Kennedale is a small but growing Tarrant County suburb that offers a quiet, close‑knit feel with quick access to bigger‑city amenities in Fort Worth and Arlington. Learn why commuters, young families, and long‑term homeowners are all finding their place in Kennedale
Kennedale is small: about 6.6 square miles and somewhere between 8,500 and 10,600 people depending on whose estimate you trust. But the median hides something. The established west side trades around $350,000 while new construction on the east side clears $500,000, and a handful of builder closings can swing the citywide number either direction.
Resale only now
The city's main recent master-planned community, built by Impression Homes on Collett Sublett Road and now closed out. Served by Delaney Elementary, James A. Arthur Intermediate, Kennedale Junior High and Kennedale High.
$495K to $519K
Currently the top of the Kennedale market and where the new-build money is going. Around 2,787 square feet, three bed and two and a half bath, with price cuts already showing on some plans, which is worth knowing before you offer.
Around $350K
Traditional brick homes running roughly 1,890 to 2,790 square feet, one of the better-known established names in town and a realistic target if the new-build numbers are out of reach.
Established pricing
Sits on lower ground near Village Creek with mature landscape and clay soils that make a foundation inspection more than a formality. Two separate additions sharing a name.
Varies
The city's townhome option, marketed on low-maintenance living. In a market this small, an attached-product choice at all is worth flagging for downsizers and first-time buyers.
Established pricing
Shares its name with the Oak Crest Drive corridor, which matters: the city ran a dedicated redevelopment study for that area and required four adult businesses to close and leave by 2012.
Varies
Two of the named additions that make up the bulk of Kennedale's housing. In a city where the median home was built around 1995, most stock sits in additions like these rather than in branded communities.
Varies
Brookstone Estates, Crestdale, Hilldale, Bloxom Park, Country Estates, Falcon Wood Estates, Oak Hill and The Vineyard. Small additions, most without an HOA, which is part of the appeal here.
Lots vary widely
Kennedale keeps a rural streak. One-acre and two-acre residential parcels are actively listed, along with smaller infill lots, so scattered-site custom building is a real option here in a way it is not in most DFW suburbs.
~90 acres
The single biggest thing on Kennedale's horizon. Texas Raceway, a drag strip that opened in 1961, closed after the 2016 season, and the land is now marketed for development with a Residential Medium Density designation and a reinvestment zone overlay.
Swipe or drag sideways to see them all.
If you search Kennedale you will find this, so here it is straight. The downtown burned in 1908 and was never rebuilt, and when the highway came through around 1932 commerce moved to the corridor. Over the following decades that corridor filled with auto salvage yards, used-parts businesses, racetracks and adult businesses.
The city's own comprehensive plan does not dodge it, describing Kennedale as having been notorious for exactly those things while noting that most were closing or moving out. The city then did something about it: annexation, rezoning, and a three-year amortization ordinance requiring nonconforming uses to close — a policy tested in court and upheld on appeal in 2006.
Today the TownCenter is built, the adult businesses are gone, and a reduced number of salvage operations remain. This is economic history and a redevelopment story, not a stigma, and the metal and fabrication trades are still genuine local employers.
Here is the practical part, and it is the single most useful thing on this page. Much of the famous salvage cluster is not in Kennedale at all.
Addresses on West Kennedale Parkway and the Oak Crest Drive row sit in Fort Worth, ZIP 76140, despite carrying Kennedale in the name. Kennedale's own city limits are 76060, and the yards genuinely inside them sit farther southeast along Mansfield Highway.
So when a search result shows a dozen salvage yards "in Kennedale," check the ZIP before you draw a conclusion about a neighbourhood. The same confusion works in reverse for restaurants, which the guide to local businesses covers.
Worth knowing before you compare to the southern suburbs. Kennedale's combined rate runs about 2.32 percent, made up of the city at roughly 0.70, Kennedale ISD at 1.1352, and the Tarrant County, college and hospital district levies.
That is above Mansfield at 2.24, Duncanville at 2.254, DeSoto at 2.283 and Cedar Hill at 2.297, and near Lancaster's 2.362. The school district rate is doing most of that work.
The offset: no Public Improvement District and no Municipal Utility District was found anywhere in the city, so nothing stacks on top. The only special district is a reinvestment zone, which does not add to your bill.
Neighborhood names come from the City of Kennedale, the Tarrant Appraisal District, builder marketing and brokerage subdivision directories; some entries in appraisal records are survey or plat designations rather than marketed neighborhoods. Price ranges, lot sizes and square footages come from listing and builder data as observed and move constantly, so treat them as indicative and ask for a current comparative market analysis. Kennedale is a small market and its median is volatile: a handful of new-construction closings can move the citywide figure without any individual home changing value, which is why the established and new-construction bands are shown separately here. Published medians range from about $356,000 to over $500,000 across sources depending on method and month. Population estimates also conflict, from 9,439 on one census survey basis to 10,626 on another and 11,187 on a third projection, against a firm 2020 count of 8,517. Tax rates shown are from published Tarrant County schedules, reset annually, and some line items appear at more than one value across sources; effective rates after exemptions run lower than the statutory combined figure. The specific City of Kennedale optional homestead percentage and the over-65 and disabled exemption amounts could not be confirmed and should be verified with the city and the Tarrant Appraisal District. No Public Improvement District or Municipal Utility District was identified, though this was not confirmed against the state special-purpose district directory; a reinvestment zone exists and does not add a homeowner assessment. Kennedale addresses appear in both the 76060 and 76140 ZIP codes and the latter is shared with Fort Worth, so confirm city limits by address rather than by ZIP or street name. Some Kennedale-area addresses near the city edge may fall in a district other than Kennedale ISD; confirm school assignment by address. Redevelopment of the former raceway site reflects designation and marketing rather than an executed development agreement. Confirm zoning, floodplain, school attendance and city limits for any address before acting on it. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Kennedale has about 8,500 people, so this is not Mansfield and I am not going to pretend otherwise. What is here is roughly twenty genuine independents, a strong taqueria bench, and one diner that has held the same room for nearly two decades. Plus one world-famous barbecue joint that is not technically in Kennedale at all, which I will explain.
7089 E Kennedale Pkwy
The anchor, and the one place that most defines eating in Kennedale. A locally owned country diner that has held the same room for more than nineteen years, with a lot of the menu still under ten dollars.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram described it about as well as anyone could: Paris Coffee Shop meets Texas Motor Speedway meets Kennedale. That is exactly right — it is a proper diner sitting on a highway that used to be lined with racetracks and salvage yards, and the regulars have been coming for years.
Kennedale
The burger everyone names first. The Mansfield Burger gets called one of the best in the metroplex by people who have eaten a lot of burgers across DFW, which is a real claim for a town this size.
Kennedale
Kennedale's own barbecue, and a regular on local best-of lists. Worth naming clearly because the famous one down the road is not actually in Kennedale — see the note below.
4645 Dick Price Rd, Fort Worth 76140
Every list calls it "near Kennedale," so let me be precise. Goldee's was named the number one barbecue joint in Texas by Texas Monthly in 2021 and ranked third in 2025, holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and was a James Beard semifinalist.
It is a genuine destination and it is minutes away. But the address is Fort Worth, not Kennedale, and I would rather tell you that than let a city page take credit for a neighbour's restaurant. Go anyway. Go early.
Kennedale
Locally owned and consistently well reviewed, with the carne asada fries getting named repeatedly alongside the service.
Kennedale
The birria tacos are available all day rather than just at the usual window, which matters if you work a schedule that does not line up with everyone else's lunch.
Across Kennedale
For a town this size the Mexican bench is genuinely deep: El Cielito Lindo, Taqueria Don Pancho, El Sazón De Los Vargas and Taqueria Santa Rosa, on top of Carmen's and Arriero. Six places in a city of eight thousand is a real food culture.
Kennedale
Valentinos does New York style pizza and gets named specifically for handling large orders without falling apart, which is the useful thing to know about a pizza place. Thai Texas covers the only Thai in town.
Kennedale
A macro-focused cafe with a meal-prep service attached, and every meal comes with its macros listed. An unexpected thing to find in a small Texas town, and useful if you are training.
Kennedale
Kennedale's independent coffee shop, dessert-forward and very highly rated. In a town with no bakery and no ice cream shop, this carries the whole sweet-and-caffeine category on its own.
