I live in a small town in Texas. I live in Kirbyville, Texas. I raised my children in this small town and one of my daughters is raising her children in this small town. I grew up in a small town and I love this way of life. In my opinion raising children in a small town is easier to do and it gives your children something a big city cannot, and that is a small town heart.
A small town heart is a shared pride for the community that you live in. All of the people from a small town are not just alike. We are diverse and made up of many types of people, but everyone in a small town loves their town, we love our local schools, we support our children, we mourn with each other when something tragic occurs, and we celebrate together when something wonderful happens.
If you want to raise children that grow up to have strong work ethics, are compassionate, are civically responsible, and true to who they are, then I suggest you find you a small town and you move in. Raise your kids to swim in creeks, to catch fireflies in jars and then let them loose, to hunt, to fish, to play sports, and to participate in healthy activities. Unplug them from the cell phones and the social media and let them get dirty and just be kids.
Small Towns in Texas that are good for family raising
The following small Texas towns made my list for the best small towns in Texas to raise a family in. I must say though that any small Texas town is going to offer your children a chance to be happier and healthier than any large city can offer. Pour you a glass of sweet tea and ponder the following towns and what they have to offer.
Leander
Leander, Texas is located on the outskirts of Austin. When you live in Leander you get the opportunity to have the small town feeling and yet still be close to a large city for cultural education and experiences. We all know that work opportunities for the parents often determine where a family lives and how well a family lives and in Leander the parents can work in Austin and yet still raise their children with small town amenities that we want for our kids.
Another great thing about Leander is the fact that the graduation rate in the town is 96%. The fact that so many kids stay in school is impressive but the kids there not only stay in school they excel at their school work. Approximately 33% of the students in Leander take one or more AP exams and out of the kids taking the exams more than 73% of them score a 3 or more on those exams.
Frisco
Frisco, Texas is another really great small town for you to raise your family in. In Frisco the unemployment rate is only 4.3%. The crime rate in the city is so low that they rank as the fourth lowest city for violent crime rates and the ninth lowest city when it comes to vandalism and property crimes.
You children will have plenty of chances to make friends in Frisco because 35% of the population is made up of people ages 19 and below. There are plenty of young people, and plenty of good hard-working role models for kids in this town.
Kirbyville
Kirbyville, Texas is a small town that has a lot of good values to share with families. 43% of the 828 households in Kirbyville are occupied by married couples. 32% of those households had children under the age of 18 living in them. Only 18.8% of the households were occupied by single adults raising children, so the sanctity of marriage is highly regarded in this small community.
Kirbyville has an excellent school system where the children are encouraged to be individuals and to participate in sports, educational events, band, choir, and anything that they are interested in. Most of the parents have to work out of town and the nearest large town is Beaumont which is roughly an hours drive from Kirbyville. The biggest employers in the town are the education department and the electric company.
Pearland
Pearland, Texas has a very low poverty rate and only 4.1% of the families living in Pearland are unemployed.
Pearland is actually a small town that is very wealthy because the median household income in this town is $95,000 and it’s close vicinity to Houston means that the family has access to all of the cultural arts, museums, sporting teams, zoos, aquariums and events the big city has to offer, but they get to live in a place with a low crime rate and high graduation rate.
Southlake
Southlake, Texas has one of the lowest poverty rates of any town in Texas. In Southlake only 2.1% of the resident households qualify as being impoverished. The town is very close to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area so the families have access to good paying job opportunities, excellent entertainment opportunities, excellent after school activities, and cultural enrichment while they are raising their children in a small town where just about everyone knows everyone else.
The residents of Southlake make on average 183,125 per year so the fact that Southlake residents pay more than many other residents for their housing cost does not bother the residents that much.
The children of Southlake are doing excellent in school and this evident by the fact that schools attendance and graduation rate is in the top 10 of the state. More than 99% of the children in the school system graduate from the school system and a large number of those children go on to attend colleges.
Final Thoughts
My daughter often jokes that we live in such a small town she never worries about breaking down on one of the highways because within ten minutes someone she knows is going to drive up and stop to help her. I like that. We also do not worry about our children being kidnapped by strangers because all of the adults know all of the kids. Once my oldest daughter, (who had green hair at the time) took my youngest daughters child to the local store to get ice cream. The cashier at the store called me to tell me that she had seen my granddaughter with a stranger and wanted to know if she should alert the authorities. You have to love protection like that.
Small town values and the ability to sleep at night without locking our doors is why we chose to live in Kirbyville. I like the fact that I know my neighbors, if my tractor breaks the neighbor will come mow my yard, and if I make too much cake, then I can share with the neighbors kids.
I suggest that you find a small town and let it become a way of life for your family.
