Garland Real Estate
About the City
Garland is the ninth largest city in Texas and the second largest city in Dallas County.
While settlers began moving to the area around 1850, it was not incorporated as a new city until 1891. The city’s creation was not without controversy as it followed a long and contentious dispute over the location of the post office.
At the time, two communities had sprung up called Embree and Duck Creek. A rivalry between the two towns had developed as the area expanded around the ever-important Santa Fe Railroad depot. This intense rivalry included arguing over the location of a new post office. After several years of fighting and no end in sight, the issue was brought before the court. In an effort to invoke a sense of fairness, Judge Thomas A. Nash asked Congressman, Joe Abbott to move the post office so that it would sit between the two towns. The request was granted and in 1897, the post office was moved. The new location called Garland, named after Attorney General Augustus Hill Garland, was created from the dissolved townships of Embree and Duck Creek.
Over the years, Garland’s population has grown steadily and continues to do so to this day. Starting with a population of only 891 residents in 1904, the city’s population quickly reached 10,571 by 1950. By 1960, the population had more than tripled to 38,501, and more than doubled again in the 1970s with 81,437. By 1980, the population reached 138,857 people and nearly doubled again in 20 years to 215,768 in 2000.
As of 2004, it was projected that approximately 217,176 people called this Dallas County city home. According to 2000 Census figures, the three primary racial groups within Garland are Whites (65.27%), Hispanics or Latinos (25.58%), and African Americans (11.87%).
There are 73,241 households of which 41.6 percent have children under the age of 18 living with them, and 56.7 percent are married couples. The average household size is 2.93 and the average family size is 3.37.
Approximately 29.8 percent of the city’s population is under the age of 18, 9.6 percent from 18 to 24, 33.0 percent from 25 to 44, 20.5 percent from 45 to 64, and 7.1 percent are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years.
The average household income is $49,156, and the average income for a family is $53,545.