Across Kennedale
HWY BAR, Happy Armadillo, Dudes and McCullars Irish Pub and Grill. Four bars for eight thousand people, which tells you something about the town. There is no brewery or taproom inside the city limits — for that you drive to Fort Worth.
Kennedale
The signature Kennedale shop, networking more than fifty dealers of antiques and vintage collectibles under one roof. Their own line is that they sell memories from the past, and it draws people in from outside town.
Kennedale
An independent pharmacy is a genuine community anchor in a town this size, and increasingly rare anywhere. Garden of Eden adds a second vintage and consignment option.
Off New Hope Rd
A quarter-mile dirt oval that is still operating — the survivor of three racing venues that once ran here. Texas Raceway, the drag strip that opened in 1961, closed after 2016 and its land is now slated for housing.
Kennedale
A skate park with youth programmes, plus the Golf Driving Range of Texas. Modest, but they are the two recreation businesses a family will actually use week to week.
Kennedale
The closest thing Kennedale has to a walkable centre, and the physical proof of the redevelopment story. Seven acres holding a replica 1890s railroad section house that houses the Chamber, trails, pedestrian bridges and a plaza used for festivals and outdoor concerts.
It also holds a 9/11 memorial park built around a steel beam from the World Trade Center, which is not something most towns this size have.
Along Mansfield Hwy
Worth listing rather than hiding, because it is a real local industry employing real people. Apache Iron & Metal has been family-owned since 1972, alongside Salvage King, Discount Auto Salvage and Nationwide.
If you need a part for an older vehicle, this corridor is one of the best-known sources in North Texas, and people drive in from across the metroplex for it.
Stated plainly, because a page that only lists positives is not much use. No farmers market. No food truck park. No brewery or taproom. No independent bakery, donut shop or ice cream parlour that could be confirmed. No independent florist, boutique or gift shop.
Chains cluster along the Kennedale Parkway corridor and cover the obvious gaps, and Arlington, Mansfield and Fort Worth are all a short drive. But if a walkable street of independent shops is what you are after, that is not what this town is. What it has instead is a diner people have gone to for two decades, six taquerias, an antique mall with fifty dealers, and a town centre built where a burned-down downtown never got rebuilt.
Verified September 2026, and deliberately short rather than padded. Roughly twenty to twenty-five genuine consumer-facing independent businesses were confirmed in Kennedale, alongside the automotive parts sector listed here as a legitimate local industry; that is an honest count for a city of about 8,500 people and no attempt has been made to inflate it to match the larger cities covered elsewhere on this site. National and regional chains cluster along the Kennedale Parkway corridor and are excluded rather than overlooked. The single biggest research hazard here is the city limit: numerous businesses carrying "Kennedale" in their name or address sit in Fort Worth ZIP 76140 rather than Kennedale 76060, including much of the salvage corridor and Goldee's Barbecue, which is listed above under its actual Fort Worth address rather than claimed as a Kennedale business. Several results returned by directory searches for Kennedale may carry Arlington, Mansfield or Fort Worth addresses, and every address should be confirmed before you drive. Exact street addresses, phone numbers and founding years were not published for several entries and are omitted here rather than guessed. Business listings were drawn from directory and review platforms and reflect existence and category rather than an audited count; operating status changes quickly in a small market, so call ahead. Categories stated as absent mean no reliable Kennedale source was found, not that something is impossible. Businesses listed are for general local reference and are not endorsements, and I receive no compensation from any business named. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
A Mineral Well, a Fire That Ended the Downtown Forever, Three Racetracks, and a Steel Beam from the World Trade Center
Native peoples hunted and fished along Village Creek here. The Village Creek tribes and the Republic of Texas signed a treaty in 1843, and settlers followed.
Sources disagree on timing. The local historical society puts the first documented settlers in the mid-1850s, many holding Peters Colony land grants; the state handbook says the 1860s or 1870s.
In 1882 Oliver Sylvester Kennedy, John Dixon Hudson and Colonel Boggs Teague bought land at the site of a mineral well. Teague surveyed it. The post office opened in 1884 and the town was platted in 1886.
The name has a twist. It likely came from Kennedale in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, which was named for O.S. Kennedy's uncle. Co-founder Hudson had come to Texas with his stepfather, who hailed from that same Alabama county.
Early resources were the mineral well, several dairies, cotton and a brickyard. Mineral wells in this era often drew health seekers, though no resort is documented here, and nothing of the well remains.
One unresolved oddity: the town was platted in 1886 but the city seal reads EST 1887, and no source explains the gap.
The three founders donated land and right of way to bring the railroad, and the line ran by May 1886. A public school existed by 1890 and the brickyards became regionally known.
The Fort Worth and New Orleans built a passenger depot and three section houses for crews maintaining the track. The depot and two houses were gone by the 1950s.
An 1887 Fort Worth newspaper said Kennedale's extensive brickyards made as fine durable brick as was ever put in a wall. By 1894 the works was run by George Epple and Lucy Sargent, still remembered locally as Mrs. Sargent's brickyard; the city bought the land in 1976 and it is now Sonora Park.
The first school was a two-storey frame building with one teacher and a two-month academic year. First United Methodist has been at 229 West 4th since 1903.
Fire raged through the business district, destroying everything but the general store. It was never rebuilt. That single decision shaped the next hundred years of this town more than anything else in its history.
A caption in the town's own historical collection reads simply: this fire destroyed the old historic part of Kennedale. The general store that survived stood until 1997.
Follow the consequence. With no downtown to return to, commerce had nowhere to re-form. When the highway came through in the 1930s, business went there instead — and that corridor later filled with salvage yards, racetracks and adult businesses.
The city's own comprehensive plan draws the line directly, noting the 1908 fire is why Kennedale has so few historic structures. Almost nothing of the nineteenth-century townscape survives standing.
How the fire started is not documented in any source found. A separate blaze the previous year burned 43 bales of cotton and was blamed on a passing train, but that was a different event.
Around 1932 State Highway 34 was built through town, now Kennedale Parkway, and business activity migrated to the road. The town stayed small and rural: 312 people and ten businesses in 1926.
As late as the 1940s some homes here still had no electricity. The late forties counted roughly 325 people and eight businesses.
This is the era that set the pattern. Kennedale became a highway town rather than a main street town, because the fire had removed the alternative.
In July 1947, with 300 residents, Kennedale voted to incorporate, drawing city limits along the school district boundary across 13.5 square miles. By 1950 it hit 500 people and the state reclassified it from Town to City.
Services came slowly. The first water lines went in during 1952 and sewer lines in the early 1960s.
Fort Worth's defence industry drove the growth: 1,046 residents and twenty businesses by 1955, then 2,900 residents and seventy businesses by 1975. A Home Rule charter followed in the late nineties.
This is the part people forget. Three racing venues operated within half a mile of each other off New Hope Road — a drag strip, a dirt oval and a second oval — making a town of a few thousand into a genuine regional motorsports destination.
Texas Raceway opened in 1961 as an eighth-mile gravel drag strip, paved for the 1981 season. Kennedale Speedway Park, a quarter-mile dirt oval, still runs today and hosts national touring series. Cowtown Speedway, a high-bank clay oval, is defunct.
The drag strip's ending was messy. A development agreement to convert the land was predicated on both remaining tracks closing. The oval reopened, and in March 2017 Texas Raceway's owners announced that due to circumstances beyond our control it's no longer an option. It never reopened.
Through the back half of the century the highway corridor filled with salvage yards, scrap operations, used-parts businesses and adult businesses, giving a very small city an outsized regional reputation.
The city does not hide from it. Its own comprehensive plan states that Kennedale was notorious for the sexually-oriented businesses, salvage yards and automotive race tracks located here, while noting many were closing or moving out.
No verified count of yards operating inside the city at peak exists. Directory counts wildly overstate it, because many addresses carrying Kennedale in the name sit in Fort Worth rather than in the city limits.
Kennedale did something small cities rarely attempt. It used annexation, rezoning and a three-year amortization ordinance to force nonconforming uses to close — and when it was sued, it won on appeal.
The sequence was deliberate. Ordinance 174 in 1999 annexed land including a salvage yard. Ordinance 210 in 2001 zoned it so salvage was not permitted. An amortization ordinance required nonconforming uses to be discontinued three years after becoming nonconforming.
The owner sued, arguing the extension process violated due process. The appeals court's ruling was two words long in effect: we affirm.
