The North Texas suburb that is actually on the water, and split three ways by school district.
Curious how Little Elm stacks up against nearby options? Let's talk through current inventory, new-build timelines, and off-market opportunities tailored to you.
Little Elm is a Denton County town built on a peninsula of Lewisville Lake, and the water is not a marketing angle: of the town’s 22.09 square miles, 4.10 square miles are water. That gives it something Frisco, Plano, McKinney and Allen structurally cannot copy: real lakefront housing, real lake access, and Little Elm Park and Beach, roughly 100 acres on the lake and the largest public swim beach in North Texas. It is also one of the fastest-growing places in the state: 3,646 people in 2000, 46,453 in 2020, and 54,820 on the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate, with the town projecting a build-out population near 107,000. Two things a buyer must understand: Little Elm is in Denton County, not Collin; and it is split across three school districts (Little Elm ISD, Frisco ISD and Denton ISD), with the district assignment set by the address, not the city name.
Lakeside master-planned communities, a walkable waterfront district, and a commuting population
Summers are hot and sunny with highs in the mid-to-upper 90s°F. Winters stay mild - expect 50°F afternoons mixed with the occasional cold snap. North Texas averages 229 sunny days, roughly 41 inches of rain, and minimal snow each year.
Match your wish list - from walkable districts to gated communities - with these buyer favorites. Mali can share recent closings, HOA nuances, and off-market conversations for each pocket.
A 448-acre Mattamy Homes master-planned community along Rockhill Parkway with more than 80 acres of open space, marketed as one of the last opportunities to build along the shores of Lewisville Lake. This is Little Elm’s genuine lakeside new-construction product.
The town’s mixed-use waterfront core: restaurants, retail and residential near Eldorado Parkway and Main Street, adjacent to Little Elm Park and the beach. The one part of town you can walk.
A Little Elm neighborhood zoned to Frisco ISD: Robertson Elementary, Stafford Middle School and Lone Star High School. That is a meaningful, price-relevant distinction from most of the town.
Frisco Ranch sits on the eastern, Frisco-adjacent side of Little Elm, and its defining characteristic is the combination buyers seek it out for: a Little Elm mailing address with Frisco ISD schools.
A master-planned community in the northern, US-380-corridor part of town. Denton ISD’s Union Park Elementary serves it, and the Little Elm EDC also names Union Park among the town’s park amenities.
A Little Elm neighborhood named in the Town of Little Elm’s own municipal service documentation.
One of the largest master-planned communities in the area, spread across roughly 1,500 wooded acres near Lewisville Lake and split by US-380 into North Paloma Creek (Aubrey mailing addresses) and South Paloma Creek (Little Elm). A deep amenity package - multiple pools, two 24-hour fitness centers, a large dog park - at pricing generally more attainable than the newer Little Elm master-plans. It is served primarily by Denton ISD, which is the thing to verify before you offer.
Understanding Little Elm's community composition helps buyers match lifestyle preferences with neighborhood character. The figures below reference recent American Community Survey estimates and city planning reports.
Total Population
54,820
US Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate. The Little Elm EDC’s economic profile separately states 63,485 as of October 2025.
Growth Since 2000
3,646 to 46,453
Decennial Census counts for 2000 and 2020 (25,898 in 2010). That is a more-than-twelvefold increase in twenty years. The town states a build-out capacity of roughly 107,000.
Median Age
35.4 years
US Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate (table B01002).
Median Household Income
$119,219
US Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year, in 2024 dollars; MOE ±$8,047.
Homeownership Rate
70.1%
Owner-occupied share of occupied housing units, computed from US Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year table B25003.
Median Home Value
$420,700
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, US Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year (table B25077), MOE ±$11,723. Owner-reported value, not a sale price.
Little Elm High SchoolHigh
Little Elm ISD’s comprehensive high school. District-wide programs LEISD publishes include CTE Programs of Study, Advanced Placement, Gifted & Talented, Dual Credit, a Dual Language program and “Lobos Connect” virtual/hybrid learning. LEISD is a NISE STEM Certified District.
Lowell H. Strike Middle SchoolMiddle
Little Elm ISD. Opened for the 2020-2021 school year.
Jerry R. Walker Middle SchoolMiddle
Little Elm ISD. Opened for the 2020-2021 school year.
Little Elm Elementary SchoolElementary
Little Elm ISD elementary campus.
Prestwick Elementary SchoolElementary
Little Elm ISD elementary campus.
Dr. Ashley B. Glover Elementary SchoolElementary
Little Elm ISD elementary campus.
