What California buyers need to know first about moving to Frisco

North of 635 is a different world. That phrase captures something real about the North Dallas market that is easy to miss when you are researching from a laptop in San Jose or Irvine. The communities north of LBJ Freeway (I-635) from Frisco and McKinney down to Plano and Allen are master-planned, newer-construction, school-district-driven suburbs that look nothing like what most Californians picture when they think of Texas. There are no longhorns. There are resort-quality community pools, nationally competitive school programs, and new construction homes that would cost three times as much in comparable Bay Area suburbs.

The first thing to understand is what you are buying and what you are trading. When a family from the Bay Area sells a 1,600 square foot home in Pleasanton or Walnut Creek for $1.2M and arrives in Frisco with $900K in equity, they are not making a lateral move. They are moving up in nearly every dimension that matters: home size, lot amenities, school quality per dollar, and household cash flow. The trade-off is real, but for most families it comes out substantially ahead. The job is to make sure you go in with accurate expectations so you are not caught off-guard by the things that are genuinely different.

Three things tend to catch California buyers by surprise. First, property taxes here are structured on assessed value at current market price, which is different from California’s Proposition 13 system where long-term homeowners pay taxes on an artificially suppressed base. Second, lot sizes in Frisco master-planned communities are smaller than what some California buyers imagine when they think “Texas” but the homes themselves are considerably larger. Third, Dallas traffic is real, and the distance from Frisco to downtown Dallas is greater than many buyers initially appreciate. Each of these deserves a full explanation, and each follows below.

The net takeaway from the hundreds of California families the Kaitlin Lovern Team has worked with: the ones who moved twice are the ones who did not talk to someone who knew the market before they committed. The ones who moved once, got it right, and love where they landed are the ones who asked the hard questions before they signed a contract. If you are in the research phase right now, that is exactly where you should be.

Why do Frisco property taxes surprise buyers coming from California?

California operates under Proposition 13, passed in 1978, which caps property tax rates at 1% of the purchase price and limits annual assessed value increases to a maximum of 2% per year regardless of what the market does. A homeowner who bought in Palo Alto in 2003 at $700,000 may be paying taxes on an assessed value of roughly $1.1M today, even if the home is worth $2.4M. That is an extraordinary subsidy for long-term California homeowners, and it creates a significant disconnect from what a new buyer actually pays.

When a California buyer purchases a home at market value, they pay roughly 1.1% to 1.2% on that purchase price. Mello-Roos districts and local assessments can push that higher in newer California communities. In Texas, there is no Proposition 13 equivalent. Property is assessed annually at full market value by the county appraisal district, and the combined rates in Frisco, which include the Frisco ISD, the city, Collin County, and other taxing entities, run approximately 1.68% for FY2026 (Collin Central Appraisal District, FY2026 combined levy). Texas does offer a homestead exemption that removes $140,000 of appraised value from the school district portion of your bill (increased from $100,000 by the constitutional amendment Texas voters approved in November 2025, applied beginning with the 2025 tax year), and a 10% annual cap on appraised value increases for homestead properties, but the rate itself starts higher than California’s new-purchase rate.

Here is what that looks like in practice. On a $700,000 home:

Sources: Collin Central Appraisal District, FY2026 combined levy rates for Frisco; California Franchise Tax Board and Proposition 13 assessed value rules. Individual tax bills vary by exact assessed value, exemptions claimed, and applicable special districts.

The property tax picture is the one number that almost every California buyer needs explained twice. They come in expecting that Texas’s no-income-tax advantage makes every financial calculation in their favor. The property tax comparison is the honest counter-balance. Texas property taxes on a comparable home are higher than California’s at the point of purchase. That gap is real, and any agent who tells you otherwise is not doing you a service. What matters is the complete financial picture, and that picture still comes out substantially ahead of California for most buyers at the income levels driving relocation from the Bay Area and LA. The income tax math is where the real numbers live.

For a deeper look at how Frisco property taxes break down by taxing entity, see our dedicated article: How Much Are Property Taxes in Frisco, TX?

How much does Texas’s zero state income tax actually save a California transplant?

Texas has no state income tax. That is not a marketing line; it is a constitutional provision locked in since statehood. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts confirms Texas levies zero state income tax on individuals or wages (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2026). California, by contrast, operates a graduated income tax system with some of the highest rates in the country. The top marginal rate is 13.3% on income over $1 million. More relevant for the typical relocation buyer is the 9.3% bracket, which begins at roughly $70,600 of taxable income for single filers, with the 10.3% bracket starting at roughly $360,700 (California Franchise Tax Board, 2025 tax rate schedule).

For a single filer earning $200,000 a year, the California state income tax liability runs approximately $13,000 to $15,000 annually; a married couple filing jointly at the same combined income pays roughly $9,000 to $12,000, depending on deductions and other factors. In Texas, that number is zero.