Separately, in the Oakcrest area, the city secured a binding agreement requiring four sexually-oriented businesses to close and leave Kennedale by 2012, then had graduate students at UT Arlington study what to do with the sites.
The town built a new civic centre, and at its heart put a twelve-foot steel beam from the World Trade Center, given by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and dedicated in October 2011.
The design is remarkable for a town this size. Five granite walls form the shape of the Pentagon, and the beam itself acts as the gnomon of a sundial — its shadow crosses an etched timeline at the exact times of the 2001 events.
It was built on generosity. The architect designed the sundial for free, a trucking company hauled the beam from New York at no charge, and the city spent roughly $40,000 in all.
The mayor told the Star-Telegram the memorial draws people year round. Around it sits the seven-acre TownCenter, including a rebuilt replica of the 1890s railroad section house — the original survived as a private residence until it burned in 2008.
The city created a reinvestment zone to fund water, sewer, road reconstruction and trails, with the explicit aim of converting racetrack land to housing. Population went from 6,763 in 2010 to 8,517 in 2020 and is estimated past 10,000 now.
The former Texas Raceway is now about ninety acres carrying a Residential Medium Density future land use designation. It is the largest single thing that could change this town again.
The arc is unusual and worth stating plainly: a town that lost its downtown to fire in 1908, spent a century as a highway strip, and then deliberately built itself a new centre from scratch.
Compiled from the City of Kennedale's own history pages and comprehensive plan, the Kennedale Historical Society, the Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas, the Texas Almanac, Kennedale ISD, the Texas Historical Commission marker records, the Historical Marker Database, Tarrant County Archives, the federal appellate record, Kennedale News and US Census data. Where the record disagrees with itself it is said so: settlement is dated to the mid-1850s by one source and the 1860s or 1870s by another; the town was platted in 1886 while the city seal reads EST 1887 and no source explains the discrepancy; the school district's founding appears as around 1890 on its historical marker and as 1909 in the city's own account; and the Home Rule charter is dated 1997 by one record and ratified by voters in January 1998. The cause of the 1908 fire is not documented in any source found and is not guessed at here. No verified count exists of salvage yards operating inside the city at peak, and directory counts are inflated because many businesses carrying Kennedale in their name or address sit in Fort Worth rather than in the city limits. No mineral-water resort or bath house is documented despite being common in that era, and nothing of the well remains. Three Texas Historical Commission markers were identified, for the school district, the First United Methodist Church and Snider Cemetery; no National Register property was found, and almost no nineteenth-century structure survives standing because of the fire. No freedmen's settlement, Black school or Black church specific to Kennedale was documented in available sources. Beyond the 1908 fire, no major tornado or flood specific to the city was documented. Population figures are from census counts and estimates and the decline recorded between 1970 and 1980 is not explained in available sources. Because businesses and addresses carrying the Kennedale name frequently sit in Fort Worth ZIP 76140 rather than Kennedale 76060, jurisdiction was verified separately for every claim here. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Six or Seven Real Traditions, and Fireworks That Happen in December
The biggest thing Kennedale does all year, and a genuinely old tradition — recent editions have been billed as the twenty-sixth annual. TownCenter Park gets thousands of lights and a 38-foot tree, and here is the part that surprises people: this is when Kennedale does its fireworks.
Doors open at two in the afternoon with live music until six, cookie decorating, letters to Santa, a trackless train, carnival rides and midway games. An ugly sweater contest at five, Santa and Mrs Claus, then the tree lighting at six followed immediately by about ten minutes of fireworks.
Free to attend, with donations encouraged to the firefighters' association Angel Tree. The city manager framed it as building new traditions and being part of your memories, which for a town that lost its original downtown is more pointed than it sounds.
Exactly the right event for this town's history. Noon to four at TownCenter Park, free to look, $20 to enter a car, with day-of registration only. Prizes for top twenty, best of show and a city pick.
The scheduling is deliberate and very Kennedale: it is timed so attendees can head straight to the World of Outlaws races at the speedway afterward.
Dates have moved between early and late March and one year was rescheduled, so confirm before you plan around it.
Historically the city's signature spring festival, named for the old brickyards. Artists, live music, a beer tent, a pet parade, a history-of-Kennedale parade and the Brickfest 5K, with proceeds funding arts scholarships for local students.
Flagged honestly: this may be dormant. The festival's own website says the seventh annual in 2016 was its last year on that site, and recent city promotion leads with the barbecue competition instead.
It may still run, it may have quietly ended, or it may have been folded into something else. Confirm with the city before you plan around it rather than trusting an old listing.
A city-run sanctioned State Championship barbecue competition, held at Kennedale Speedway Park. Brisket, ribs and chicken, with an optional separate beans category at 100 percent payout. Recent promotion advertised a guaranteed purse over $20,000.
Entry has ranged from $225 to $300 for the main categories plus $25 for beans depending on year, so confirm the current fee. Volunteer judges are recruited, which is the cheapest way into this event if you are not cooking.
The month has moved between April and June across years.
Worth stating plainly rather than letting you assume. No city Independence Day celebration or fireworks show was found. Kennedale's municipal fireworks are attached to the December tree lighting instead, which is genuinely unusual.
For a July show you drive to Arlington, Mansfield or Fort Worth, all of which run large displays and are fifteen to twenty-five minutes away.
The city's Halloween night, run by the Youth Advisory Council and the library across TownCenter and City Hall. Trunk-or-treating and Pumpkin Palooza from five to seven, food trucks behind City Hall, a craft fair at the senior centre and a family movie at nine.
One detail tells you the turnout: trunk hosts are asked to bring candy for at least 500 kids. In a city of around ten thousand, that is a serious share of the town showing up.
The memorial is built as a sundial, and the shadow of the World Trade Center beam crosses an etched timeline at the exact times of the 2001 attacks. People gather for the 8:46 shadow.
A formal recurring ceremony is implied by the design and by press coverage of anniversary gatherings, but a specific annual event listing could not be confirmed, so check with the city. The memorial itself is open year round and the mayor has said it draws visitors constantly.
Kennedale's most distinctive recurring draw and the survivor of three tracks. A quarter-mile dirt oval running weekly programmes plus national touring series including World of Outlaws sprint cars. Ticket prices vary by event.
Yes, Kennedale has its own library. Recurring free programmes include baby and toddler storytime, preschool storytime, a monthly adult craft, Cricut workshops and drop-in tech help with a librarian, plus free digital lending.
TownCenter Park has a playground, pavilion and an 850-foot walking path around the memorial. Sonora Park sits on the old brickyard land the city bought in 1976, with trails and a fishing pier.
An honest calendar for a town of ten thousand means naming the gaps. No Fourth of July celebration. No city Easter egg hunt. No Juneteenth or Martin Luther King Day observance run by the city. No farmers market. No National Night Out listing found. No municipal recreation centre or public pool.
Some of those are genuinely surprising — a city where about fourteen percent of residents are Black with no city Juneteenth event is worth noting rather than glossing over. Fort Worth and Arlington run large observances a short drive away.
What is here instead is real: a Christmas festival in its third decade, a state championship barbecue contest, a car show that fits the town's history exactly, and a dirt track that has outlived the other two. Six or seven traditions, all of them genuine.
Dates shift annually and the authoritative source is the City of Kennedale calendar and news feed at cityofkennedale.com, supplemented by the local news outlet and the speedway's own schedule for racing dates. Several items are flagged rather than presented as certain. The Brickworks Festival was historically the signature spring event but its dedicated website indicates the 2016 edition was its last posted year and recent city promotion leads with the barbecue competition instead, so its current status should be confirmed before planning around it. The barbecue competition's month has moved between April and June and its entry fee has been published at both $225 and $300, so confirm the current year. The car show has shifted within March and was rescheduled at least once. A formal recurring September 11 ceremony is strongly implied by the memorial's sundial design and by press coverage of anniversary gatherings, but a specific annual listing could not be confirmed. Statements that something does not exist mean no reliable Kennedale source was found, not that it is impossible; in particular no city-run Independence Day, Easter, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Day, National Night Out or farmers market event was located, and no municipal recreation or aquatics centre was documented. Chamber of Commerce and school district events exist but specific recurring public dates were not individually confirmed. Attendance figures are not published for most Kennedale events and none are estimated here. Because businesses and organisations carrying the Kennedale name frequently sit in Fort Worth ZIP 76140 rather than Kennedale 76060, jurisdiction was verified separately for every venue listed. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
What to know about Kennedale schools:
Said plainly: Kennedale ISD rated a C in the 2024-25 accountability release and rose to a B in 2026, with the largest gain at Delaney Elementary. That is stronger than Fort Worth or Everman and clearly behind Mansfield, where all eight high schools are rated A. If top-tier ratings are your priority, compare carefully before you buy.
