With a PGA Resort, H-E-B, and Universal Studios, Frisco is rapidly developing.

The crowded hallways on campus are enough to show the growing population and rising diversity here in Frisco.

In 1980, Frisco was a small town just beginning to grow, with 3,500 residents and one public high school. A little more than 40 years later, there are more than 200,000 residents in the city of Frisco, and 12 high schools in Frisco ISD.

And as the city has grown, so too has its diversity.

Texas’ average Asian demographic makes up nearly five percent of its population and is its third largest minority. But in Frisco, about 22 percent of the population is Asian, more than four times the rest of Texas. Asians are the city’s largest minority demographic, and of that 22.4 percent, 14 percent are made up by South Asian and Indian immigrants.

It’s something that Mayor Jeff Cheney has definitely taken notice of.

“You know, Frisco being the fastest growing city, you know, over the last 10 to 20 years, almost everyone who lives here is from somewhere else,” Cheney said. “You don’t meet a lot of native Frisconians much anymore. And what we hope is that everyone, when they do get here and they decide to call Frisco home, that they feel safe and they feel welcomed.”

To reflect the influx of these immigrants, the growing infrastructure has adapted. Nearly every intersection has Asian groceries or restaurants, with more continuing to develop.

“When there are restaurants, when there are businesses specific to that culture, you know there’s a community there because there’s a need right?” Frisco resident, Filipino immigrant Mark Daniel Sampelo said. “There’s a lot of Filipino pop-ups, a lot of Filipino restaurants. Not specifically in Frisco, but like in Plano, Lewisville, Irving, like, all over.”

For Frisco resident and Chinese-Malaysian immigrant Carol Chay, the addition of Asian groceries has improved access to the foods she looks for.

“I’m glad that they, especially in Frisco, that they have the Asian grocery here,” she said. “It’s more convenient for me to purchase the certain kind of food that I want.”

To help make the city more comfortable for immigrants to Frisco, the mayor has started inclusivity initiatives.

“So we’ve done a lot of efforts as a city to try to do that. I started the Frisco Inclusion Committee years ago,” Cheney said. “You know, this was started back in late 2017, and really its job is to make people feel welcome. And so part of that is celebrating that diversity, so we can learn from each other. That we’re not afraid to actually light a Christmas tree at Christmas and say merry Christmas, but we also light the menorah, in the same park and we celebrate Holi, and we recognize Ramadan.”

The price of property in Texas is also far lower than other states, along with gas prices, and the overall cost of living.