#5 Irving, TX

Not Everything has to be Bigger in Texas

Irving has a lot of things that are enticing to millennials: A varied job market, low housing prices that are looking to grow in value in upcoming years, a great location relative to larger cities, plenty of parks, and high diversity are just some of its many amenities.

Situated between Dallas and Fort Worth—and only a 30-minute or less drive away from either—Irving is a great location for millennials to consider. For starters, there are a huge number of businesses with headquarters in Irving: Chuck E. Cheese’s, ExxonMobil, Kimberly-Clark, Nokia America, BlackBerry, and La Quinta Inns and Suites can all be found within city limits. Although other corporations not headquartered there also contribute a ton of jobs, including Citigroup, Verizon, and Allstate Insurance. It’s probably not a shock, then, that the current unemployment rate is only 3.6 percent—well below the 4.9 percent national average. Likewise, only 9 percent of those employed face long commutes to work.

For those looking to earn a higher degree to get a different job, Irving is a great choice again—because the University of Dallas, North Lake College, and campuses of the Dallas County Community College District and DeVry University can all be found in the city.

Meanwhile, the median sale price of a home in Irving is around $240,000, according to Zillow—which is several thousand dollars below the U.S. average. Housing values have grown 3.4 percent within recent years, though, and the trend is predicted to continue–meaning buying a home is a sound investment.

Irving is also an extremely diverse town, with 41 percent of the population identifying themselves as white, 30 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 11 percent as Asian (partially thanks to a large Indian community in the city), 9 percent as black, and 8 percent as another race or ethnicity. All in all, then, Irving offers the opportunity for those of many different backgrounds to feel a sense of community.

Children, likewise, will be in a similar boat, because more than 1 in 5 residents are of school age and nearly 9 percent is less than five years old—meaning much of the local culture is kid-friendly. In fact, for the 45,000 or so school-age children, there are more than 730,000 children’s books in circulation. Plus, the national headquarters for the Boy Scouts of America is in Irving, meaning if you would like children who are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, or at the very least capable of angling a mean trout, this is probably the best place for it.

In terms of entertainment, the world is your oyster, thanks to Irving’s nearness to both Dallas and Fort Worth. However, there are options if you’d like to stay in Irving, too—like the enormous Mustangs of Las Colinas sculpture, where many locals like to spend time relaxing, or a visit to the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra. One of the more striking options is the Ruth Paine House Museum, the unassuming home of a suburban housewife where Lee Harvey Oswald spent the night before he assassinated John F. Kennedy—and where he hid and retrieved his rifle.

If Irving isn’t your sip of Dr. Pepper (which is headquartered here), perhaps a bigger city might fit your needs better–you should check out #6 for a big city with lots of opportunities for growth (and tans).