Two things to verify by address: a small pocket on the southeast edge is in Mansfield ISD rather than Kennedale ISD, and whether you are zoned to Delaney or Patterson for second through fifth grade.
Want the full breakdown? Read our complete Kennedale ISD guide →
Kennedale ISD is the smallest district covered on this site: five campuses and about 2,800 students, against Mansfield's 49 campuses and 35,700. With one junior high and one high school, every neighbourhood feeds the same path. The only variable is which of two elementaries you get.
Mistletoe Dr, Kennedale
Every child in the district starts here. Converted from an intermediate school into a dedicated early childhood centre in autumn 2023, focused on experiential and play-based learning. Principal Laura Wells.
180 W Kennedale Pkwy
One of two elementaries and the only real zoning variable in the whole district. Serves the Magnolia Hills community. Principal Trisha Poore.
Worth knowing honestly: Delaney was the district's lowest-rated campus in the 2024-25 release. It was also the campus with the largest improvement in the 2026 release, which is the more useful signal.
6621 Kelly Elliott Rd, Arlington
Note the address. Patterson physically sits in Arlington but is fully a Kennedale ISD campus, which confuses buyers reading listings. Principal Cari Clark.
930 Corry A. Edwards Dr
The 1974 building, which served as the high school until the current one opened in 1998. Enrolment is up about 24 percent since 2016, making this the district's growth campus. Principal Matthew Scott.
901 Wildcat Way
Opened 1998. Green and white, and a 94.6 percent graduation rate against the state's 90.3. Principal Michael Cagle. Every student in the district ends up here.
Average SAT of 969 and ACT of 21.0 for recent graduates. About 51 percent of students are considered at risk and 14 percent are in bilingual or English learner programmes, which is useful context for reading any rating.
Enrolment has softened from 1,005 to around 920 while the junior high grows, so the high school should stabilise or grow again shortly.
At the high school
The best thing this district offers, and it punches well above the size of the town. A combined pathway running Tarleton State University, UT OnRamps, Advanced Placement and Tarrant County College dual credit.
Students can finish with a Tarleton transcript carrying a Core Complete designation covering the 42-credit core, meet their college and career readiness benchmark by the end of sophomore year, and receive guaranteed admission to Tarleton State.
And the part that matters most: students who qualify for free or reduced lunch pay nothing. In a district where half the students are considered at risk, that is a serious piece of access.
Ninth graders opt in at course selection.
Wildcat Stadium
Unusually good for a school this size. Boys basketball won state in 2025 and again in 2008, girls soccer went back to back in 2015 and 2016, and softball took the 2000 title.
The 2025 basketball final was a 69 to 65 win with Trey Smith named most valuable player on 22 points. The 2016 soccer team won its final six nil and went 76-6-2 across three seasons.
Football is the interesting case. Thirty-one playoff appearances and roughly fifteen district titles, but no state championship — the high-water mark is the 2016 team that went 14-2 and finished state runner-up.
Pro alumni: Baron Browning in the NFL with Denver and Arizona, and Cedric James with Minnesota.
A stadium seating 8,200 for a school of under a thousand tells you what Friday nights mean here.
Across the district
Career and technical education at the high school, including a culinary lab funded by the 2023 bond. A Wildcat Virtual Academy for online learning. Plus bilingual and English learner services, gifted and talented, special education and dyslexia support.
In and around Kennedale
Fellowship Academy on North Bowman Springs Road is the one private school in town, Christian and accredited, serving roughly pre-K through twelfth with about 350 students.
Tuition at the top grade runs around $14,400. No Catholic or other parochial school operates in Kennedale.
No public charter campus was found inside the city limits — the big operators are in surrounding Fort Worth, Arlington and Mansfield, so a charter family would commute.
Kennedale ISD does accept out-of-district transfers through a dedicated application, with terms set annually.
First, a small pocket on the southeast edge of Kennedale is in Mansfield ISD rather than Kennedale ISD, zoned mainly to Tarver-Rendon Elementary. Second, Kennedale ISD reaches outward too, into parts of Arlington and Fort Worth, so the district boundary and the city limit are not the same line.
Add the 76140 problem covered elsewhere on this page: an address carrying a Kennedale name may sit in Fort Worth, where a different district applies entirely.
Run the exact street address through the district's own street list before you assume anything. Within Kennedale ISD proper, the only question that matters is Delaney or Patterson.
This trips people up constantly. Until 2023 the district ran an intermediate school for fifth and sixth grade and a junior high for seventh and eighth. That structure is retired.
It now runs pre-K through first at the Arthur centre, second through fifth at Delaney or Patterson, sixth through eighth at the junior high, then ninth through twelfth.
Several third-party school-rating sites still publish the old grade bands, so if a listing or an app tells you your child's school in a way that does not match the above, it is using stale data.
Stated plainly, because a buyer comparing towns deserves it. Kennedale ISD rated a C in the 2024-25 accountability release and rose to a B in the 2026 release, with gains across most campuses and the biggest jump at Delaney.
That places it above Fort Worth ISD and Everman ISD, and clearly below Mansfield ISD, where all eight high schools are rated A. Arlington ISD held a C in the same release Kennedale earned its B.
No evidence was found of the district ever being under state intervention, monitoring or conservatorship. Enrolment is essentially flat at around 2,800 even as the city grows, which is worth knowing: this is a stable small district, not a boom district.
Kennedale ISD adopted $1.1352 for 2025, split about $0.7552 for operations and $0.3800 for debt.
Against the neighbours it sits mid-table. On a $500,000 home after the state homestead exemption, the school portion runs roughly $42 a year less than Mansfield and about $320 less than Lancaster or DeSoto, but around $232 more than Midlothian and $259 more than Red Oak.
Two recent bond votes went opposite ways. In May 2023 voters approved about $106 million across five propositions, funding a career and technical and culinary lab, a library, science labs, a performing arts centre and districtwide systems work. In May 2025 voters rejected an $11 million package covering stadium turf, performing arts seating and an auditorium renovation — narrowly, and despite the district saying it would not raise the debt rate.
Accountability ratings are intentionally not shown on the campus cards. State letter grades change annually and a single year rarely reflects what a campus is actually like; the district trend is described above for context, including weaker results, because a buyer comparing Kennedale to Mansfield or Arlington deserves the real picture. For current ratings go to TXschools.gov, or GreatSchools and Niche for third-party scores, noting that several third-party sites still publish the pre-2023 grade bands and are therefore wrong about which campus serves which grade. Attendance zones must be verified by address through the district's own street list, not from a listing or an app. Several items could not be verified and are flagged rather than guessed: the district's published square mileage; elementary zoning for individual neighbourhoods other than Magnolia Hills, which is confirmed as Delaney; per-campus numeric accountability scores, where only letter grades were confirmed; an explicit statement that the district has never been under state intervention, where no evidence of intervention was found but no confirmation was published; the per-proposition vote splits on the 2023 bond, where the total and passage are confirmed; and whether Kennedale ISD grants a local optional percentage homestead exemption above the state minimum. The City of Kennedale's current optional homestead percentage, over-65 and disabled amounts and freeze status could not be confirmed and should be verified with the city and the Tarrant Appraisal District. The Arthur centre's address appears with both an east and a west designation across sources. Enrolment figures vary by source and year and the district is best described as flat at roughly 2,700 to 2,850. Tax comparisons are school district taxes only, shown after the state homestead exemption, and exclude city, county, college and hospital levies; Kennedale's total combined rate of about 2.32 percent is the highest of any city covered on this site. University Interscholastic League classifications reflect the 2026 through 2028 alignment and change every two years. No public charter campus and no Catholic or parochial school was identified inside the city limits. This information is provided for general reference only and is not a recommendation regarding any school, campus, district, neighbourhood or property. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Median Sales Price
What Kennedale homes actually sold for each month. Read the caution beside it before you draw any conclusion from a single month, because this is a very small market.
Kennedale closes as few as four homes in a month. Recent readings ran up 35 percent year over year, then down 15 percent seven months later. That is sample size, not the market.
