Lake Highlands

Welcome to Lake Highlands

Lake Highlands sits in Northeast Dallas, roughly 12 to 15 miles and about a 20-minute drive from downtown. It borders Richardson to the north, Garland to the east, White Rock Lake and East Dallas to the south, and Lakewood to the west. Central Expressway (US-75) runs down the west edge, LBJ Freeway (I-635) cuts across the north, and the DART Blue Line runs through the area with a station near the Lake Highlands Town Center. The housing is mostly single-family: ranch and mid-century homes built from the 1940s through the '60s on generous lots, plus newer construction and infill. In late 2025 the median sale price ran around $600,000. The trade-off is age. A lot of this stock is original, so budget for updates.

Most of Lake Highlands is served by Richardson ISD, not Dallas ISD, and that assignment is a big part of why families move here. The Lake Highlands Learning Community feeds one high school:

• Elementary: Aikin, Forest Lane Academy, Lake Highlands, Merriman Park, Moss Haven, Northlake, Skyview, Stults Road, Wallace, and White Rock.
• Middle: Forest Meadow Middle School and Lake Highlands Middle School (RISD moved to a 6–8 model, and the new Lake Highlands Middle campus opened in 2024).
• High: Lake Highlands High School, home of the Wildcats.

Green space is a real strength here. Harry S. Moss Park is a 285-acre spread along White Rock Creek with a soccer complex, picnic areas, a disc golf course, and nearly six miles of off-road bike trails built with DORBA. The paved White Rock Creek Trail runs about 8.5 miles through the area, connecting north toward North Dallas and south to White Rock Lake Park, where the 9-plus-mile loop is the most popular trail in the city. Add the neighborhood parks and the disc golf course at B.B. Owen Park, and there's a lot of outdoor room for a place this close to the core.

The Lake Highlands Fourth of July Parade is the big one. Run by the Exchange Club of Lake Highlands, it steps off at 9 a.m. from Church Road and Garden Oaks Drive, ends at the Lake Highlands Aquatic Center, and draws well over a thousand participants: kids on decorated bikes, neighborhood floats, and Dallas Fire-Rescue trucks, followed by a carnival in the Aquatic Center lot. The Exchange Club runs other community events through the year, and White Rock Lake, just to the south, hosts festivals and races.

Lake Highlands Town Center, at Skillman and Walnut Hill, is the walkable center of the retail scene: a mixed-use development anchored by a Sprouts grocery, with restaurants and shops built around townhomes, apartments, and the DART station. Beyond it, the area runs on solid everyday retail and local restaurants more than a nightlife district. For a bigger night out, most residents head south to Lakewood or down toward White Rock and Lower Greenville.

The name goes back to the 1920s, when a tract of about 117 acres on White Rock Lake was pitched as a high-end residential section right on the water. The neighborhood most people know took shape after World War II. Dallas boomed, GI Bill mortgages put homeownership in reach, and builders turned old farmland east of White Rock into subdivisions of ranch and mid-century homes through the '40s, '50s, and '60s. Schools grew alongside the houses: Richardson ISD, founded in 1854, opened Lake Highlands Elementary in 1955 and Lake Highlands High School in 1964. Richland College opened nearby in 1972, and DART light rail reached the area in the 2000s. Today it's one of the larger single-family neighborhoods in the city.

Lake Highlands is for buyers who want a yard, strong public schools, and real trees without leaving the city for a suburb. The Richardson ISD assignment is the whole draw for a lot of families, so verify the exact campus for an address before you fall for the house, because the zone can flip within a few blocks. And walk the lot. Much of this stock is original 1950s and '60s construction, so put foundation, roof, and updates into your number up front.

• Exchange Club of Lake Highlands — neighborhood events and the Fourth of July Parade

• Richardson ISD — Lake Highlands Learning Community and school assignments

• Lake Highlands Advocate — local neighborhood news

• Harry S. Moss Park (Dallas Parks) — parks and trails