Collin County, Texas

Collin County is a county in Texas, United States, on the northern edge of the Dallas–Fort
Worth metroplex, about 25 miles north of downtown Dallas. It had a population of 1,064,465 at the
2020 census, an estimated 1,297,179 by 2025, and covers 886 square miles (2,290 km2) centred near
33°11′N 96°35′W.

McKinney is the county seat; its postal code is 75069. The county holds two dozen incorporated
cities and towns — several of them shared with neighbouring counties — two census
designated places, and roughly thirty smaller unincorporated communities, and it runs on Central
Time. Collin was one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States through the 2020s,
adding new suburbs across its rural northern half.

Towns & Villages in Collin County

Collin County has more than 60 named places on record. The table below lists all 19 places
incorporated entirely within the county plus the two census-designated places (CDPs); a second
list below it covers the 13 cities that extend into Collin from a neighbouring county, and a third
covers the roughly 30 smaller unincorporated communities. City · seat marks the county
seat; CDP stands for census designated place, an unincorporated area the Census Bureau tracks as
if it were a city; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal government.

Plano, the county’s largest city, and Frisco, its fastest-changing, both straddle the
Denton County line, so the population figures below are citywide, not Collin-only shares. The
same applies to the smaller border cities further down the list.

Carrollton, Richardson, Garland and Dallas each hold only a small annexed sliver of Collin
County near its southern edge; those slivers carry little or no year-round population, so no
county-specific figure is published for them. Copeville, an unincorporated community, is the one
place in the county with a ZIP code of its own (75121) that has no municipal government —
most of the smaller communities below share a neighbouring city’s ZIP or have none at all.
Rural crossroads such as Altoga, Frognot and Chambersville have no incorporated government and no
published 2020 population separate from the surrounding county figure.

The remaining named places are unincorporated communities and rural crossroads, most predating
the county’s modern suburbs: Altoga, Arnold, Beverly Hill, Bloomdale, Branch, Chambersville,
Chambliss, Clear Lake, Climax, Collin, Copeville, Cowley, Culleoka, Desert, Fayburg, Forest Grove,
Frognot, Kelly, Little Ridge, Milligan, Millwood, New Mesquite, Pike, Rhea Mills, Rockhill,
Sedalia, Snow Hill, Trinity Park, Valdasta, Walnut Grove and Winningkoff. None has its own
incorporated government or Census Bureau population count; several are little more than a
cemetery, a church and a handful of houses at a rural intersection.

ZIP Codes

• 75069, 75070, 75071, 75072 — McKinney
• 75002, 75013 — Allen
• 75023, 75024, 75025, 75026, 75074, 75075, 75086, 75093, 75094 — Plano
• 75035 — Frisco
• 75098 — Wylie
• 75078 — Prosper
• 75009 — Celina
• 75407 — Princeton
• 75409 — Anna
• 75454 — Melissa
• 75442 — Farmersville
• 75173 — Nevada
• 75166 — Lavon
• 75424 — Blue Ridge
• 75164 — Josephine
• 75121 — Copeville (unincorporated, its own ZIP)
• 75097 — Weston
• 75485 — Westminster
• 75287, 75252 — Dallas (small Collin County portions)

Murphy, Lucas, Parker, Lowry Crossing, Fairview, New Hope, St. Paul, Seis Lagos and most of the
unincorporated communities have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under a
neighbouring incorporated town’s code. The county carries 32 ZIP codes in total, six of them
serving PO boxes only rather than street delivery.

Geography

Collin County sits in the Blackland Prairie, a belt of dark, fertile clay soil that runs
through north-central Texas. Of its 886 square miles, 841 are land and 45 are water, about 5.1
percent — most of that in Lavon Lake, a reservoir on the East Fork of the Trinity River that
supplies drinking water to several North Texas cities and covers roughly 21,400 acres at
conservation pool. The East Fork Trinity River crosses the county’s eastern half, and Rowlett
Creek and its tributaries drain the western half toward the Trinity’s main stem.

Grayson County and Fannin County lie to the north, Hunt County to the east, Rockwall County to
the southeast, Dallas County to the south, and Denton County to the west. Grayson County, Fannin County, Hunt County, Rockwall County, Dallas County and Denton County all border Collin directly.

Demographics

Collin County had a population of 1,064,465 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 1,297,179 residents. Plano and McKinney are the two largest communities, together
holding well over a third of the county’s population. Median household income runs $96,134
(2019 ACS), well above the Texas figure of $75,780 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to
roughly 1,266 people per square mile of land, among the highest of any Texas county outside the
Dallas and Houston urban cores.

Economy & Local Life

Corporate relocations built much of Collin County’s economy over the past two decades.
Toyota Motor North America moved its headquarters to Plano in 2017, and Plano also hosts Liberty
Mutual’s regional campus and a large JPMorgan Chase operations center. McKinney’s
largest private employers include Raytheon Intelligence & Space, with about 4,200 workers, and
Globe Life, alongside McKinney Independent School District and county government. Frisco is home
to The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters and practice facility, and to PGA Frisco, the
PGA of America’s national headquarters and two championship golf courses. McKinney’s
biggest annual event is the Texas Music Revolution each June, which fills downtown with dozens of
country-music stages.

History

The Texas legislature created Collin County on 3 April 1846, carving it out of Fannin County.
It is named for Collin McKinney, a Texas Declaration of Independence signer who helped write the
legislation that organized several North Texas counties. The city of McKinney was incorporated in
1849 as the county seat, also named for Collin McKinney.

The Houston and Texas Central Railway reached McKinney in 1872, and the St. Louis-San Francisco
Railway — nicknamed the “Frisco” — gave the later city of Frisco its name
when the line built a depot there in 1902. Cotton farming dominated the county’s economy
through the early twentieth century; the shift toward Dallas-area suburban growth began after the
completion of US 75 through the county in the 1950s and accelerated sharply after 2000.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Collin County directly. US 75, the Central Expressway, is the
county’s main north–south freeway, running through McKinney, Allen and Plano. The
Dallas North Tollway extends north through Frisco and Prosper, and the Sam Rayburn Tollway
(SH 121) crosses the southern part of the county through Plano and Frisco.

• Dallas — about 25 miles south
• Fort Worth — about 45 miles southwest
• Denton — about 25 miles west
• Sherman — about 30 miles north

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, roughly 25 miles southwest of McKinney, is the nearest
major commercial airport; Dallas Love Field is a similar distance south. McKinney National
Airport, on the city’s northeast side, handles general aviation and charter traffic. The
nearest Amtrak service is the Texas Eagle, which stops at Dallas Union Station, about 30 miles
south of McKinney.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Collin County located?
It sits on the northern edge of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, about 25 miles north of
downtown Dallas, bordered by Grayson, Fannin, Hunt, Rockwall, Dallas and Denton counties.

What is the population of Collin County?
1,064,465 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 1,297,179 by 2025.

How big is Collin County?
886 square miles (2,290 km2), of which 841 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Collin County?
McKinney, incorporated in 1849 and named after Collin McKinney, is the county seat.

How many towns and cities are in Collin County?
19 cities and towns lie entirely within the county, 13 more extend in from a neighbouring county,
plus two census-designated places and roughly 30 unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Collin County use?
32 in total, spanning 75002 (Allen) through 75485 (Westminster) — the largest cluster,
75023–75094, covers Plano.

What is Collin County known for?
Fast suburban growth, the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters at The Star in Frisco, Toyota Motor
North America’s Plano headquarters, and PGA Frisco.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Texas.