Two markets hide in this one line: an established side near $350,000 to $380,000 and new construction clearing $495,000. The citywide median is almost certainly not your comp.
Texas is a non-disclosure state, so portal prices are models. This is MLS. But in a market this thin, ask for the actual comparable sales rather than the citywide line.
Days on market survives a small sample better than a median does, because it describes how the market behaved rather than which house happened to sell. Recent readings have run in the thirties to forties, up from the high twenties.
The first two weeks bring the most traffic a listing will ever get. If they pass without an offer, that is pricing information. Acting in week three beats acting in week ten.
Anything well past the median is worth a look. In a thin market, sellers who have waited two months are usually the ones willing to negotiate.
Under 10 showings means buyers are deciding quickly. Rising counts mean people are walking through and walking away, which is a different problem from nobody looking at all.
This separates a pricing problem from a presentation problem. Plenty of showings and no offer usually means something specific is putting people off, and that is fixable without dropping the price.
High showings-to-pending means you can be selective without losing homes. Read it against days on market: low on both is a hot market, high on both means the leverage is yours.
This chart is the key to the other three. Kennedale has run as low as four closings in a month and around twenty across a quarter. When the bar is that short, one unusual sale moves every other number on this page.
Low volume cuts both ways. Fewer buyers, but also far fewer competing listings. Being the only decent house in your price band on a given month is a real advantage here.
Expect thin inventory and patience. In a town selling a handful of homes a month, the right house may simply not be listed yet, which is an argument for being set up and ready rather than shopping casually.
Charts supplied by NTREIS via 10K Research and Marketing and update automatically. Data reflects residential activity reported to the MLS and may be revised as late-reported sales come in. Kennedale is the smallest market covered on this site and its monthly figures should be read with that in mind: closings have run as low as four in a single month and around twenty across a quarter, which is not enough transactions for a median to be statistically reliable. Published value figures for the city currently span roughly $268,000 to $514,000 across sources depending on method and period, which reflects sample size and market mix rather than genuine movement of that magnitude. The city contains two distinct markets, an established side running about $350,000 to $380,000 and newer construction clearing $495,000 to $520,000, so a citywide median describes neither well. Price per square foot has recently run about $178 to $205 depending on source. These charts do not separate new construction from resale and the share of closings that are new builds is not published. They also do not reflect that Kennedale addresses appear in both ZIP 76060 and ZIP 76140, and the latter is shared with Fort Worth, so figures keyed to that ZIP elsewhere may describe a different city. Kennedale has no Public Improvement District and no Municipal Utility District, though its combined tax rate of about 2.32 percent is the highest of the Tarrant County cities covered here. Market statistics describe the area as a whole and are not a substitute for a comparative market analysis on a specific property, which matters more in a market this size than in any other city on this site. Texas is a non-disclosure state, so publicly available sale prices elsewhere are estimates rather than recorded figures. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Pick a purchase year and the price fills in with what a typical Kennedale home cost then. If you own here, type over it with what you actually paid. Read the first note below before you trust any Kennedale price figure you see anywhere — including on the big portals.
Bought here? Tap the number and enter what you paid.
Federal house price index growth, indexed to the purchase year, where the purchase year equals 100.
This matters more here than in any other city on this site, so I am putting real numbers on it. Kennedale sold four homes in March 2026. Six in November 2025. About twenty across the three months ending June 2026.
At that volume one acreage sale or one new build moves the median by tens of thousands. Watch what that does: the reported median read up 35 percent year over year in November 2025, then down 15.3 percent seven months later. Nothing about Kennedale housing changed that much. Different houses sold.
Published figures for this town currently range from about $268,000 to $514,000. That is not a market moving; that is a sample too small to mean anything. So this calculator does not use a monthly median at all — it uses a smoothed citywide value anchor and a county-level repeat-sales index.
The defensible read on a typical Kennedale house is $380,000 to $415,000, where three independent methods agree: a smoothed value index at about $394,000, the Census median owner-occupied value at $380,100, and a trailing twelve-month median at $410,000.
Underneath that sit two different towns. The established west side runs nearer $350,000 to $380,000, while new construction on the east side clears $495,000 to $520,000. Figures above $500,000 describe the new builds, not the typical resale.
One thing is simpler here than in Mansfield. The 2026 conforming loan limit is $832,750 and Kennedale sits far below it, so this index captures effectively the whole market. Only rare acreage estates come near that line.
Growth rates are the FHFA All-Transactions House Price Index, annual values 2009 through 2024: Tarrant County, Texas (FRED series ATNHPIUS48439A), the State of Texas (TXSTHPI) and the United States (USSTHPI). State and national figures are annual averages of the four published quarters. The slider ends at 2024 because that is the most recent year the county series has published, while the state and national series now run into 2026. The prefilled dollar figures are derived, not published: they are calculated by applying the Tarrant County index to a citywide anchor of $394,000, the Zillow Home Value Index for Kennedale as displayed, which sits within a defensible cluster running to about $415,000 alongside the Census median owner-occupied value of $380,100. Entering your own purchase price replaces the estimate entirely. Kennedale's transaction volume is very low, at roughly four to twenty closings a month, and its monthly median is not statistically reliable — published figures for the city currently span about $268,000 to $514,000 because a handful of sales in a split market swings the number, which is why a smoothed anchor and a county index are used here rather than any single local median. Price per square foot has recently run about $178 to $205 depending on source and period. A distinct value index for ZIP 76060 is not published, and any figure keyed to ZIP 76140 substantially describes Fort Worth rather than Kennedale and should be disregarded. The index is built from conforming loans and excludes jumbo lending and all-cash purchases; with a 2026 conforming limit of $832,750 and a typical Kennedale value near $394,000, that limitation is immaterial here except at the very top of the acreage market. Equity figures assume a 30-year fixed mortgage at that year's Freddie Mac annual average rate, held to today, with no refinancing, no extra principal and no additional borrowing, and exclude closing costs, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, improvements and selling costs. Kennedale has no Public Improvement District and no Municipal Utility District, though its combined tax rate of about 2.32 percent is the highest of any city covered on this site. Kennedale is not USDA Rural Development eligible; boundary analysis indicates essentially all of ZIP 76060 falls inside an urbanised exclusion area, so zero-down USDA financing is unavailable here. The median year built is approximately 1995. This is an illustration for general reference, not an appraisal, a comparative market analysis, a valuation or investment advice. Past appreciation does not predict future appreciation. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Both of those are true, and the gap between them is the most interesting thing about living here. Kennedale sits closer to a major downtown than any other city covered on this site, with a freeway interchange effectively at its own city line. Yet its residents average 32.4 minutes to work, longer than Mansfield, Lancaster or DeSoto.
Typical Off-Peak Drive Time
Nearby
Minutes off-peak from the TownCenter at Main and Kennedale Parkway.
For a town of eight thousand people this is unusual. Kennedale sits where US 287, Interstate 20 and Interstate 820 converge, and the major interchange between all three sits essentially at the city's northwest line.
US 287 runs straight through town as Kennedale Parkway, carrying the business route while the main lanes skirt the edge. Highway 360's southern end ties into 287 just down the road, opening a fast run north toward Arlington and the airport.
Distances to the rest: I-20 is immediately north at the city line, I-35W about eight to ten miles west, and I-30 ten to twelve miles north. Very few small suburbs have this.
This is the question the numbers force, and the answer is not the roads. The average Kennedale commute is 32.4 minutes, against a DFW metro figure of 27.9 and a national 26.4. That is about twenty percent above the metro and longer than every other city on this site, including Mansfield at 28.6 and DeSoto at 30.8.
The reason is where people work rather than how they get there. Kennedale residents do not concentrate in nearby Fort Worth; they scatter across the metroplex, and 5.8 percent are super-commuters travelling more than ninety minutes each way.
So read the tiles above for what they are. Downtown Fort Worth really is fourteen minutes away. Whether your job is there is a different question, and it is the one that decides your actual commute.
Stated plainly. Kennedale is not a member of Trinity Metro, and no bus route, rail line or on-demand service operates in the city. It has no DART connection either.
Being wedged between Fort Worth and Arlington does not help, because membership is what buys service and Kennedale has not bought in. Mansfield at least ran a pilot before it ended in July 2025; Kennedale has had nothing.
About 85 percent of workers here drive alone and roughly 10 percent work from home. Transit is effectively zero percent. Budget a vehicle per driver.