Here is the full financial comparison for a family earning $200,000 moving from the Bay Area to Frisco into a $700,000 home:

Estimates based on the California Franchise Tax Board 2025 tax rate schedule and Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts no-income-tax confirmation. Individual results depend on deductions, filing status, and total income profile; married-filing-jointly households at the same combined income pay less California tax than a single filer, which narrows the net advantage. Consult a CPA for your specific situation.

A note on the federal SALT cap: the $10,000 annual cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT) applies equally to California and Texas filers. A California household paying $14,000 in state income tax and $7,700 in property taxes is generating $21,700 in SALT that they can only deduct up to $10,000 at the federal level. A Frisco household paying $0 in state income tax and $11,760 in property tax can deduct up to $10,000 at the federal level as well. The SALT cap does not change the direction of the comparison; it limits the benefit of either state’s taxes to a $10,000 ceiling, which does not favor California filers paying significantly more in state income tax.

For most corporate relocators from California who are earning between $150,000 and $400,000 a year, the income tax savings alone more than absorb the higher property tax bill, with thousands of dollars left over every year, and the gap widens as income rises. That math is why the Frisco housing market at the $600,000 to $900,000 tier is as competitive as it is. The buyers showing up with that purchasing power have genuinely better economics in Texas than they did at home.

“North of 635 is a different world.”

What does $700K buy in Frisco compared to the Bay Area or LA?

This is the section that tends to land hardest with California buyers, and it usually lands in the best way. The housing comparison between Frisco and California metros is not subtle. At $700,000, the difference is not 10% more house. It is more than double the square footage, a garage, a proper backyard, and a home that was built within the last 20 years in a master-planned community with resort amenities.

The lot size question comes up in almost every California-to-Frisco conversation, and it is worth addressing directly. Some buyers, particularly those from parts of Northern California with larger lots, arrive expecting Texas to mean land. Frisco’s master-planned communities are not built on ranch-style acreage. Most lots in neighborhoods like Phillips Creek Ranch, Hollyhock, Star Trail, or Edgewood run between 6,000 and 10,000 square feet, which is a reasonable suburban yard, a proper outdoor living setup with room for a covered patio and playscape, but not the half-acre lot some buyers envision. If a larger lot is a firm requirement, there are options in outer McKinney, Allen, and parts of Celina and Prosper that offer half-acre and larger-lot opportunities, though typically at the cost of newer neighborhood infrastructure.

What Frisco’s HOA communities deliver in return for that lot size is significant. Community pools that are genuinely resort-quality, walking and biking trail networks, parks and open space, and in some communities, fitness centers and event spaces. The lifestyle equation is different from California suburbs that tend to be more atomized. Many California families find they use the community infrastructure more than they expected, and their kids have an easier social integration because of it. That is a recurring theme in the feedback the team hears from families who have been here for two or three years.

For a full look at where your home dollar goes in Frisco right now, visit kaitlinlovern.com/what-is-my-home-worth-in-frisco-tx/ for the current market overview.

How do Frisco ISD schools compare to California schools?

For families with school-age children, Frisco ISD is often the reason the conversation starts in the first place, and it is one of the things Kaitlin knows most deeply from the families she has placed here. Frisco ISD serves approximately 60,000 students across more than 70 campuses, making it one of the largest and most consistently high-performing districts in Texas (Frisco ISD, 2025 enrollment data). For California parents coming from competitive public school environments, the comparison holds up well.

The district offers strong Advanced Placement course catalogs, dual credit programs that allow high school students to earn college hours, and dedicated career and technical education tracks in fields like engineering, health sciences, computer science, and business. The athletic programs are nationally competitive. The band programs at some Frisco ISD campuses have won national championships. The academic caliber at the top end of the district’s high schools is genuinely comparable to the best public programs in the Bay Area.

There are two things California parents should understand before they sign a contract:

Boundary rezoning is real and it happens regularly

Frisco ISD rezones school attendance boundaries every few years to manage classroom sizes as the district continues to grow. A home that is in the attendance zone for one elementary school today may be rezoned to a different campus before your child reaches third grade. This is not a reason to avoid the district, but it is a reason to do your homework. Verify the current attendance zone for any specific home you are under contract on, and do not purchase a home primarily because of its current elementary school assignment without understanding the rezoning history for that area. The Kaitlin Lovern Team provides current attendance zone data for every home search we run for families with children.

The “one great teacher” principle matters as much as ratings

Kaitlin’s advice to California parents who are agonizing over school ratings is consistent: ratings reflect aggregated data and are useful for understanding district-level performance, but what your child will actually experience depends more on specific teachers and campus culture than on a GreatSchools number. Her recommendation is to look at GreatSchools and Niche for the general picture, but also to talk to parents in the neighborhood whose kids are at the school your child would attend. Word of mouth from people who are already inside the community tells you things a rating cannot.

For parents coming from California’s competitive private school environment, the Frisco ISD public school system will typically meet or exceed what they were paying private school tuition to access in California. That is a significant financial unlock that compounds the income tax and housing cost advantages.

