Welcome to Melissa!

We are located roughly 45-minutes, drive north of Dallas and 45-minutes, drive south of the Oklahoma state line. While we may be a smaller city with a population of roughly 23,000 - and growing, we are a dynamic city with a national standards sports facility (The Z-Plex) - featuring baseball, tennis & soccer. We are also home to a Texas icon, Buc-ees, with a second Texas icon coming in 2026, HEB. Our Melissa Independent School District proudly ranks in the top 10 ISD’s in Texas.

The Melissa ISD is a 5A school district with a current enrollment of 5,700 kids and enrolling more students each week! We have 1 high school which continues to add campus buildings; 1 middle school – heading for expansion in the next year or so; a 6th grade center and 4 elementary schools, with a 5th elementary currently being developed. The ISD is also undergoing construction of a multi-million dollar football stadium opening in 2024 which is sure to be a major city highlight!

Melissa is 11.5 square miles with approximately 7,000 homes already established. Melissa is built over 3 state highways – Hwy 75, Hwy 5 and Hwy 121, which is certainly unique as our growth can often be affected by state highway improvements and regulations. These three highways also make it incredibly easy to access or leave Melissa. We have numerous strip centers and with the coming of an HEB store in 2026, we expect a number of box stores to come to Melissa then as well. Melissa will soon be home to 3 luxury townhome rental developments and at present, 9 more multifamily developments, together roughly 1,400 units.

In addition, Melissa has started undergoing what is known as the Downtown Overlay (refurbishment) and over the next few years will be adding a new retail complex near the historic heart of Melissa Downtown area. The newly added retail complex will include stores such as Aces Hardware. Our Historic Downtown is currently home to a number of established businesses - including a nationally renowned Bella Couture Salon, a gorgeous boutique, and a few more businesses, including the office of Melissa’s Chamber of Commerce. Melissa’s Historic Downtown area – although small for now – has an interesting history with only three buildings surviving the tornado of 1922. Two of those buildings are seen today on Cooper Street (the old bank building) and Barker Street off Hwy5 (the Barker House).

In Melissa, we have residents from 35 countries, speaking 29 languages in our homes and so we are certainly a diverse population but still with a number of residents who have been here for multiple generations since Melissa was much of a farming community.

Melissa is home to a number of churches - the larger 3 being First Melissa, City Church and Melissa United Methodist Church.

Melissa is very unique in that we celebrate big when it comes to our kids! Friday Night Lights is a weekly highlight during football season, and sports in our schools is as big as our academic focus is. Our ISD is the largest employer in Melissa with over 500 staff on payroll.

Melissa residents love our small town feel and while we may be growing, and maintaining that will become more of a challenge, we come together like no other in times of need. We have a few 501(c)3 charities that look to serve the residents of Melissa, such as, “Melissa Rotary Club”, “Melissa Pays it Forward”, “North Texas Feed the Need” and “Helping Hands with Helping Hearts”.

Melissa residents come together for local events, like Friday Night Football, the ISD’s annual “Heart of the Arts”, Historic Downtown’s Heart of Melissa events, city parades, National Night events in the various neighborhoods, the Rotary hosted Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at city hall, and much more!

If one were describe Melissa in a few words, these are some of the most used….”family oriented”, “unique” and “small town feel”. Our residents are friendly and genuinely care for one another!

Melissa is growing and so is our commerce. We are constantly welcoming new business to Melissa, so if you are looking for somewhere great to live, to visit or to bring your business, Melissa is definitely a Texas city to consider! At the Melissa Chamber of Commerce, we are Bridging Business and Community through Relationships that Connect.

Shannon Sweat

Melissa Chamber of Commerce Chairman