If you buy here you need to know this. The state is spending about $2.3 billion on the Southeast Connector, widening I-20 to ten main lanes from I-820 to US 287, widening I-820 to eight, and reconstructing all three interchanges.
That interchange is the one at Kennedale's edge, and the state lists Kennedale among the cities most affected. It is also the city's single worst bottleneck at peak already.
Completion is estimated at 2028, with earlier reporting citing 2027. Expect several more years of construction delay on the route into Fort Worth, and a materially better one afterward.
Around 5,020 employed residents, with the largest sectors being construction at 823, health care at 569 and manufacturing at 485.
But Kennedale also imports workers by day, which is unusual at this size. Sabre Industries and Fort Worth Tower employ 450 to 500 people here and the school district another 400 to 450, alongside Speed Fab-Crete, Hawk Steel, Hexpol Compounding, ARK Contracting and Harrison Jet Guns.
The metal, fabrication and construction trades are genuinely part of this economy rather than a historical footnote.
The tiles are off-peak. At eight in the morning they are not. Fort Worth runs 20 to 30 minutes at peak against 14 off-peak, which is still very good.
Dallas is the one to test before you commit: roughly 55 to 70 minutes inbound and 60 to 75 coming home. Add the Southeast Connector work to both figures for the next few years.
Drive times are off-peak estimates aggregated from consumer mapping and distance services rather than a single live traffic source, and should be treated as accurate to within about five minutes on time and one to two miles on distance; they vary with traffic, weather, construction and your exact starting point, and are measured from the TownCenter area at Main Street and Kennedale Parkway. Verify against a live map before relying on any single figure. Rush hour figures are wider estimates synthesised from those services together with state congestion and project data, not independently timed. Commuting statistics are Census American Community Survey estimates for Kennedale city, against a national mean travel time of 26.4 minutes and a Dallas Fort Worth Arlington metro figure of 27.9; drive-alone, carpool and work-from-home shares differ between survey vintages, reported at roughly 85.5, 4.0 and 10.0 percent on one basis and 81.2, 8.1 and 10.1 percent on another. A precise daytime population figure and jobs-to-residents ratio for Kennedale could not be verified, so the description of the city importing workers reflects employer headcounts and resident industry data rather than a confirmed commuting balance. Employer figures come from published local economic data. Transit status reflects that Kennedale is not a Trinity Metro member and that no fixed route, rail or on-demand service was found operating in the city; if that changes this section will need rewriting, so confirm current options with the city. Southeast Connector details come from the state transportation department, which currently cites approximately $2.3 billion and substantial completion in 2028; earlier reporting cited $1.6 billion and 2027, and project scope, cost and schedule may change. A separate long-term study of upgrading the wider US 287 corridor to interstate standards exists with no funding committed. Because Kennedale addresses appear in both ZIP 76060 and ZIP 76140, and the latter is shared with Fort Worth, any commuting or employment figure keyed to 76140 may describe Fort Worth rather than Kennedale; only Kennedale city and 76060 sources were used here. This information is provided for general reference and is not a representation about any specific property, commute or future infrastructure outcome. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
The first question is the one most agents would rather you did not ask, so it goes first and gets a full answer. After that: taxes, who actually bills your water, and what this town does not have.
Some are, and here is the honest picture.
Several auto salvage and scrap operations still function along the Kennedale Parkway and Dick Price Road corridor. But start with the thing almost nobody tells buyers: a number of them are not actually in Kennedale.
One major operator lists a yard at 7001 Kennedale Parkway and another at 1001 Kennedale Parkway — and its own materials place the second one in Fort Worth. Kennedale Parkway runs through both cities. Kennedale's city limits are ZIP 76060; the corridor also runs through Fort Worth's 76140.
So when a search result shows a cluster of yards "in Kennedale," part of that cluster is somebody else's city, outside Kennedale's zoning and tax authority. Check the ZIP and the parcel before you draw a conclusion about a specific street.
More than most small cities would attempt. Kennedale ran a deliberate, decades-long campaign using annexation, rezoning and amortization.
The sequence: an ordinance in 1999 annexed land including a salvage yard, a 2001 ordinance zoned it so salvage was not permitted, and a separate ordinance required nonconforming uses to be discontinued three years after becoming nonconforming.
The owner sued. The appeals court upheld the city in 2006. Separately, the city secured an agreement requiring four adult businesses in the Oakcrest area to close and leave by 2012.
The work is not finished. Recent ordinances show the corridor still being actively rezoned, including parcels on South Dick Price Road moved to Industrial. This is a long redevelopment, not a completed one.
A fair question and one I would want answered too, so here is exactly what the record shows and what it does not.
No Superfund site, federal or state, is listed in Kennedale. Nearby Tarrant County examples sit in Fort Worth and Grand Prairie, not here.
But be precise about what that means. That is an absence from specific registries, not an affirmative clean bill of health for every parcel. Decades of salvage and scrap activity happened along that corridor.
My advice if you are buying near it: order a Phase One environmental site assessment on that specific property and check state environmental records by address. That is a few hundred dollars against a very large purchase.
High, and worth understanding before you fall for a house. The combined rate runs about 2.32 percent.
| Entity | Rate |
|---|---|
| Kennedale ISD | 1.1352 |
| City of Kennedale | ~0.70 |
| Tarrant County | 0.1875 |
| Hospital district | 0.1825 |
| College district | 0.1123 |
Before exemptions that is roughly $8,130 a year on a $350,000 home and $11,620 on a $500,000 one. With the homestead exemption applied, closer to $6,540 and $10,030.
What drives it: a relatively high city rate and a high school rate in a small city with a limited commercial base to spread the burden across.
Kennedale at about 2.32 percent is the highest of the Tarrant County cities covered on this site, above Mansfield at 2.24.
Across the wider group it sits near the top rather than at it: Duncanville 2.254, DeSoto 2.283, Cedar Hill 2.297, then Kennedale at 2.32, with Lancaster highest at 2.362.
On a $500,000 home the gap between Kennedale and Mansfield is roughly $400 a year. Not decisive on its own, but real, and it compounds.
The state ones are settled and generous. Voters approved raising the school homestead exemption to $140,000 in November 2025, and the over-65 and disabled school exemption to $60,000, both retroactive to that tax year. Tarrant County and the hospital district each adopted homestead exemptions effective 2025 as well.
The city's own exemptions are the one thing I cannot confirm, and I would rather say so than guess. The city's published page still shows 2018 figures of $60,000 for over-65 and disabled with no tax freeze, while a live tax record on a Kennedale homestead shows a flat $10,000 city exemption for 2024 and 2025.
Those do not reconcile. Confirm the current city exemption and freeze status with the Tarrant Appraisal District before you budget on it.
No. Kennedale has no Public Improvement District and no Municipal Utility District, so nothing stacks on top of the rate above.
The city's development tools are a reinvestment zone covering the New Hope area and a TownCenter development district, neither of which adds a homeowner assessment.
The City of Arlington. Kennedale's water and wastewater system is operated and maintained by Arlington, and billing moved to Arlington Water Utilities.
You get one combined monthly bill covering water, sewer, trash, recycling and stormwater. Start service or transfer on 817-985-2120, and put the 24-hour water and sewer emergency line, 817-459-5900, in your phone now rather than later.
You can pay in person at Kennedale City Hall. The water itself comes from five Trinity Aquifer wells plus treated surface water bought from Fort Worth and Arlington. Low-income seniors over 60 and disabled customers may qualify for discounted rates, reapplying every two years.
Twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday, collected by Frontier Waste Solutions, which took over in February 2025. Recycling is Saturday.
The useful part: bulk, brush and yard waste go out every Wednesday, up to four cubic yards, with no special appointment. Carts out before 6:30am.
Not taken at the kerb: tyres, car parts, hazardous waste, construction debris, dirt, paint or propane. Household hazardous waste goes to the county centre on Bridge Street in Fort Worth, and you need a voucher first — but the city covers $50 of the $90 visit cost.
Electricity is deregulated, so you choose a retail provider, with Oncor delivering the power regardless of who bills you. Gas is Atmos and is not deregulated.
Internet is better than you might expect for a town this size. Fibre is available — AT&T Fiber reaches roughly three quarters or more of addresses with speeds up to 5 gigabit, and Spectrum covers most of the city on cable with fibre to a portion. Nextlink, Rise, fixed 5G and satellite fill gaps.