Lone Star High SchoolHigh
Frisco ISD. Serves the Frisco ISD-zoned parts of Little Elm (the Sunset Pointe and Frisco Ranch areas), together with Stafford Middle School and Robertson Elementary. A Little Elm address in these neighborhoods buys Frisco ISD schools.
Braswell High SchoolHigh
Denton ISD. Opened in 2016 to serve the fast-growing US-380 / University Drive corridor, part of which is in Little Elm. Denton ISD also operates Navo Middle School and Union Park Elementary in that area.
Little Elm ISD (district overview)All
Beyond the campuses listed above, Little Elm ISD operates Dennis H. Brent Elementary, Hackberry Elementary, Lakewood Village Elementary, Oak Point Elementary and the Herschel Zellars Early Childhood Learning Center. The district also serves students in Hackberry, Lakewood Village, Oak Point, parts of The Colony and parts of Frisco. Campus assignment in Little Elm is address-specific and crosses three districts. Verify it, never assume it.
Moving to Little Elm means lining up the right vendor team, understanding seasonal weather shifts, and comparing neighborhoods before touring. Mali guides you through scouting trips, remote video tours, and negotiation strategy so your Little Elm plan comes together smoothly.
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Answers to common questions about living, buying, and relocating to Little Elm, Texas.
Three of them, and this is the most important question on the page. Little Elm ISD serves most of the original parts of town (and also students in Hackberry, Lakewood Village, Oak Point, parts of The Colony and parts of Frisco). Frisco ISD serves the Frisco-adjacent side, including Sunset Pointe and Frisco Ranch, through Robertson Elementary, Stafford Middle School and Lone Star High School. Denton ISD serves the northern US-380 / University Drive corridor through Union Park Elementary, Navo Middle School and Braswell High School, which opened in 2016. School district in Little Elm is set by the address, and it moves the price. Never assume a Little Elm address means Little Elm ISD; verify the zone for the specific property.
No. The Tribute Lakeside Golf & Resort Community is in The Colony, Texas, not Little Elm. The Golf Clubs at The Tribute are at a Boyd Road address in The Colony 75056, and both The Colony’s chamber and its visitor bureau place the community there. It is frequently and incorrectly attributed to Little Elm, including by people who should know better. Little Elm’s real lakeside product is Valencia on the Lake (a 448-acre Mattamy Homes master-planned community on Rockhill Parkway with 80-plus acres of open space, marketed as one of the last chances to build along Lewisville Lake), plus the Lakefront district and the neighborhoods along the town’s own shoreline.
It is real, and it is measurable. Little Elm sits on a peninsula along the northern and eastern shores of Lewisville Lake, a 23,280-acre reservoir managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Of the town’s 22.09 square miles of total area, 4.10 square miles are water. Little Elm Park and Little Elm Beach is roughly 100 acres on the lake and is described as the largest public swim beach in North Texas, with sand volleyball courts, athletic fields and a disc golf course; it anchors the Lakefront district at Eldorado Parkway and Main Street. Frisco, Plano, McKinney and Allen have nothing comparable, because they are not on a lake.
Be careful which number you are quoted, because two very different ones circulate. The US Census ACS 2020-2024 five-year estimate puts the median value of owner-occupied homes at $420,700 (margin of error ±$11,723). That is an owner-reported value across all existing homes, not a sale price. Separately, the Little Elm EDC publishes a 2023 median for a NEW single-family home of $630,874, new construction only. Both are honest figures about different things, and they are not interchangeable. No credible median sale price for Little Elm was available from a citable source, so we will not print one. For a real number on a real house, we pull live comps.
Long, and there is a geographic reason. The ACS 2020-2024 five-year mean travel time to work is 34.6 minutes (±3.6), the longest of the nearby growth suburbs. Lewisville Lake sits between the town and the I-35 corridor, so there is no direct route west; traffic funnels east on FM-423 or the Dallas North Tollway toward Frisco, Plano and Dallas, or north on US-380. Eldorado Parkway and FM-720 handle east-west movement inside town. There is no rail service. We do not publish drive times to Dallas or DFW Airport, because no citable source for them exists. But a lake in the way is not a rumor, and you should drive your commute before you commit to it.
Many commute out to Frisco, The Colony, Lewisville, Plano, Denton and Dallas, but Little Elm has more of a local job base than most towns its size. The largest employers published on the Little Elm EDC economic profile (which does not state a data year) are Little Elm ISD with 1,025 employees, the Town of Little Elm with 469, Retractable Technologies with 203, Lowe’s Home Center with 117, Kroger with 105 and Holt Cat with 87. Retractable Technologies, a medical device and safety syringe manufacturer, is actually headquartered here.
