Living in Little Elm, Texas: Everything You Need to Know!
So, you're thinking about moving to Dallas, Texas, but you just came to the realization that Dallas Fort Worth is huge. This Metroplex is larger than a lot of people even imagine before they get here. In fact, the DFW metroplex is the fourth largest metro in the entire United States, and in terms of size, it is about 9,200 square miles. So, I know it sounds a little bit crazy. I always seem to get some smart Alec in the comments talking about how I'm crazy about talking about the size of the DFW area, but I challenge you to Google it yourself to find out just how large the DFW area is. But not to worry, that is exactly what I'm here for. I want to help you make that move here to Dallas, Texas, go as smoothly as possible.
So, my name is Kristen Carpentier, and I am a local real estate agent here in the Dallas area. My team and I love helping people just like you relocate here to Dallas. My family and I also made that move here to Dallas just over 11 years ago now from the Phoenix area, and I have learned a lot of things along the way. However, it is that you found our Channel, we are so glad that you are here. We have done a lot of videos on what it's like living here in Dallas and the surrounding suburbs, and our video library is continuing to grow every single week. So, make sure to go check some of them out. And if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to reach out or shoot me a text, give us a call, or send us an email, and we will get right back to you so that we can help determine how to make that move here to Dallas that much easier.
So, today we are talking about living in Little Elm, Texas. Little Elm is a town located in Denton County, Texas. The town was first settled in the 1840s and was named after its location on a small little portion of land that juts out into Lewisville Lake, making it look like a little elm. So, that's how it got its name.
Little Elm, Texas, is best known for its proximity to Lewisville Lake. In fact, Little Elm has the distinction of being the town in the DFW metroplex that contains the most miles of shoreline. So, of course, a lot of the most popular things to do in Little Elm involve Lake Lewisville and, of course, all of the water sports. The lake is quite large, offering boating, swimming, camping, fishing, and a ton of other recreational activities at one of its five marinas. So, Lake Lewisville spans over 46 acres of land and has 233 miles of shoreline, just to give you a little bit of an idea of exactly how big Lake Lewisville is.
Now, Little Elm is also known for its central location. You can get to Frisco in just about 15 minutes without traffic, and you can also head over to Denton within less than 30 minutes. But I'm going to talk a little bit more about that here in just a bit.
Great Community for Families
Now, Little Elm is also a great community to be a part of, they have a lot of themed events that they do within the city of Little Elm throughout the year. Some of the things they do include the Big Easy in Little Elm, which is a super fun tradition for many locals in the area. This Louisiana-inspired event takes place in Little Elm every year around Mardi Gras. The event includes a 5K and a 10K race, live music, and, more importantly, a crawfish boil. If you've never been to a crawfish boil, it's definitely something you should check out. We used to go to them when we lived back East. Anytime you're along the water or somewhere like that, you're going to find those crawfish boils. We didn't find out a lot about them until we had moved to the South. They take place more frequently the further south you go. So, it's a super fun event that happens in Little Elm.
Little Elm also has the July Jubilee, which is one of the most popular events of the summer. It takes place in Little Elm Park, right along the lake. It's a Fourth of July celebration that all the locals love to attend and participate in. People from all over the Dallas Metro area also join in. You can spend your day by the water, enjoy all the events going on, and stick around to watch the fireworks afterward.
In the fall, Little Elm hosts the Pumpkin Hollow event with hayrides, a haunted trail, an old-fashioned carnival, and a family-friendly Halloween movie. There are, of course, many other events that happen in Little Elm as well. I encourage you to check out their website to make sure you don't miss out on anything happening in that area.
Population of Little Elm Texas
As many of the cities in the Dallas Metro have grown so much in recent years with migration to our wonderful state of Texas, Little Elm has also experienced rapid growth. In fact, the 2020 census had Little Elm's population at around 47,000 people. Since then, it has grown by about 28%, with a current population of 2023 of about 60,000 people. Little Elm is forecasted to continue its growth, with an estimated population of around 90,000 people by 2028.
Little Elm Texas Rating
According to niche.com, Little Elm, Texas, received an overall grade of A-. We will discuss some of the specific categories in detail shortly. Out of the other 12 categories in Niche, four received an A grade for their schools, jobs, diversity, and being a good place for families. Six categories received a B rating, and two categories received a C rating for crime and commute. We will dive into these categories in more detail shortly.
