really thats 2 of the better areas for where you are working (NE Carrollton and Far North Dallas).
if you want to consider just a little longer commute but not really bad at all and be a little more small town feel like you probabaly had with mckinney....consider Coppell. It would be a straight shot down Belt Line which is pretty wide and runs fairly smooth most times.
I lived there for 25 years until recently in 3 different houses.
Most people don't know where it is because no highways run through it which helps keep it isolated a bit. So there is no highway buildup of malls/chain restaurants, etc. It is a true "bedroom" community with few apartments but homes raning from 120K starter types to million dollar types. Also there is no rapid transit (no Dart buses or rail). But just 10 minutes in any direction is all of that stuff.
It is located west of Carrollton/Farmer Branch, north of Irving/Las Colinas, east of Grapevine, and south of Lewisville...yeah that means it is small only about 5 miles wide by 3 miles . It is between LBJ on the south side, 121 on the west/northwest and I-35 on the east. Also the relatively new 190/Bush runs just down the east side of it where Bush turns south at I-35 so that helps for getting out to Plano/Richardson/North Dallas area when you need to. Downtown is only 20 minutes down I-35. And you can get to Ft. Worth/mid cities farily easily on the other side via 121 now that the major reconstruction is done on that around the airport.
It has really 2 main east/west roads and 2 main north/south roads through town. One main primary intersection serves as the center of town at Denton Tap and Sandy Lake road.From LBJ the exit north is Belt Line but it turns hard right as you just enter coppell and the part going north becomes Denton Tap through Coppell anmd into Lewsiville.
There are lots of parks and green space as the city mandated 35% remain green. The schools are generally good to very good.
It is like living in a little town bubble within the metroplex. 10-15 minutes to DFW Airport if you need that but there is little or no air traffic except on the far west side of the city, most planes go over Grapevine.
Population of Coppell is nearly capped at around 35K as it is pretty much built out and landlocked.
