I'm more pro-Prosper now that their superintendent retired. I was not a fan of what he was about nor did I want to work there under him. The new lady seems better from what I've heard. Also, Lovejoy would be a good choice too, but teachers don't make enough to live in that zone.
But yes, I rank Frisco above McKinney because of their crazy zoning issues in an attempt to even out socioeconomic disparities.
Plano has better academics than Allen but has the same issues with a bazillion kids you're competing with.
At least nobody is throwing out Little Elm or The Colony as viable options.
I'd be happy to rank all 10 high schools in Frisco just to piss off some more people if you'd like. There are problems in Frisco just like every other district. What Frisco did at the municipal and school level was learn from the growing pains Plano had in the 80's & 90's and try to stay ahead of the growth as best they could. Frisco also doesn't have as large of historically poor area of town as its neighbors to contend with.
Frisco lacks any character but it makes up for it in other areas.

AW 1880 said:

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I'm in Murphy but Wylie ISD (Whitt Elem, Draper Intermediate, Cooper JH, Wylie High school feeder). So far we really like the schools. Our superintendent is great and provides great leadership. If you are looking for larger lots, I recommend Murphy Farms. Our neighborhood is close to Murphy farms, but mostly older folks and very few kids (my biggest gripe). However, there's no HOA which can be really good if you want a shop in the back. From these couple of neighborhoods, your commute would be less than 10 minutes. I have a pretty good guess of where you will be working.

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I think we are in the same neighborhood. We are in Murphy, but Wylie ISD just north of Murphy Farms on all the 1+ acre lots. We absolutely love it and there are more "young families" moving in like us. But it's nice to have some older couples as well as they are super welcoming and treat our kids like their own grandkids.

As a token Denton County option, consider Homestead in Carrollton. Fantastic elementary school in the neighborhood and feeds into Arbor Creek/Hebron. Throwing it out there in case you have to travel for work. We picked this neighborhood over Murphy/Wylie/etc. because we both travel 1-2x a month and the 45-hr drive to DFW was not appealing.

I used to work at 75/Collins and the commute was consistently 20-25min. You're against traffic on PGBT both ways.

Homes built mid-2000s. 300-400k would get you something from 2000-2700 sqft most likely. Can probably find something close to 3000ft2 at the upper end of your budget.