What is the commute from Frisco to Dallas really like?

Dallas traffic is real. This is the thing that surprises California buyers most, which is impressive given that they are coming from Los Angeles and the Bay Area. The reason it surprises them is that Frisco looks, on paper, like a suburb 25 miles from downtown. That is accurate. What is also accurate is that the Dallas North Tollway, I-35E, US-380, and I-75 (Central Expressway) carry enormous commuter loads, and the infrastructure has not kept pace with the population growth in North Dallas over the last decade.

Here is what the actual commute picture looks like:

The most important thing to understand about Dallas traffic is its direction. Because Frisco is north of the major employment corridors, most of the serious congestion runs north-south on the Dallas North Tollway, I-35E southbound in the morning, and northbound in the evening. The DNT is a toll road, and using it consistently adds $150 to $300 a month to a typical commuter’s budget depending on frequency and distance. That cost is real and should be factored into your total household budget.

For the large proportion of California relocators whose employers are in the Frisco to Plano to Allen corridor itself, this is largely a non-issue. Toyota Motor North America is in Plano. JP Morgan Chase has a major campus in Plano. Liberty Mutual is in Plano. Fiserv is in Frisco. These employers were in many cases the reason the family is relocating in the first place, and the commute from Frisco to Legacy West or to the Stonebriar area is in the 15 to 25 minute range even at peak hours. The Dallas traffic problem is primarily felt by people commuting to Downtown Dallas, Irving, or points south. If your office is north of 635, the commute picture looks considerably more manageable than what Californians are used to accepting.

Texas does not have a robust public transit alternative for the suburb-to-suburb commuter. DART light rail serves central Dallas and some inner suburbs, but Frisco and most of the North Dallas market requires a car. If your California lifestyle included using BART or the LA Metro for your daily commute, that option does not exist in the same way in Frisco. Factor in the cost and time of a car commute as the default mode of transportation, and budget accordingly.

The corporate relocation angle: moving for work to North Dallas

A substantial share of California families relocating to Frisco are not making the move purely by choice. They are following an employer, a job offer, or a company that has relocated its headquarters or expanded its North Texas campus. This is a different conversation than the lifestyle-driven relocator, and it has its own set of considerations.

The North Dallas employment corridor from Frisco through Plano and Allen down to Richardson and Garland has seen significant corporate expansion over the last decade. Toyota Motor North America relocated its U.S. headquarters from Torrance, California to Plano in 2017, bringing several thousand jobs with it. JP Morgan Chase operates a major financial services campus in Plano. McKesson, one of the country’s largest healthcare distribution companies, is headquartered in Irving with operations throughout the Dallas metro. Liberty Mutual Insurance has a major presence in Plano. Fiserv, the financial technology company, operates from Frisco. The list is long, and it skews toward the sectors that dominate California’s workforce: technology, financial services, healthcare, and corporate management (U.S. Census Bureau, domestic migration patterns, ACS 2024).

For corporate relocators, several things matter differently than for the lifestyle buyer:

Timeline pressure is real

A corporate relocation often comes with a start date, a relocation package deadline, and a family that needs to be enrolled in school by a specific date. That pressure changes the home search dynamic. Buyers under timeline pressure are more likely to make a decision they will regret if they do not have a clear framework for what they are willing to trade off. The Kaitlin Lovern Team’s approach to corporate relocation buyers starts with a 30-minute framework conversation before the home search begins: what are the firm requirements (school zone, commute distance, home size), what are the preferences, and what is the decision timeline. That conversation prevents the most common mistake, which is letting timeline pressure compress the due diligence period to the point where a family signs a contract on a home in the wrong neighborhood for their actual lifestyle.

Corporate relocation packages vary significantly

Some employers offer managed relocation assistance that includes a buyer’s agent referral, a lump-sum moving allowance, temporary housing, and closing cost assistance. Others offer nothing. Understanding what your employer’s package includes before you start a home search is important because it affects your net purchasing budget and your timeline. A buyer who has a managed relo program may be required to use a specific affiliated agent network. If you have flexibility to choose your own agent, that is worth understanding early. The Kaitlin Lovern Team works with corporate relocators frequently and can navigate most package structures.

Getting it right the first time

The corporate relocator who is most at risk of moving twice is the one who buys the first available home in their budget rather than taking the time to understand which neighborhood serves their specific family profile. A couple with two elementary-age kids and a spouse who does not want to commute far from home has a very different framework than a single executive who travels four days a week and wants low maintenance. Both can find exactly the right Frisco neighborhood with the right guidance. Neither should compromise by rushing. Buying a house is a lot like eating an elephant. You do it one step at a time. The families who made the right first move in Frisco took the time to do each step of that process with the right support around them.

For anyone relocating to the North Dallas area from California for a corporate move, the first call should be to 214.429.4907. The conversation is free, there is no pressure to commit to anything, and the information is specific to your situation, your employer’s location, and your family’s priorities.

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