Summers top 100 F in Garland, a big Dallas suburb about 15 miles northeast of downtown Dallas that locals sometimes call the Gem of the Metroplex. It is not really a tourist town. It is a place where people live and eat well. The Walnut and Broadway corridor is packed with Asian and Tex-Mex restaurants, and Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic and Urdu are all spoken here. About 250,000 people call it home.
Things to do include Firewheel Town Center for shopping, the historic downtown square with its farmers market and holiday lights in December, shows at the Granville Arts Center and Lake Ray Hubbard nearby. Costs are about average, and the housing market is cooling, with prices dipping and more listings. Violent crime is below the national average, and vehicle theft and break-ins are the main problem, with the older apartment corridors in the south and southwest seeing more crime. Expect tornado risk from March to June.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
Out of 10. Open any score to see how it’s worked out. “Data-based” scores come from published figures; “Hey! En Route estimate” scores are worked out from what we know about the city; “Hey! En Route rating” scores were set by our editors.
- Known as
- Gem of the Metroplex; Texas Gem; Home of the Garland Landmark Museum; Center for Dallas-area Asian and Latino food
- Founded
- 1850s settled (Duck Creek area); 1891 incorporated
- Languages
- English; Spanish; Vietnamese; Korean; Chinese; Arabic; Urdu
- Airports
- Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), about 30 miles west; Dallas Love Field (DAL), about 20 miles southwest; Garland/DFW Heliport is not commercial; Addison and Rockwall airports are general aviation only
- Tipping
- Restaurants 18-20%; bars $1-2 per drink or 15-20% of tab; taxis and rideshare 15-20%; hotel housekeeping $3-5 per night; bellhops $2-5 per bag; food delivery 15-20%; counter service optional
About this data
Population is Census Vintage 2025 (July 1, 2025) via QuickFacts (249,625, just under the 250,000 Medium threshold); land area 57.13 sq mi from Census; median value, rent and Redfin price current as of Aug 2026. Metro figure 8,344,032 is the Census Vintage 2024 estimate for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA (a Vintage 2025 figure was not retrieved; reports say the metro added about 123,000 in the latest year); the MSA is shared with Dallas and Fort Worth, and Garland is not the anchor city. Elevation, coordinates, founding, event names and months (some not verified as current), hotel ranges, tipping, cost-of-living index, airport distances and 1BR rent are approximate or from general knowledge and not verified in this pass. Official URLs found via search but not load-tested.
