's your guide to life in Dallas-Fort Worth. You'll find a big-picture look at communities, culture, jobs, schools, entertainment, and the great outdoors.

Discover why Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. Here's the digital edition.

Dallas Fort Worth Relocation and Newcomer Guide

Exploring Dallas-Fort Worth? You’ve come to the right place. 

The modern metro includes 200 cities, each unique in personality and all Texas proud. The DALLAS® Newcomer and Relocation Guide is designed to give you a lay of the land: We break down Dallas neighborhoods and communities in Dallas, Collin, Denton, and Tarrant counties and beyond to help you find the right fit for your lifestyle.

It’s the only official “insider’s guide” to the region for newcomers and prospective movers from the Dallas Regional Chamber.

What locals love about Dallas-Fort Worth

In the guide below, you’ll find what locals love about living in the region. Many have moved here from all over the world, and they share what they’ve discovered. You’ll also get vital information on housing, jobs, education, culture, and transportation—plus where to have fun and how to get connected.

Considering a move? Get the next print edition

Request the next print edition—and sign up for the Dallas Innovates e-newsletter for what’s new and next in North Texas. 

Published by Dallas Next in partnership with the DRC, it’s a sister publication to Dallas Innovates and part of the DALLAS® family of publications that includes the DALLAS® Economic Development Guide and DALLAS® Commercial Real Estate. For information on the DALLAS® Relocation and Newcomer Guide, reach us here.

Find More Online at ‘Say Yes to Dallas’

The conversation continues online at Say Yes to Dallas. You’ll find a cost-of-living calculator, along with a trove of resources, essential contacts, and more.

Have a My Dallas Story to share? Tell us here.

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R E A D   N E X T

  • According to a new CompTIA Tech Jobs Report, Dallas was the No. 3 metro in the U.S. for tech job postings in April, surpassed by only New York City and Washington, D.C., at No. 1 and 2. Of all U.S. metros, Dallas was unsurpassed in the category of tech jobs posting change, ranking No. 1 in the nation for its increase of 875 postings over March's 11,604 figure.

  • If you want a seat in some of Dallas' hottest new high-end restaurants, you'd better get in line. And according to the New York Times, that's just what some of the top restaurant groups in the U.S. are doing as put Dallas at the top of the list for their expansion plans.

  • Meow Wolf says its Grapevine exhibition is "a journey through a technicolor wonderland that blends storytelling, technology, and immersive art." Different dimensions of perspective and creativity will be on display through more than 30 rooms of "multidimensional art and compelling narrative."

  • More than 30 local artists are teaming up to help bring a one-of-a-kind experience to Meow Wolf's first permanent installation in Texas this summer. The Sante Fe-based boundary-pushing interactive art company's debut in North Texas will have 30 rooms to feature their unique visions. Here's a sneak peek of the work in progress for the 29,000 square-foot immersive experience, set to transport visitors to a fantastical realm at Grapevine Mills.

  • Complexity Gaming

    "Dallas is clearly the star," says Sports Business Journal in its new ranking of the Top 50 Best Sports Business Cities. So what put Dallas (and its wider local market including Fort Worth, Arlington, Frisco, and Grand Prairie) on top? From big relocations to 26 sports properties to 64 sponsors and fans galore, here's the scoop.

  • If the future of sports has one home, it’s right here in North Texas. A big brag, we know. But consider this: From high-tech advances to the hottest sports trends to startups on the edge of fitness science, it’s all kicking off in Dallas-Fort Worth.

  • Speaking to an audience of over 400 business leaders at Dallas' Hilton Anatole, Gov. Abbott delivered a "State of the State" address Tuesday at a luncheon hosted by the Dallas Regional Chamber. "The Dallas Metroplex is ranked number one in the nation for high-tech job growth because of its well-trained workforce, world-class airport, leading research universities, and affordable real estate," Abbott told the audience.

  • Arlan Hamilton talks with Mark Cuban at the 2022 Venture Dallas conference.

