lived in Plano (between Richardson and Frisco) many years and many years in Irving but have moved down to Corpus Christi area. Much nicer on the coast.
Dallas is big, hot, lots of shopping and restaurants. Lots of good highways now. Lots of tolls.
You kinda need to have an idea of where you are working to minimize drive time. Traffic is not as bad as LA though. Pools are a great idea. Liked mine a lot. They can freeze over in January.
There are bad parts of Dallas just like any other city. I would say that Frisco being the one further out and newer overall is probably the better choice if you do not have to go downtown to work in Dallas. They do have trains running now to certain areas. Something to look into.
I come back to visit my kids. One in Frisco one in Plano.
I like the smaller city on the coast I live in and would not go a big city if I did not have to.
Good luck
Thanks for the feedback everyone... very helpful.
My wife’s retired, and I’m semi-retired (and work from home), so a commute isn’t an issue. We also plan to spend part of the time (the summer months) in Costa Rica so we can escape the extreme summer heat in TX.
We just want access to lots of good dining, friendly neighbors and things of that sort.
I would probably love Corpus Christi, but it might be too quiet for my wife... she likes the big city, and I prefer the boonies... so we need some sort of compromise where we can be close to a bit of both.