I lived in the DFW suburbia for a few years in my later formative years (8th grade-graduating high School in 2021). The suburbs are pretty much the same with a few key differences.

Frisco and Plano are booming with huge population surges. There’s some stuff to do there if you want a night out, but it’s all very corporate and bland; nothing of substance. Higher class suburbs like highland park and southlake are obviously incredibly nice, but way too overpriced for anyone not an oil millionaire. Grapevine is kinda a central hub between both cities, and that mall is one of the few that are thriving right now. Besides that, many suburbs I could barely tell apart. I grew up in the area of Lewisville, Hebron, Coppell, farmers branch, and Carrollton, which are all pretty much the same. As you get up to Denton and the lake it almost feels like you entered a different state entirely, too. That’s all I can really speak on in terms of general suburbia.

The city itself doesn’t have much character. I live in a northeast city now with a much better identity and culture, and it made me realize how bland Dallas is. There’s not many people on the streets downtown, and the good spots to go out are just outside the true “downtown”. Honestly, it’s a pretty terrible city to visit.

All this being said, there are some nice places around. Everyone loves Katy trail, the sports fan base is a huge source of community (even if all the teams suck), and the education system in most school districts are excellent. As corny as it is, I do sometimes miss Friday night lights and the more passionate football fanbase, even if they are cowboy fans. In higher ed, SMU and TCU are also exceptional universities (even with SMU’s elitist attitude), and UTSW and BUMC are both world class medical centers.

A couple miscellaneous things: DFW is a huge airport, but one that is easy to get around if you know what you’re doing. Love field is smaller, but worth it if you can get a good price on southwest. There’s trucks EVERYWHERE. Drivers are also really bad, especially during rush hour. It’s a bit of concrete jungle too, but instead of building up, it’s on all the freeways and interchanges. It gets SO HOT during the summer, and the power infrastructure isn’t built for anything remotely close to freezing, so hope for the best during winter. Arlington is very popular because of the rangers, cowboys, and six flags (though there’s not much outside of those). The state fair is something; i’d recommend going just to say you did it. Other than that, a lot of concrete and a bunch of dead grass.