Little Elm is located on the north side of Dallas, about 35 miles straight north. This location is part of the reason it received a C grade for the commute, as it has limited options for highways due to its location. However, the lake life and scenic views might make up for the longer commute times. If you commute downtown or to Fort Worth regularly, you need to consider the cost and time you will be giving up if you live in Little Elm. For example, if you want to attend a Dallas Mavericks basketball game or a Dallas Stars hockey game in the downtown area, it will take approximately 35 miles and 35 to 45 minutes, or even over an hour with traffic or accidents on the freeways.
Let's also say that maybe you needed to jump on a flight or pick up some family members from the DFW Airport. You are going to be looking at around 23 miles, and it could also take you about 30 minutes.
So, if you are maybe thinking you wanted to catch a Texas Rangers game or maybe a Dallas Cowboys football game over in Arlington, and you needed to get there from the city of Little Elm, it's going to be probably a good 40 miles away.
And that drive is likely going to take at least 45 minutes to well over an hour, depending on what the traffic is like at that particular time. And, of course, as always when you move here to Texas, you might need to catch a rodeo. Maybe you need to head over to Fort Worth to the Stockyards, show some family or friends around town. And that is going to be about 48 miles away, so it's most likely going to take you about 50 minutes to quite possibly over an hour if there are any sort of issues on any of these highways as well.
Demographics in Little Elm Texas
So, as we take a look at the demographics in Little Elm, Texas, let's give you an idea of the feel and the size of the population, the median age, homeownership rates, language makeup, and the country of origin that you're going to find there. As for the size, it is only going to be around 18 square miles, and like I said before, the population of Little Elm in 2022 during the census was around 47,000 people, and as of 2023, the population is about 60,000 people. So, as we indicated, Little Elm has been growing quickly as it is up 28% since the 2020 census. It does rank 64th in all of Texas in terms of population and 648th in the entire country. But because of the new construction and homes that are still being built in Little Elm, hence the reason why it is going to continue to grow for quite a little bit of time.
Median Age in Little Elm Texas
The median age of the people living in Little Elm is around 35 years old, with the males averaging 32.8 and females averaging around 36.7 years old.
Rent Vs. Own in Little Elm Texas
Now, do most people rent or do they own their homes? Well, the Little Elm ownership rate is actually quite high compared to some of the other cities in the Metro, and that is around 69%, with 44% of the women owning a home while 65% of men own their own home in Little Elm. So, that leaves the percentage of rentals at about 31%, with 56% renting and 35% of the men renting.
Languages Spoken in Little Elm Texas
Now, the predominant languages that are spoken are about 73% of the people only speak English, while 27% speak other different languages. And Spanish does have the largest percentage of other languages at around 13%.
Where Are People From That Live in Little Elm Texas?
So, in terms of the country of origin, almost 87% of Little Elm residents were born here in the United States, with 42% being born within the state of Texas. And about 9.6% of the residents are not U.S. citizens, with the largest portion being from Asian countries at 53%, followed by Latin America with 34%.
Median Income in Little Elm Texas
The median income in Little Elm for single-family households is almost $94,000 a year. For families, it is about $103,000 a year, and for married families, it is around $118,000 a year. According to payscale.com, the cost of living in Little Elm is about 12% higher than the national average. However, if you were moving from, let's say, Sacramento, California, the cost of living in Little Elm, Texas is about 5.6% lower. Utilities and housing account for a significant portion of the reason why it's lower.
Political Makeup in Little Elm Texas!
Now let's get into the politics. Does Little Elm lean more liberal or more conservative? Well, if you're looking at the 2020 map of voters in Little Elm at the precinct level, it was overwhelmingly liberal. Of the eight precincts that were counted, six of the eight leaned Democrat, with only two voting Republican. Although it was not a deep blue, it was at least 45% to 60% liberal for the most part. Little Elm resides within Denton County, which leaned more conservative in the 2020 elections. Donald Trump beat Joe Biden by a margin of 53.3% to 45.2%. The Republicans also won the senate seat by a margin of 55.9% to 41.4%. Little Elm is a little bit different from many of the other areas in Denton County, other than maybe the City of Denton, which is a college town. That area also leaned more liberal.
What About the Crime in Little Elm?
Now, let's talk about crime. When looking at the crime statistics in Little Elm, Texas, we'll use a couple of different resources. We encourage you to do some more research as well if this is important to you. According to bestplaces.net, which uses FBI data and rates both violent crime and property crimes on a scale of 1 to 100, with 1 being the lowest crime rate and 100 being the highest, Little Elm, Texas received a rating of 10 for violent crime compared to Dallas, which has a rating of 37, and the U.S. average rating of 22.7. The property crime rate for Little Elm was rated at 15.6, with Dallas at 50.7 and the U.S. average at 35.4.
