Accolades and Rankings

Business Climate

  • 2008 Ranked #1 for median household income of $84,492 for cities greater than 250,000 by US Census
  • 2008 Ranked #1 Best City to Build Personal Wealth by Salary.com for cities greater than 250,000 people
  • 2007 Ranked 17th “Top 20 Inventive Towns” by Wall Street Journal ahead of Menlo Park, California

Quality of Life

  • 2009 Named “America’s 10 Best Places to Grow Up” by US News & World Report magazine.
  • 2008 Ranked 1st  in Educational Attainment by America's Most Literate Cities
  • 2008 Ranked 3rd Safest North Texas city and 6th safest Texas city of those ranked by the book “City Crime Rankings 2008-2009: Crime in Metropolitan America.”
  • 2008 Top 10 towns and cities to visit in America on AmericatheBeautiful.com
  • 2008 Ranked 26th “The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family” by Best Life magazine
  • 2004 Named “The Hottest Place to Live in the Western United States” by Money Magazine
  • 2002 Ranked 9th by Ladies’ Home Journal as one of “The Best Cities for Women with Population under 300,000”
  • Plano is known as the “Balloon Capital of Texas”
  • Named one of the “Best Places in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex to Live” by D Magazine
  • Featured in the book 50 Fabulous Places to Raise a Family
  • Ranked 9th out of 101 cities in “Healthiest Cities for Men” by Men’s Health magazine

Public Safety

  • 2009 Ranked as the safest city in North Texas with a population over 100,000, the 6th safest city in the state of Texas, and the 63rd safest city in the nation by Washington-based CQ Press.
  • Ranked 8th out of 101 U.S. cities for the safeness of the food supply by Men’s Health Magazine.
  • 2008 Ranked 3rd Safest North Texas city and 6th safest Texas city of those ranked by the book “City Crime Rankings 2008-2009: Crime in Metropolitan America.”

 Environmental

  • Plano is designated as a Tree City USA
  • 2008 Received Excellence in Sustainability Award from National Environmental Health Association for the City’s Live Green in Plano initiative.

  Government

  • “All America City” by the National Civic League and Allstate Foundation in 1994.
  • Receives AAA the highest possibly bond rating from Moody’s Investor Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch IBCA.
  • 2007 Named Texas City Council of the Year by the Texas City Management Association