For most of its history, Aubrey was a quiet ranching town on US-377 that outsiders drove past on the way to the lake. That is changing fast. Aubrey was home to roughly 5,000 residents at the 2020 census, and it has been growing rapidly since — one of the reasons it’s routinely described among Texas’s fastest-growing small cities. Here’s an honest look at what’s fueling the boom and what it means for people who live here.
The master-planned wave
The clearest sign of Aubrey’s growth is the ring of large master-planned communities that have gone up in and around town, several of which have ranked among the top-selling developments in the country in recent years. Names locals now know by heart include Sandbrock Ranch, Silverado, ArrowBrooke, and Winn Ridge — each adding hundreds or thousands of homes, plus pools, parks, trails, and amenity centers.
A geography note worth keeping straight: some communities with “Aubrey” mailing addresses — like Union Park (attributed to Little Elm) and Cross Oak Ranch and Paloma Creek (in the Cross Roads / Oak Point area) — actually sit in the broader 76227 corridor rather than inside Aubrey’s city limits. And neighboring Providence Village is its own incorporated town, not an Aubrey neighborhood.
A school district building for the future
Nothing captures the growth like Aubrey ISD. In May 2022, voters approved a $385.9 million bond to keep up with enrollment. The package funds:
- Three new elementary schools
- A second middle school (the district bought about 71 acres along FM 2931 for it)
- High school additions
- New athletic facilities
As a member of the Fast Growth School Coalition, the district has projected more than 8,900 new students over roughly a decade, with enrollment expected to roughly double by around 2030–31. For families, that means new campuses opening — but also the growing pains of a district scaling up quickly.
Roads racing to catch up
Growth has put real pressure on Aubrey’s two-lane highways, and TxDOT has major projects underway:
- US-377 widening: A project estimated around $80 million aims to widen US-377 through the corridor (Pilot Point through Cross Roads toward US-380), with completion targeted later this decade.
- FM-1385 widening: TxDOT is reconstructing roughly 12 miles of FM-1385 from US-380 (Prosper) to FM-455 (Pilot Point), taking it from a two-lane rural road to a six-lane divided urban roadway. An Aubrey-area segment is under construction.
These are long-horizon projects, so expect construction to be part of the daily commute for a while.
What it means for residents
Aubrey’s growth is a double-edged sword that locals talk about constantly. On one side: new schools, new amenities, more shopping and services, and rising home values. On the other: traffic on US-377, construction, and the challenge of holding onto the small-town, Horse Country character that drew people here in the first place.
The town that trades under the nickname “Horse Country, U.S.A.” is writing a new chapter — and for once, a lot of people are around to watch it happen. New to town? Our guides to things to do and Aubrey’s neighborhoods are a good place to start.
