The suburbs of Grand Prairie call to all types of people looking to escape city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Grand Prairie to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Grand Prairie ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Grand Prairie area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Grand Prairie proper, although University Park certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Grand Prairie are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones.
We examined the 69 biggest suburbs of Grand Prairie to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Grand Prairie in terms of quality of life.
The 10 worst suburbs around Grand Prairie for 2023
Now don’t freak out.
What’s the worst suburb of Grand Prairie? Hutchins ranks as the worst suburb of Grand Prairie for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Grand Prairie that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.
Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Texas check out the best places in Texas overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Grand Prairie too.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
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The 10 Worst Grand Prairie Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
Population: 5,613
Median Income: $40,129 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.3% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $80,700 (2nd lowest)
More on Hutchins:
We’ll get the ball rolling with Hutchins, the absolute worst place to live around Grand Prairie according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Hutchins beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the Grand Prairie area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Hutchins.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
/10
Population: 18,263
Median Income: $59,950 (11th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.3% (9th highest)
Median Home Value: $162,800 (16th lowest)
More on Seagoville:
Welcome to Seagoville. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 27.7 miles to Grand Prairie. Income levels here are the 11th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $59,950 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
/10
Population: 6,148
Median Income: $45,581 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 11.2% (highest)
Median Home Value: $122,300 (5th lowest)
More on Everman:
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Grand Prairie suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Everman on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Grand Prairie suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
Population: 27,369
Median Income: $55,817 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.7% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $153,600 (13th lowest)
More on Balch Springs:
If you live in Balch Springs, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 8th lowest Grand Prairie suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 3rd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Grand Prairie. Remember, we looked at 69 cities for this study.
Balch Springs is about 23.5 miles to downtown.
/10
Population: 5,064
Median Income: $58,187 (9th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 3.1% (57th highest)
Median Home Value: $73,900 (lowest)
More on Wilmer:
Wilmer has the distinction of being a Grand Prairie suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Wilmer has the lowest home values in the metro Grand Prairie area, where the median price is $73,900. The median income is $247,045.
Wilmer has an unemployment rate of 3.09% which ranks 57th worst.
/10
Population: 13,797
Median Income: $50,100 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.5% (5th highest)
Median Home Value: $130,500 (9th lowest)
More on Forest Hill:
Forest Hill has 13,797 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 15.465192405615774%.
/10
Population: 5,363
Median Income: $54,007 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.0% (14th highest)
Median Home Value: $108,400 (3rd lowest)
More on Sansom Park:
Ah, Sansom Park. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Grand Prairie.
It’s the place with the 14th most out of work residents in the Grand Prairie metro area (6.0%).
/10
Population: 6,254
Median Income: $46,497 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.8% (26th highest)
Median Home Value: $162,600 (15th lowest)
More on Keene:
Keene is a city about 26.5 miles from Grand Prairie, but Grand Prairie probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Keene has the 2nd most uninsured people, 3rd worst incomes, and has the 26th highest unemployment rate (4.83%) in the entire Grand Prairie metro area.
Homes only cost $162,600 for a reason. That’s cheap for Grand Prairie standards.
/10
Population: 2,496
Median Income: $75,313 (30th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.9% (17th highest)
Median Home Value: $110,300 (4th lowest)
More on Palmer:
If you absolutely have to live near Grand Prairie, then Palmer might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Grand Prairie suburb.
About 5.9% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 41,057
Median Income: $59,952 (12th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.1% (10th highest)
Median Home Value: $161,600 (14th lowest)
More on Lancaster:
Rounding out the ten worst Grand Prairie suburbs to call home is Lancaster.
Located 15.7 miles outside the city, Lancasters is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 10th highest unemployment rate (7.08%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Grand Prairie for 2023
To figure out how bad a Grand Prairie suburb is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
It’s Saturday Night Science.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2017-2021, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Grand Prairie.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 69 suburbs to evaluate around Grand Prairie.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 69 in each category, where 1 was the “worst.”
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Grand Prairie.” We’re looking at you, Hutchins.
We updated this article for 2023, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Grand Prairie.
Summary: The areas around Grand Prairie where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Grand Prairie with Hutchins casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Grand Prairie aren’t all bad. University Park takes the cake as the best place to live around Grand Prairie.
- University Park
- Highland Park
- Coppell
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