Another resource we like to look at is neighborhoodscout.com, which sources its data from over 18,000 police departments in the United States, as well as other law enforcement agencies. They give Little Elm a rating of 72, indicating that it is safer than 72% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
While Niche gave it a rating of C+ for crime, according to these two resources, Little Elm appears to have a relatively low crime rate compared to other cities. It's important to note that there were only seven reviews on Niche for crime, but they seemed to indicate that the police in the community were pretty good.
What it Employment Like in Little Elm Texas?
Now, let's talk about employment in Little Elm, Texas. As mentioned earlier, the median household income in Little Elm is quite high compared to some other cities, at around $94,000 a year. Some of the top five occupation categories in Little Elm are:
Management Occupations
Accounting for around 14.3% with median earnings of around $143,000.
Office and Administrative Support
Account for 9.5% with median earnings of around $97,000.
Sales and Related Occupations
Make up 9.3% with median earnings of around $86,000.
Business and Financial Operations
account for about 8.9% with median earnings of around $145,000 and around 2,200 people employed.
Computer and Mathematical Occupations
Were about 7.5%, with median earnings of about $179,000, and almost 2,000 people employed.
According to Zippa, there were only three employers that were actually rated for the city of Little Elm, which means that most people actually commute to another city or are remote workers. The number one employer is the Little Elm Independent School District, which employs around 561 people. The second is the town of Little Elm, which employs around 350 people, and the third is Retractable Technologies, which employs about 123 people.
What are the Schools Like in Little Elm Texas?
The Little Elm ISD has about 8,000 students attending one high school, three middle schools, and six elementary schools. If you look at niche.com, you will see that the Little Elm ISD has an overall rating of B. Out of the nine categories that Niche uses to create its overall score, Little Elm ISD receives an A in two of them, at least an A B in four others, and a C in three. Looking at the map, you can see how the scores are distributed throughout Little Elm. I encourage you to look into this a little bit more if it's something that's important to you.
Some other statistics that we found on Niche are that the student-to-teacher ratio is 19 to 1, while nationally, the ratio is 17 to 1. This is a little bit different from many schools in the metro area, as schools tend to have smaller class sizes. This is also the reason for the teacher score being about a C-. The expenses per student are just over $12,000, with the national average being around $12,239. So, this is about average compared to the rest of the nation. If you look at the reviews on Niche, out of the 102 reviews, 76 of them were rated as very good to excellent. Again, the reviews and ratings can be a little bit skewed, so if the school district is really important to you, I suggest you do a little bit more research to see if Little Elm is the right place for you.
Another thing to consider when it comes to schools and living in Little Elm is that even if you live in Little Elm, you could be zoned for a different school district. You could be zoned for the Frisco ISD, Denton ISD, or even Oak Point. So, it's important to find out which areas might be a better fit for you and your family if you need to worry about the schools. Here's the map of Little Elm, and as you can see, it goes along Lake Lewisville. A lot of the events and activities are centered around Little Elm Park and Little Elm Beach Park, where you can enjoy boat launches, sand volleyball, and more.
What is the Commute Like in Little Elm Texas?
When it comes to commuting, Little Elm is located on the North Side, with Highway 380 passing through. This highway is currently under construction and is often congested. The commute to Downtown Dallas, for example, can take over an hour and cover about 33 miles, depending on the traffic. Additionally, the distance to DFW Airport is around 27 to 33 miles, which can take about 45 minutes with traffic. Getting to Fort Worth is also a bit of a hike, around 52 miles. These distances can vary depending on your specific location in Little Elm.
If you're going to catch the easy route to get out there, but as you can see, it's quite the hike to get over there. So when we are talking about distance and location and what there is to do, as you can see, it's way up here on the North End of basically the DFW Metro, close to Prosper, close to a lot of these other cities. If you work over in Denton, we have that option over here in Frisco or anywhere on the east side as well. That's kind of what we're looking at for Little Elm. So just to give you an idea of where it is located on the map, you can make that adjustment to see if this might be the right fit for you. But there is new construction up here, and one of the, let's call it, bigger, more popular new construction communities, is fairly built out. It still has a public pool, Community Center, lots of grass space, ponds, and things. It's going to be up here on the North side in Union Park. Now, some of these areas, like if you're over here more on the east side, some of these neighborhoods are going to feed over into Frisco ISD. So, like we always tell our clients, if you are wanting a particular School District, find the area that is going to fit you, and sometimes it could branch out into another part of the city. There is new construction in multiple areas throughout Little Elm based on your price point. Sometimes you can get a little bit more for your money because you're a little bit further north, and there are going to be some smaller master-planned communities over here. But we have multiple areas here in Little Elm with new construction. So again, reach out, we can kind of go through some of these areas, and maybe you do need to adjust for your commute because if you need to be down here and kind of get all the way out and around to get on the road to get over to work, it could be a little bit more of a hike. So, it could be good for people who have remote work or don't need to travel nearly as much by living in some of these areas.