Availability varies address by address, so check your specific street before you assume.
No. Kennedale has no hospital, no freestanding emergency room and no urgent care inside the city limits. For a buyer with young children or ageing parents this is a genuine consideration.
Where you actually go: Texas Health Arlington Memorial and Medical City Arlington, roughly ten to fifteen minutes; Methodist Mansfield Medical Center and the freestanding emergency rooms in Mansfield, immediately southeast. Urgent care clusters in Mansfield and south Arlington.
For emergencies you dial 911 and Kennedale's own paramedics transport you.
A career department of 22 — chief, assistant chief, inspector, administrative assistant, three lieutenants, three driver operators and twelve firefighter paramedics — covering 6.6 square miles around the clock from a station on East Kennedale Parkway.
Paid rather than volunteer is the right answer at this size, and the department also contracts as a service provider for a county emergency services district. Ambulance transport is billed separately.
One thing I could not confirm: Kennedale's fire insurance rating is not published anywhere I could find. That matters because neighbouring Mansfield holds the top Class 1 rating, which lowers premiums. Ask the department directly and ask your insurer what rating they are using.
Generally yes, with a caveat about the statistics. Absolute crime counts are low — one federal-data summary recorded 18 violent and 35 property crimes in a recent year, with violent crime about 35 percent below the national rate.
Sources disagree on the framing, as they usually do for small towns. One rates the overall crime index about 2.6 times smaller than the US average, another puts total crime roughly 76 percent below national, and a third calls it safer than two thirds of American communities while flagging a higher violent rate.
That spread is a population-size artefact. In a town of nine thousand, a handful of incidents swings a rate dramatically. The practical read: quieter than Fort Worth or Arlington, broadly comparable to Mansfield.
The Kennedale Police Department at 401 Municipal Drive. Non-emergency dispatch is 817-473-0211 and administration is 817-985-2160.
Two things worth knowing. Kennedale has no jail — anyone arrested here is booked into the Mansfield jail. And the department offers free residential and business security inspections plus a ride-along programme.
Animal control also runs through the police department.
Act fast, because this one has a hard deadline. Kennedale has no animal shelter. Impounded animals go to the Fort Worth Animal Care and Control facility on Martin Street.
And the critical detail: animals are held only 72 hours. That is a short window if you are away for a weekend.
Register your pet with the police department — it costs five dollars a year — and microchip it. Animal control is reachable on 817-985-2160.
Better news here than in most cities on this site, and it is worth understanding why.
The Dallas County suburbs sit on Blackland Prairie clay, which shrinks and swells hard. Mansfield sits on a transition. Kennedale sits further west again, in the Cross Timbers — sandy to sandy-loam soils, slightly acidic, generally less expansive than Blackland clay.
That usually means somewhat lower foundation movement risk than in a true Blackland community. It is not immunity: localised clay pockets and slope conditions still exist. Get the foundation inspected anyway, but you are starting from a better position here.
Village Creek runs through the area and feeds Lake Arlington, and the city adopted a master plan for it in 2012. Floodplain is a real local factor — the former racetrack tract is described as roughly 40 percent within a floodplain.
Flood status is an address question, so run the specific property through the FEMA map before you write. Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flood.
On hail, this is North Texas and it is a high-claim zone. One analysis puts local historical tornado activity about 133 percent above the national average. Budget for wind and hail deductibles, ask what the hail deductible actually is, and factor roof age into your offer.
Kennedale ISD, with five campuses and about 2,800 students under a structure reorganised in 2023 into pre-K through first, second through fifth, sixth through eighth, then high school.
Straight answer on quality: the district rated a C in the 2024-25 accountability release and rose to a B in 2026. Kennedale High rated a B with a 94.6 percent graduation rate. That is better than Fort Worth or Everman and below Mansfield, where all eight high schools rate A.
The standout is the Wildcat Collegiate Academy, which pairs with Tarleton State for guaranteed admission and charges no tuition to students on free or reduced lunch.
One check: a small pocket of southeast Kennedale is in Mansfield ISD, not Kennedale ISD.
None. Kennedale is not a Trinity Metro member, and no bus route, rail line or on-demand service operates here. No DART connection either.
Sitting between Fort Worth and Arlington does not help, because membership is what buys service. About 85 percent of workers drive alone and roughly 10 percent work from home.
Plan on a vehicle per driver.
Short term, add traffic. Long term, improve your access considerably.
The state is spending about $2.3 billion rebuilding and widening roughly sixteen miles of I-20, I-820 and US 287, including reconstructing all three interchanges — the ones right at Kennedale's northern edge. Kennedale is named as one of four communities the project touches.
Construction began in spring 2023 and substantial completion is targeted for February 2028. So expect several more years of congestion on your route into Fort Worth, then a materially better one.
It is the biggest thing that could change this town. Texas Raceway closed after the 2016 season and its roughly 90 acres on Kennedale New Hope Road is on the market for redevelopment.
The land is zoned commercial today, but the city's future land use plan designates it Residential Medium Density and it carries a reinvestment zone overlay. About 40 percent sits in a floodplain, which will shape whatever gets built.
Kennedale Speedway Park, the dirt oval, still operates.
Partly. There is a senior centre, a splash pad, disc golf and ballfields at Sonora Park, with youth sports run through a local association.
What there is not: no large municipal recreation centre and no full public swimming pool on the scale of a bigger suburb. The splash pad is the main aquatic amenity.
A small quirk worth knowing: facility reservations are made in person at the public library on West Third Street rather than at a parks office.
Seven things, plainly.
No transit at all. No hospital or urgent care in town. The highest tax rate of the Tarrant County cities here, at about 2.32 percent. A small business and retail base, so you shop in Arlington or Mansfield. Schools below Mansfield's, at a B after a C. Years of interchange construction at your northern edge through about 2028. And the salvage corridor, reduced but not gone.
Against that: fourteen minutes to downtown Fort Worth, better soil than the Blackland cities, no PID or MUD, a genuine collegiate academy with guaranteed university admission, larger lots than you will find in a master-planned suburb, and a town that spent twenty years deliberately fixing its own reputation.
Question not answered here? Send me an address and I will tell you whether it is actually in Kennedale or in Fort Worth, what the tax bill looks like, and which school it feeds.
Call 214-228-0003Answers observed September 2026. Tax figures are computed from published rate schedules with standard assumptions and are illustrations rather than quotes; a specific bill varies with appraised value, exemption status and the taxing units on your parcel. The City of Kennedale's current optional homestead percentage, over-65 and disabled amounts and tax freeze status could not be confirmed: the city's published page still shows 2018 figures of $60,000 for over-65 and disabled with no freeze, while a live county tax record on a Kennedale homestead shows a flat $10,000 city exemption applied for 2024 and 2025. These do not reconcile and should be verified with the Tarrant Appraisal District before you rely on either. Other items are flagged rather than guessed: the Kennedale Fire Department's insurance services rating is not published in any source found, which matters because neighbouring Mansfield holds the top Class 1 rating; and the police department's permanent leadership status was not confirmed. On tax comparison, Kennedale is the highest of the Tarrant County cities covered on this site at about 2.32 percent, but Lancaster in Dallas County is higher at about 2.362 percent; earlier material describing Kennedale as the highest overall overstates it. Crime statistics conflict meaningfully across aggregators applying different methods to the same federal data and are presented as a range rather than resolved; small-population volatility means a single year should not be over-read. The statement that no Superfund site is listed in Kennedale reflects an absence from the specific registries reviewed and is not an affirmative environmental clearance for any parcel; a Phase One environmental site assessment is recommended for property near the historic salvage corridor. Utility dollar figures published by the city predate the February 2025 change of waste hauler and should be confirmed against a current bill. Southeast Connector cost and schedule reflect current state figures of approximately $2.3 billion and substantial completion in February 2028; earlier reporting cited lower figures and an earlier date, and scope, cost and schedule may change. Redevelopment of the former racetrack site reflects designation and marketing rather than an executed agreement. Because Kennedale addresses appear in both ZIP 76060 and ZIP 76140 and the latter is shared with Fort Worth and Everman, businesses, services and even directory listings carrying the Kennedale name may sit outside the city; jurisdiction should be confirmed by parcel rather than by street name or ZIP. Nothing here is legal, tax, insurance or environmental advice, and school information is provided for general reference rather than as a recommendation. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Verified numbers and links for Kennedale. Two things will catch you out: your water is billed by the City of Arlington, and several services this town does not have at all are handled in Fort Worth, Mansfield or Arlington. Both are covered below.
