Sell Your Commercial Property In McKinney, TX

Who rents in McKinney

McKinney is a fast-growing, mostly owner-occupied suburb with a rental market that has expanded alongside it. The Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 210,600 residents in 74,072 occupied homes, of which 26,782, or 36.2%, are rented and 47,290 are owned. Across the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro, the same survey puts renters at 39.9%. McKinney's median household income is $124,215, about $34,000 above the metro median of $90,275.

McKinney renters are split between apartments and rented houses. ACS table B25032 shows 15,974 renter households, or 59.6%, in buildings of five or more units, with 23.0% in complexes of 50 or more. Another 30.8% rent detached houses, and 6.8% rent in duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. For an apartment owner, those houses are real competition for families who want space and a yard in a strong school district.

What drives demand

Growth is the main driver. McKinney sits at the northern end of the US 75 corridor, and households moving north for newer and somewhat less expensive housing than the inner suburbs have filled both subdivisions and apartments.

Local employment adds to that base. McKinney is the Collin County seat, so county offices and courts bring a public workforce, and Collin College has a campus in the city. Industrial and manufacturing employers, including wire and cable maker Encore Wire, cluster on the east side near McKinney National Airport, the city-owned airfield. Craig Ranch, on the southwest side, combines offices, medical buildings and apartments close to the Sam Rayburn Tollway, and gives renters a short drive to employers in Plano, Allen and Frisco.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in McKinney, including tenant-paid utilities, is $1,901 a month in the 2020–2024 estimates, $287 above the metro median of $1,614. ACS table B25031 shows the city's rent premium growing with unit size:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates 2020–2024, via Census Reporter. A one-bedroom in McKinney rents for about $100 more than the metro median, while a three-bedroom rents for about $430 more. Two-bedroom units carry a premium of roughly $385 over one-bedrooms. Studios trail one-bedrooms by only about $46, so small units are priced close to one-bedrooms despite their size. The large-unit premium reflects how much of McKinney's rental demand comes from families, many of them renting houses.

Affordability is tighter than the city's incomes suggest. Among renter households, 46.9% spend 30% or more of income on gross rent, and 23.1% spend half or more. Those figures show that many renters earn well below the city's $124,215 median, and that gap limits how fast renewals can rise, especially when new complexes are offering move-in specials.

The apartment stock

McKinney's housing is young. The median home was built in 2007, and 72.8% of all units date from 2000 or later. The 2000s produced 33.2% of the stock and the 2010s 34.7%, with another 3,783 units, 4.9%, built in 2020 or later. Only 7.8% of units predate 1980.

That age profile matters for pricing. A complex built in the early 2000s is now more than 20 years old, the point at which original roofs, HVAC condensers, water heaters and appliances reach the end of their service lives. Buyers will ask which systems have been replaced and when, and they will hold back money for anything still original. Owners of 2010s buildings face fewer near-term capital items but compete more directly with the newest lease-ups.

ACS table B25024 counts 77,617 housing units, of which 17,675, or 22.8%, are in buildings of five or more units. The multifamily stock is spread across building sizes: 2,996 units are in 5–9 unit buildings, 4,936 in 10–19 unit buildings, 3,073 in 20–49 unit buildings and 6,670 in complexes of 50 or more. Mid-size buildings of 10 to 49 units therefore hold 8,009 units, close to half of all multifamily housing in the city.

Submarkets differ in age and product. Historic Downtown McKinney has the city's oldest buildings, small walk-ups and mixed-use properties around the square, where renters pay for location and character. Craig Ranch has newer mid-rise and garden communities near offices. Stonebridge Ranch, a large master-planned area on the west side, is mostly single-family housing. Allen, to the south, is a separate city and is not included in these figures.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Collin County

Texas has no state property tax. The Comptroller explains that appraisal districts set market value and local units levy taxes on it. McKinney apartments are appraised each year by the Collin Central Appraisal District at market value, with no reduced ratio for rental property. The Collin County Tax Assessor-Collector's 2025 summary lists these rates per $100 of value:

• City of McKinney: $0.412284
• McKinney ISD: $1.104300
• Collin County: $0.149343
• Collin College: $0.081220

Together that is about $1.75 per $100 for a property in McKinney ISD, or roughly 1.7% of appraised value. A building appraised at $3 million would owe about $52,400 a year. Parts of McKinney are served by other school districts, which changes the total. Because Texas taxes follow market value, a sale price above the current appraisal usually raises the bill: if a buyer pays $600,000 more than a building's current appraised value, the McKinney ISD rates above add roughly $10,500 a year once the appraisal catches up. In Allen, the same summary lists the city at $0.415400 and Allen ISD at $1.125800.

The Tax Code § 23.231 limit holds yearly appraisal increases to 20% plus new improvements for non-homestead property valued at or below a threshold, $5 million for 2024 and indexed after that. It applies only after the owner has held the property on January 1 of a prior tax year and ends at sale. Protests are due by May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later, according to the Comptroller.

Landlord rules

McKinney cannot adopt rent control except during a disaster-related housing emergency approved by the governor, under Local Government Code § 214.902. State law sets the core tenant rules: refunds of security deposits are due within 30 days of move-out under Property Code § 92.103, bad-faith retention can cost $100, three times the amount withheld and attorney's fees under § 92.109, and § 24.005 requires three days' written notice to vacate before an eviction filing unless the lease sets another period.

What this means if you own a building here

McKinney owners sell into a market with high incomes, steady in-migration and rents well above the metro, especially for larger units. The competition comes from new complexes and from single-family rentals, and buyers will compare your property against both. Older buildings near downtown trade on location and character, while newer suburban complexes trade on condition and effective rents after concessions.

Use our cap rate calculator and apartment building value calculator to test pricing, and our 1031 exchange calculator if you plan to reinvest. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across McKinney, including Historic Downtown McKinney, Craig Ranch and Stonebridge Ranch, and in nearby Allen. Our seller page explains how we underwrite.

Before you list, gather a rent roll that shows concessions separately from scheduled rent, twelve months of income and expenses, recent appraisal notices and protest results, and dated records of any system replacements. Buyers comparing your building with nearby lease-ups and rented houses will focus on effective rent and occupancy, so clean records shorten due diligence.