Plano is a city in the state of Texas, located mostly within Collin and Denton County. The city’s population was 269,776 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth most populous city in the state of Texas and the 70th most populous city in the United States. Plano is twenty miles north of downtown Dallas and is home to many corporate headquarters: Cinemark Theatres, Dell Services, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Frito-Lay, HP Enterprise Services, J. C. Penney, Pizza Hut, Rent-A-Center, and most recently Toyota Motors USA.

In 2005, 2006, and 2011, Plano was designated the best place to live in the Western United States by CNN Money magazine. It was also selected as the safest city in America in 2010 and 2011 by Forbes. It has been rated as the wealthiest city in the United States by CNN Money, and the United States Census Bureau declared Plano the wealthiest city of 2008 by comparing the median household income for all U.S. cities whose populations were greater than 250,000. In 2008, Forbes.com selected Plano, University Park, and Highland Park as the three “Top Suburbs To Live Well” of Dallas. The annual Plano Balloon Festival and the Plano International Festival are two of the city’s premier cultural and entertainment events.