Decide what you are looking for (house size, lot size, quality of school district, etc), where you expect to work, and how much of a commute you're willing to deal with, then pick the area that fits your budget. Compared to California, you'll be shocked what your cash will get you out here.
McKinney, Plano, Allen, Frisco are middle class with some upper middle class subdivisions and a relatively diverse population (both economically and racially), you'll find lots of McMansions and people trying to keep up with the Jones' in these areas. Southlake and Highland Park are upper middle class with very little diversity (again, both economically and racially) and virtually no entry level homes short of knock downs and even those are going to run in the $400k range. Large percentage of the residents are business owners, executives, or professional athletes (current or retired). Southlake ISD is widely considered the best in the state (and one of the top in the nation) and the only consistent knock against it is its lack of diversity (99ish percent white). Highland Park scores nearly as high and gets the same knocks for lack of diversity. Frisco, Allen, and McKinney aren't as solid academically but are far more diverse both racially and economically. Though each has solid schools that are far better than the Dallas school district. Plano is on the downturn in my opinion due to years of multi-family housing development dragging down the socio-economic level of the area (same is happening to some degree in Frisco and McKinney presently though they are years away from it actually becoming a real problem).
I'd probably throw Coppell in with Frisco and McKinney in terms of school quality as well, good not great. Also has both middle and upper middle class subdivisions.
Commute wise, unless you're working in North Dallas (which is actually becoming a lot more common), it's roughly the same unless you're on the eastern side of McKinney in which case you get to deal with the traffic on 75 which is nothing short of horrendous at all times during the day. 635 due north of downtown Dallas is the same, terrible traffic 24 hours a day and construction that's been in progress for going on 5 or 6 years and is no where near complete. If you're working in Fort Worth, I'd suggest looking at Southlake, Keller, Grapevine, Colleyville, North Richland Hills, or the surrounding areas.
More affordable areas include Arlington, Irving, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Mansfield, Burleson, Keller, Colleyville, Grapevine, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Carrollton, and quite a few others. There are also some very cool areas near downtown Dallas, though unless you want to pay for private school, I'd steer away from those if you have kids.
From a cost standpoint, you're looking at $500k and up in Highland Park with most homes over $1mm as you're paying for proximity to downtown Dallas (and $500k buys very, very little down there), Southlake is similarly priced but gets you a far newer home on a generally larger lot (and a longer commute to downtown) with nearly all homes over $750k and most new builds running north of $1mm. Frisco, McKinney, and the rest of North Dallas can run anywhere from sub $100k entry level homes to well over $1mm and anything from zero lot line to lots very near an acre. The more affordable areas will have homes of all sizes that fall in nearly every price range you can imagine though it won't have the number of $600k plus homes that some of the other areas have.
Well if you do not like traffic Mckinny is really not a great place to move too. HWY 75 is under construction and no matter what time of day the traffic sucks.
We just recently relocated from Jacksonville, FL about 4 months ago. I was offered a job as a Navy contractor and could not turn down the offer. That being said we relocated to North Richland Hills, TX which is part of the DFW Metro Plex. We are building in Justin, TX because it is out in the country but still close enough to Southlake Town Center to feel like we are in the city. If you have school age children look at the school districts. Most are great schools but when you get closer to downtown Dallas you start running into problems.
I will say the only downside to Mckinny being named Best Place to Live in the US is that is where everyone is wanting to move and so the property prices will elevated. I would recommend taking a week trip out here and drive around and see what you like. Christmas of 2013 we came out for a visit and spent 10 days driving around and just looking to see what is available and that is when we found our land in Justin. This worked for us.
Frisco Texas is where the big money lives. Most of the Dallas Cowboys live there.
Plano just south of of Allen and Mckinny on a the busy HWY 75. I have heard on the news that the Plano Police department is hiring.
I am not a Native Texan but we feel at home.
Oh one thing the DFW area has that Austin does not is In and Out Burger.
R/
Will