What Murphy is like
Murphy is the finished suburb in this group. The city describes itself as a small, quality community in southeastern Collin County, midway between Plano and Wylie on FM 544, bordering Plano, Richardson, Sachse, Wylie and Parker. The 2020 Census counted 21,013 residents, up from 17,708 in 2010, and the July 2025 estimate is 20,985; the city projects a build-out of about 23,000. On 5.7 square miles that is about 3,700 people per square mile, the densest of the nine towns, and it means Murphy's story is established neighborhoods and schools rather than new rooftops.
Comfort and Lydia McMillen arrived from Arkansas in 1846 and settled on a branch of Muddy Creek later named Maxwell Creek. The settlement went by Maxwell's Creek, Old Decatur, Decatur and Maxwell's Branch before taking the name Murphy in 1888 for William Murphy, who gave land for the train depot. For eighty years it was a farm town shipping cotton, corn and onions by rail. The schoolhouse went up in 1938 as a WPA project, the school and post office closed in the 1950s, and the population had fallen to 136 by 1970. The city was formally established with the state on September 29, 1958. Growth came in the 1980s on one- to five-acre lots, then faster after the President George Bush Turnpike opened in 2000; the municipal complex opened in 2005 and the old schoolhouse reopened as the community center in 2012. Murphy has been a Tree City USA since 2010, and the Murphy Cemetery, begun in 1853, is the oldest of five historic cemeteries in town.
Parks and the creek
Maxwell Creek ties the parks together. Murphy Central Park at 550 North Murphy Road has 52 acres of parkland with 16 developed: an amphitheater that seats around 2,500 to 3,000, a two-acre stocked pond, a covered playground, a splash pad open from the Saturday before Memorial Day to Labor Day, a pavilion and five acres of fields, with a concrete trail that joins the Maxwell Creek Trail. The Preserve at Maxwell Creek, 42 acres behind the stadium, has a granite nature trail with interpretive kiosks, a long footbridge over the creek and the trailhead for the Maxwell Creek trails. Timbers Nature Preserve Park on Pine Top Drive has 28 acres, 1.6 miles of paved trail and a 14-foot hike-and-bike trail that connects to Plano's trail system and Breckenridge Park in Richardson, with a future link toward Wylie and Sachse. Smaller parks include Aviary, Brentwood, Liberty Ridge, Mustang, North Hill, Travis Farm and Waters Edge. The Murphy Community Center at 205 North Murphy Road has a fitness room and game room and shares programming with the Murphy Activity Center.
The calendar runs from the Daddy Daughter Dance and the Rainbow Trout Roundup through Food Truck Fridays, Sounds at Sundown in June, Murphy Maize Days in October, now in its sixteenth year as a free day of rides, live music and a corn-themed market, and Christmas in the Park in December.
Shopping
Murphy Marketplace at FM 544 and Murphy Road is 218,568 square feet anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market, 24 Hour Fitness and Michaels, on a corner the leasing package says carries more than 43,000 vehicles a day. Everything else is a short drive into Plano, Richardson or Wylie.
Schools
Murphy is split between Plano ISD and Wylie ISD. Plano ISD has four campuses in the city: Boggess Elementary at 225 Glen Ridge Drive (opened 2002), Hunt Elementary at 415 Oriole Drive (2005), Murphy Middle School at 620 North Murphy Road (2003) and McMillen High School at 750 North Murphy Road, which serves grades nine and ten before students move to Plano East Senior High. In the 2025 state accountability ratings Plano ISD earned a B with a score of 82; Boggess earned an A at 94, Hunt an A at 93, Murphy Middle an A at 92 and McMillen a C at 76. Wylie ISD serves the east side from Tibbals Elementary at 621 Waters Edge Way, a K-4 campus that earned an A at 96; the district earned an A at 92, and every eligible campus earned an A. The district line runs through town, so confirm a specific address.
Getting around
The city puts itself about 20 miles from downtown Dallas, about six miles east of US 75 in Plano, just under five miles north of the President George Bush Turnpike in Richardson and about 30 miles from DFW Airport. FM 544 is the main road east and west, and Murphy Road runs north and south through the civic center. Census data puts the mean commute for Murphy workers at about 32 minutes.
Who lives here
Census figures for 2020 to 2024 show a median household income of $175,699, an owner-occupancy rate of 93.7 percent and a median value of $555,500 for owner-occupied homes. Households are the largest of the nine towns at 3.52 people, 29 percent of residents are under 18, and 62 percent of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Murphy is also the most international: 32 percent of residents are Asian, 25 percent were born outside the United States, and 34.5 percent of households speak a language other than English at home. Ninety-six percent lived in the same house a year earlier.
For buyers, Murphy is a settled Collin County suburb with strong elementary and middle schools, real parks and trails, and a short reach to Plano and Richardson jobs. Because the city is nearly built out, most homes are resales from the 1990s and 2000s rather than new construction, and the live stats above reflect that smaller, steadier market.