Plano is no longer a growth suburb. It's a prestige city managing its maturity. The horizontal expansion ended years ago — now it's all about vertical intensification, strategic redevelopment, and aggressive infrastructure rehabilitation.

The city just passed the largest bond in its history ($648M) to rebuild aging roads and public safety facilities. It's converting dead malls into mixed-use districts (Collin Creek, Willow Bend). And the DART Silver Line, which opened October 25, 2025, now connects Plano directly to DFW Airport for the first time.

For families, Plano offers what newer suburbs can't: established neighborhoods, mature trees, proven schools, and a corporate job base that means you might not need to commute at all. The trade-off is older housing stock and a school district that just closed four campuses due to demographic shifts.