Welcome To Plano SAFeDATA

In 2005, Plano was the best place to live in the Western US by CNN Money magazine. In 2006, Plano was selected as the 11th best place to live in the US by CNN Money magazine. In addition to its many industries and good-quality living, Plano has excellent schools that consistently score in the top few percent of the nation.

In the early 1840s, several settlers came to the area around Plano. Several nearby facilities including a sawmill, gristmill and a store brought more people to the area. Mail service was established and after rejecting several names for the budding town (including naming it in honor of then-President Millard Fillmore), the locals suggested the name Plano, which they mistook for the Spanish word for "flat," a reference to the terrain of the area. The name was accepted by the Post Office and Plano was born.

In 1881, a fire raged through the central business district, destroying most of the buildings: 51 in all. However, the town was restored and business again flourished through the 1880s. In 1895 the PISD (Plano Independent School District) was formed.

Unlike many of the other Dallas suburbs, which were closer to Dallas itself, the populus of Plano initially grew slowly, reaching 1,304 in 1900 and increasing to 3,695 in 1960. By 1970, however, Plano began to feel some of the boom its neighbors experienced following WW2. A series of public works projects and a change in taxes that removed the farming community from the town helped to increase the overall populus of Plano. In 1970, the populus reached 17,872 and by 1980, the populus had exploded to 72,000 people. Almost unbelievably the sewers, schools and street development kept easy pace with this massive increase largely due to Plano`s flat topography, grid layout and excellent planning.

By 2000, the populus nearly doubled again to 222,030, making it one of the largest suburbs in the Dallas area. However, the area`s subcitified sprawl has pushed beyond Plano and the city`s populus is stabilizing. Plano is completely locked in by other municipalities and cannot enlarge in area, and there is little undeveloped land remaining inside the city limits. By 2005, its populus was estimated to be 250,096.

According to the US Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 71.6 sq miles (185.5 km²), of which, 71.6 sq miles (185.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 sq miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.08%) is water.