Little Elm Texas Real Estate
Little Elm offers a range of housing options to suit different budgets and preferences. When browsing through the MLS, you'll find numerous homes under contract or currently available in the price range of three to four hundred thousand dollars. Whether you prefer a lakeside location, easy access to the freeway, or proximity to the Frisco area, Little Elm has multiple options for first-time homebuyers seeking affordability.
One noteworthy community in Little Elm is Union Park, a master-planned neighborhood generating significant interest. Union Park caters to diverse price points while providing a plethora of amenities. Whether you're looking for a starter home or a larger, move-in-ready property, Union Park offers more value for your money due to its location in Little Elm.
Moving up to the four to five hundred thousand dollar range, you'll discover a wide selection of available homes. Although properties in Little Elm tend to stay on the market slightly longer than in other popular cities in the Dallas metro area, there are still plenty of opportunities within this price range. For instance, a $450,000 home offers a spacious 2,700 square feet, move-in ready condition, and desirable upgrades.
As you explore higher price points, particularly homes priced at $500,000 and above, the options become more limited. Little Elm has fewer choices in the luxury market compared to the mid-range price points. However, there is one standout property currently listed for $1.6 million. This new construction home, with nearly 5,000 square feet, is situated in a beautiful custom home community close to the lake. It boasts stunning wood beams, and tall ceilings, and offers an exceptional lakefront lifestyle.
Little Elm's location near the lake is a major draw for those seeking a waterfront living experience. The area provides access to docking facilities for your boat and multiple marinas that offer services and storage options. This makes it an ideal location for lake enthusiasts. Furthermore, Little Elm's proximity to the Frisco and Plano areas is advantageous for residents who commute for work.
In terms of pricing, Little Elm's median sales price for single-family homes in 2023 was around $431,000. However, the housing market caters to a wide range of budgets, with prices ranging from approximately $93,000 to $1.2 million. While there are affordable options like single-wide trailers and older, smaller homes, Little Elm also features several new construction communities. Union Park, in particular, stands out, offering homes in the $500,000 to $800,000 range, along with ample green space, community pools, parks, and walking trails.
Pros and Cons of Living in Little Elm Texas!
Little Elm, Texas offers a range of advantages and disadvantages for those considering a move to this area. One of the major pros is the appeal of the "lake life." Little Elm is situated near Lake Lewisville, providing residents with opportunities for outdoor activities like hiking, paddleboarding, and boating. The proximity to water and the ability to enjoy the scenic lake views are significant draws for people looking for a lakeside lifestyle. Additionally, Little Elm's location is favorable for remote workers who prioritize convenience. While being slightly outside the city, residents can easily access necessary amenities like grocery stores, and occasional trips to downtown or other parts of the metro area are feasible.
Another advantage is the opportunity to find affordable and newer homes. Living a bit further from the city center allows individuals to get more value for their money and potentially purchase a newer home that has not been heavily lived in. Little Elm also benefits from its proximity to popular school districts like Prosper and Frisco, allowing residents to enroll their children in these sought-after educational institutions, even if they live within Little Elm.
However, there are a few cons to consider as well. The commute can be a downside for some residents. Those who need to commute regularly have expressed dissatisfaction with the time and effort required to reach the freeway or other destinations outside Little Elm. This can be a significant inconvenience for individuals who rely on efficient transportation for work purposes. Furthermore, the layout of Little Elm, situated around Lake Lewisville, presents challenges for navigating the area. It is not a perfectly circular shape, making it slightly more difficult to travel around the town or access nearby facilities, such as grocery stores, compared to other areas.
In conclusion, Little Elm, Texas offers a desirable lakeside lifestyle, access to essential amenities, and the potential for more affordable, newer homes. However, the commute can be problematic for some individuals, and the town's geographical layout may present challenges for getting around. Understanding the pros and cons can help prospective residents make informed decisions about whether Little Elm is the right place for them to settle down.