No. Denton County. This catches out buyers who are cross-shopping Frisco, Plano and McKinney at the same time. Your appraisal, protest and homestead exemption filings run through the Denton Central Appraisal District, your county tax line is Denton County’s, and your comparable sales change with the county line.
Yes, dramatically. The town counted 3,646 residents in the 2000 Census, 25,898 in 2010 and 46,453 in 2020; the ACS 2020-2024 five-year estimate is 54,820, and the Little Elm EDC put the town at 63,485 as of October 2025. The town’s stated build-out capacity is roughly 107,000, meaning Little Elm is, on its own projection, only around half-built. Expect construction, expect traffic changes, and expect the population figure you read anywhere to be out of date; always quote it with its year.
Have more questions about Little Elm? Contact Mali at yourealtordfw@gmail.com or call (972) 408-6939.
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Every public campus inside Little Elm city limits, with the letter grade and score the Texas Education Agency published for it in 2025. Enrolment and grades come straight from TEA's accountability download and the federal school directory, so nothing here is a third-party score that nobody refreshes.
Little Elm is split across 3 school districts. Two houses on the same street can feed different districts, and boundaries in this corridor get redrawn most years as new campuses open. Confirm the assignment for the exact address with the district before you write an offer - and if the school is a reason you are buying, ask Mali to put the district's written confirmation in your file.
Denton County · 7 campuses in town
Collin County · 2 campuses in town
Denton County · 1 campus in town
Little Elm also has campuses run by North Texas Collegiate Academy. Open-enrollment charters admit by application and lottery from a wide area, so buying a particular house never assigns a child to one.
Denton ISD · Grades PreK-5
Little Elm ISD · Grades PreK-5
Little Elm ISD · Grades PreK-5
Little Elm ISD · Grades PreK-5
Frisco ISD · Grades K-5
North Texas Collegiate Academy · Grades PreK-8
Frisco ISD · Grades PreK-5
Little Elm ISD · Grades PreK
Little Elm ISD · Grades 6-8
Little Elm ISD · Grades 6-8
Little Elm ISD · Grades 9-12
Little Elm homes are taxed by 3 separate governments, and the combined 2025 adopted rate is 1.96% per year of appraised value. That is the number before any exemption and before the special districts below - which is why the figure on a listing page and the figure on your first tax bill are so rarely the same.
| Taxing unit | Rate per $100 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Little Elm ISD | 1.225200 | 62% |
| City of Little Elm | 0.549901 | 28% |
| Denton County | 0.185938 | 9% |
| Combined | 1.961039 | 100% |
Denton County has neither a community-college district nor a hospital district, so a Little Elm bill has three lines where a Dallas County bill has five. That structural difference, not municipal thrift, is most of the gap when you compare rates across the metro.
We are not publishing a homestead estimate for Little Elm. The rates above come from the Comptroller's statutory filings and are solid, but the exemption each taxing unit has adopted is confirmed here by only one published schedule - and those schedules demonstrably lag a council vote. (One 2025 county schedule still listed a town at 12.5% months after it had voted to 20%.) A figure built on that would look precise and be wrong, so you get the rates and a real answer instead: ask Mali, or call the appraisal district, and we will confirm the exemptions in writing before you budget from them.
Denton County has 48 special districts levying their own rate on top of everything above - 22 Municipal Utility Districts, 3 Municipal Management Districts, 11 Water Control & Improvement Districts, 12 Fresh Water Supply Districts. Adopted 2025 rates run from 0.07 to 1.20 per $100. At the top of that range a district adds more than half again the entire Little Elm stack, and none of it is reduced by a homestead exemption.
These follow subdivision boundaries, not city limits, so two houses a mile apart in Little Elm can differ by a full point. They are most common in newer master-planned communities, because that is what the bonds paid to build.
A Public Improvement District is not a taxing unit. It is an assessment a city levies on the specific parcels that benefited from the roads, water and amenities its bonds paid for - set per parcel, absent from every rate table and every listing-site tax estimate, and not reduced by a homestead exemption because it is not a tax. It typically runs the life of the bonds, often 20 to 40 years, and can frequently be paid off in a lump sum. In a new-build community that is the difference between the budget you built and the payment you owe, and the option period is when you find out.
HOA dues are a private contract with the neighbourhood association. They are not on the tax bill, not collected by the county, not deductible, and not touched by any exemption - and a community can have an HOA and a MUD and a PID at once, which is the combination that catches people out. Ask for the dues, the transfer fee, the reserve study and any special assessment in writing, and read them alongside the tax bill rather than instead of it.