    Whether he's buying a pro pickleball team or disrupting big pharma with his cost-plus drug company, Mark Cuban says he's a "ready, fire, aim" businessman. So he surrounds himself with "ready, aim, fire" perfectionists to keep him from "screwing everything up." That's just one insight the billionaire shared in a fireside chat with Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton at the Venture Dallas conference last week. “There's always going to be somebody smarter, there's always going to be somebody faster, better," Cuban added. "I just try to work a little harder.”

  • On Saturday, February 4, the Drone Racing League will take off in a live audience event at Esports Stadium Arlington. “The world’s 12 best drone pilots” will battle it out at the SIM Live! event, racing through the virtual Skyscraper Circuit map on the DRL SIM, a drone racing simulator video game. “DRL is the defining sport of the 21st century, challenging the status quo of other major properties,” CMO Anne Marie Gianutsos said. “We meet fans where they are and give them what they want—high-tech and high-speed competition across real-life racing, esports, and the metaverse.”

  • The connectivity innovator brings wireless solutions to iconic venues and enterprises globally, such as Grand Central Terminal, Hollywood Bowl, London Heathrow Airport, World Trade Center Oculus, and U.S. Homeland Security. Boingo's move to Texas—and its new office at The Star in Frisco—supports the "company’s vision and our ability to attract and retain top talent," says Boingo CEO Mike Finley.

  • Addressing an audience of around 800 at the American Airlines Center, Solomon talked about the $500 million-plus, 900,000-square-foot employment center his firm is building north of downtown Dallas—part of a planned 11-acre project from Dallas' Hunt Realty. And more importantly, he spoke about the North Texans he hopes to attract to it.

  • Beating out potential sites in Ohio and South Korea, the city of Sherman was selected today by GlobiTech for a new $5 billion, 3.2 million-square-foot silicon wafer facility. The plant could eventually produce more than 1 million silicon wafers monthly when production begins by 2025. It's Sherman's second big manufacturing win in a month. Just weeks ago, Texas Instruments broke ground in the city on new semiconductor wafer fabrication plants with a potential $30 billion investment.

  • The report names Dallas-Fort Worth as "a top emerging life sciences market in terms of size, institutions, talent, and rapid growth, alongside Nashville and Atlanta." According to Chelsea Story, VP with CBRE’s Life Sciences practice in Dallas, "DFW has all of the pieces assembled to become a dominant force in the life sciences sector."

  • Jobs on the Rise in 2021 analyzes the shifts COVID-19 has caused on employment and hiring trends. In the digital transformation category, LinkedIn named Dallas-Fort Worth as a top region for user experience professionals, a job that grew five times over from 2019 to 2020.

  • Students and experienced engineers alike hacked solutions to real-world challenges with algorithms, coding scripts, and data in three days of problem-solving. Some of the world’s biggest names in business—Amazon, McKesson, and USAA (to name a few)—were taking note. Hackathons have became the new career fair for tech talent.

  • Governor Greg Abbott confirmed today that San Francisco-based Wells Fargo will build a new corporate campus in Irving's Las Colinas development. Based around two 400,000-square-foot towers, the campus will provide a home for Wells Fargo's 3,000 local employees, while creating 650 jobs. Dallas firm KDC has been tapped as developer. The move is being aided by a $5 million "deal-closing" grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, on top of $30 million in incentives approved by the Irving City Council in August.

  • From Topgolf to Puttery, Electric Shuffle, TOCA Social, Two Bit Circus and more, North Texas may be America's greatest high-tech playground. Check out this roundup of who's playing what where.

  • With investors including Capital Factory and TopGolf's executive chairman, the venue will feature 35,000 square feet of tech-enhanced entertainment. Attractions will include arcade games; VR, AR, and "extended reality" experiences; "story (escape) rooms"; reimagined carnival games, and more.

Dallas Next is the independent, woman-owned media company behind Dallas Innovates, the flagship publication for what’s new and next in North Texas business news. With an experienced editorial team,(...)