Local Guide to Carrollton, Texas

Carrollton, Texas, with just over 115,000 residents, is the ninth largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Carrollton is a northern suburb of Dallas, Texas; the majority of the city sits in north Dallas County but the mostly residential far north Carrollton overlaps into two northern counties, Denton and Collin Counties.

Shopping

With over 5,000 businesses in Carrollton (approximately 40% of them retail stores) there is little need for it's residents to leave the city to shop but, of course, the lures of nearby major shopping malls in Lewisville (Vista Ridge Mall) to the north and North Dallas (Valley View Mall) to the south and Addison (Dallas Galleria) to the east are too much for most normal consumers to resist. Temptation aside, Old Downtown Carrollton should not be missed; it has that historic flavor that brings the word "quaint" to mind but the Chamber of Commerce prefers the term "early 20th Century charm."

Aside from shopping malls and shopping districts like Old Downtown, Carrollton has strip shopping centers galore with large department stores, grocery chains, convenience stores, drug stores (drug emporiums being the more appropriate term) and video rental stores. Someone once said you can judge the economic vitality of a city by counting it's Blockbuster Video stores - Carrollton has seven, how's that for vital?

Recreation and Night Life

Carrollton, to be sure, has a great variety of parks and recreation opportunities. Recreation centers offer basketball courts, racquetball courts, and a host of other activities. Indian Creek Golf Club and the Oak Creek Tennis Center also call Carrollton home. Indian Creek has two 18-hole championship-quality golf courses and Oak Creek has twelve, well maintained outdoor, lighted hard courts, with two Playmate ball machines.

Carrollton is the kind of place where you live, work, shop and play very comfortably but if you want to go to a movie or just 'party hearty,' there are some extremely convenient alternatives.

Addison, Texas, Carrollton's neighbor to the east, has a strip of restaurants and night spots that is guaranteed to please almost everyone's appetite, taste or craving - Addison is very well known in the area for just that ability. It all starts at the intersection of Belt Line Road and Inwood Road in Addison.

Lewisville, Texas, just five miles to the north, right off the I-35 expressway at Round Grove Road (FM 3040), has many additional restaurants, the previously mentioned Vista Ridge Shopping Mall and three megaplex movie theatres with all the latest movies. Lewisville also features the large, beautiful Lake Lewisville where the visitor finds boating, fishing, swimming and marina style fun.

Neighborhoods

Carrollton has some beautiful neighborhoods and has excellent schools. North Carrollton offers the highest-priced real estate in the area, but the price is not that high; the median price for a single-family home is $125,900. In North Carrollton, however, buying a house is more of an investment than it is a risk.

The majority of Carrollton's residents are apartment dwellers and there are many apartment complexes to choose from in every price range.

Carrollton, when all is said and done, is a great place to live and the best part is, it's in North-East Texas where the winters are short and the summers, tolerable.