Princeton, Texas.
Typical home $283,150 (-9.8% in a year), asking rent $1,972 (-0.6%). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$599 (+67%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $30,727 -10%
- $313,877$283,150 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $19,728 -7%
- $302,878$283,150 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Princeton$1,486
- Texas$1,556
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Princeton, TX fell 9.8% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Princeton, TX fell 0.6% over the past year — slower than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Princeton runs $190/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $833 in Oct 2022.
That is $2,162 a month against $1,972 rent: a $1,486 mortgage payment, plus $373 property tax and $303 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Princeton
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$2,162
- Renting$1,972
- Mortgage only$1,486
Property tax · $373/mo 1.58% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Collin County, TX
Insurance & upkeep · $303/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Princeton, Collin County, Texas
Princeton is a city of 17,027 people in Collin County. Half its households earn more than $105,200 a year and half less, against $121,600 across Collin County; 4% of its people live below the poverty line. 76% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 24% are rented. Unemployment in Princeton was 5.0% in August 2026, and Collin County had 2.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 24 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Princeton is a Texas city in Collin County with a young population, and residents are younger on average than in much of the country. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run below the county's, though few residents live below the poverty line. Winters are mild and short, with the coldest weather in January, while summers turn hot, especially in August, and a fair amount of rain falls through the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, in shops, and in banks, insurance and property. Among the largest workplaces in Princeton are Princeton ISD and Walmart, along with the nursing facility Foursquare TX16. The commute is on the long side, and a share of residents work from home. Jobs across Collin County have grown over the past year, though unemployment in Princeton is a little higher than a year ago.
Things to do. A short drive away, Lavon Lake is a reservoir for time on the water, and the Northeast Texas Trail is a long trail for walking and cycling. The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary, also a short drive off, is a museum with natural areas for a quiet afternoon. A longer drive brings you to Southfork Ranch, a museum, and Toyota Stadium, a stadium for matches and concerts.
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- 7,873households
- 29%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 32 mintypical commute
- 14%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Collin County had 562,572 jobs in 2025, 2.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 56° and lows near 34°; warmest in August, with highs near 96° and lows near 73°. About 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Mckinney Municipal Airport weather station, 5 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Princeton
- Princeton ISDSchool district1,136FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters415
- Foursquare TX16Skilled nursing facilities107
- Speed UndergroundPower, communication and pipe line right of way clearance48
- American Medical Response47
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 617 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- TornadoesVery high
- HailVery high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Princeton’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Collin County and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro.
Princeton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Princeton$283,150
- Texas$296,424
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Princeton listings, and the typical home goes pending in 69 days — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Princeton31.78%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Princeton69
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Princeton410
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Princeton69
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Princeton$276,660
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Princeton97.75%
Zip codes with a Princeton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Princeton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.