Not a typo. Arlington operates and bills Kennedale's water and sewer. One combined monthly bill covers water, sewer, trash, recycling and stormwater. Pay in person at Kennedale City Hall if you prefer.
817-985-2120 24hr water/sewer emergency 817-459-5900 Do this firstDeregulated, so you choose the retailer. The state comparison site lists every plan without the marketing. Oncor delivers regardless of who bills you.
powertochoose.org Do this firstFree, and worth real money with the school exemption now at $140,000. Deadline generally 30 April. Ask them to confirm the current City of Kennedale exemption while you are there — published figures conflict.
817-284-0024 2500 Handley-Ederville Rd, Fort Worth Do this firstTwo checks: which of the two elementaries you feed for grades two to five, and whether you are in the southeast pocket that is actually Mansfield ISD. Use the district's street list.
kennedaleisd.net City Hall405 Municipal Drive. Permits, inspections, planning, zoning and code compliance all run from here.
817-985-2105 Planning 817-985-2133 · Community Dev 817-985-2135 Police401 Municipal Drive. Free home and business security inspections on request, plus a ride-along programme. Animal control runs through here too.
817-473-0211 Non-emergency · admin 817-985-2160 Fire & EMSA career department of 22 covering 6.6 square miles, station at 705 A East Kennedale Parkway. Ask them their insurance rating — it is not published and your insurer will want it.
817-985-2150 Station 817-478-5416 · EMS billing 972-602-2060 Court405 Municipal Drive. Handles citations from police, code compliance, animal control and the fire marshal.
Via City Hall ParksSonora Park, the splash pad, disc golf, ballfields and a senior centre. Quirk worth knowing: facility reservations are made in person at the library, not a parks office.
817-985-2136 Library316 West Third Street. Storytimes, adult crafts, tech help and digital lending — and the place you book a park pavilion.
817-985-2136 OrdinancesWorth a look before you build a shed, park a trailer or open a business. The salvage and nonconforming-use rules live here too.
municode.com Tarrant CountyCounty clerk for deeds and records, elections, courts and the sheriff, all from the main portal. Kennedale is entirely within Tarrant County.
tarrantcountytx.gov Tarrant CountyProperty tax payment and vehicle registration renewals. The nearest substation is in Arlington, not Kennedale — confirm current hours before driving.
tarrantcountytx.gov Tax DetailLook up any Kennedale parcel and see the actual rate stack, exemptions applied and year-over-year change. The fastest way to sanity-check a tax figure.
tarranttaxinfo.com Before you buyVillage Creek and its tributaries cross the area, and floodplain here is real. Address-level question, and standard insurance does not cover flood.
msc.fema.gov TrashTrash Wednesday and Saturday. Recycling Saturday. Bulk and brush every Wednesday, up to four cubic yards, no appointment. Carts out before 6:30am.
817-961-1125 Not in KennedalePaint, chemicals, batteries and electronics go to the county centre at 6400 Bridge Street, Fort Worth. You need a voucher from the city first, but Kennedale covers $50 of the $90 cost.
817-392-1234 GasNatural gas, not deregulated, so there is nothing to shop. Call them for leaks or to start service.
atmosenergy.com InternetBetter than expected for a small town. Fibre from AT&T reaching most addresses, Spectrum on cable with fibre to a portion, plus Nextlink, Rise and fixed 5G. Check your street.
Check by address SchoolsThe district's best programme. Tarleton State, UT OnRamps, AP and college dual credit combined, with guaranteed Tarleton admission and no tuition for students on free or reduced lunch.
817-563-8100 SchoolsThe state's own campus data and current ratings. Useful because several third-party sites still publish Kennedale's pre-2023 grade bands and are wrong about which campus serves which grade.
txschools.gov Not in Kennedale2100 Southeast Parkway, Arlington. The nearest campus, and the dual-credit partner for Kennedale High students.
817-515-8223 Not in KennedaleKennedale has no hospital and no urgent care. Closest are Texas Health Arlington Memorial and Medical City Arlington, ten to fifteen minutes, plus Methodist Mansfield just southeast.
Emergency 911 Not in Kennedale2700 East Broad Street, Mansfield. Level III advanced trauma with 24-hour interventional cardiology, and the closest full hospital to the southeast side of town.
682-242-2000 72-hour warningKennedale has no animal shelter. Impounded pets go to Fort Worth on Martin Street and are held only 72 hours. Register your pet with the police for $5 a year and microchip it.
817-985-2160 Fort Worth impound 817-392-3737 Not in KennedaleNo DPS office in Kennedale. Nearest are in Arlington and Fort Worth. Book an appointment online rather than driving over hopefully. 90 days for the licence, 30 to register a vehicle.
Appointment required New to TexasRegistration, titles and plates. Renewals also go through the county tax office in Arlington.
txdmv.gov New to TexasRegister through Tarrant County Elections. Kennedale runs a council-manager government with a mayor and five at-large members on two-year terms.
votetexas.gov PropertyThe state's own plain-language guide to homestead, over-65, disabled and veteran exemptions, including the increases voters approved in November 2025.
comptroller.texas.gov Community405 Municipal Drive. Seven acres holding City Hall, the library, a plaza, and a memorial built around a twelve-foot steel beam from the World Trade Center that works as a sundial.
Open daily SchoolsListed because a pocket of southeast Kennedale is zoned here, mainly to Tarver-Rendon Elementary, rather than to Kennedale ISD. Verify by address.
mansfieldisd.org EventsWhere to confirm Hometown Christmas, the BBQ Showdown, the car show and Trunk-or-Treat. Also the place to check whether the Brickworks festival is running.
cityofkennedale.comLinks, phone numbers and addresses verified September 2026 and subject to change; if something has moved, tell me and I will correct it. Kennedale addresses appear in both ZIP 76060 and ZIP 76140, and the latter is shared with Fort Worth and Everman, so businesses and services carrying the Kennedale name may sit outside the city limits; confirm jurisdiction by parcel rather than by street name or ZIP. Several items could not be confirmed and are flagged rather than presented as certain: the Kennedale Fire Department's insurance services rating is not published anywhere found, and should be requested directly since your insurer will use it; the City of Kennedale's current optional homestead percentage, over-65 and disabled amounts and tax freeze status conflict between the city's own published page, which still shows 2018 figures, and a live county tax record, so verify with the appraisal district; the police department's permanent leadership status was not confirmed; and current contact details for a Kennedale chamber of commerce and historical society could not be verified, so a chamber presence here may be limited or regional. Utility dollar figures published by the city predate the February 2025 change of waste hauler and should be checked against a current bill. Several services genuinely do not exist in Kennedale and are listed here under where you actually go: there is no hospital, no urgent care, no animal shelter, no jail, no driver licence office, no county tax substation and no public transit. Nearest facilities are in Arlington, Mansfield and Fort Worth as shown. Some city department pages sit behind the main portal and may shift with site updates, so start at cityofkennedale.com if a link fails. Listings are provided for general reference and are not endorsements; I receive no compensation from any organisation named. Bobby Franklin, REALTOR®, TREC #0805459, Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team.
Everything on this page was researched, verified and written here. The salvage corridor is explained rather than avoided. The tax rate is printed even though it is the highest in the county group. And where the record contradicts itself, that is shown rather than quietly resolved in whichever direction sells better.
This is the Kennedale move, and almost nobody makes it. Kennedale addresses appear in both 76060 and 76140, and 76140 is shared with Fort Worth and Everman. Kennedale Parkway runs through both cities. So a property, a neighbouring business, or a salvage yard you found while searching may sit entirely outside Kennedale's city limits, zoning and tax authority. I confirm the parcel and the jurisdiction before we tour, not after your lender reworks the numbers or you discover the yard next door answers to a different city hall.
Most agents will quote you a citywide median. In Kennedale that number is close to meaningless. This town has closed as few as four homes in a month, and the reported median has read up 35 percent year over year and then down 15 percent seven months later without the market actually moving. Published figures currently span roughly $268,000 to $514,000. I price against real comparable sales on your side of town — the established west or the newer east — not against a line that a single acreage sale can bend.
Worth knowing before you write it off on the tax rate. Fourteen minutes to downtown Fort Worth, closer than any other city covered on this site, with the I-20 and I-820 interchange effectively at the city line. Cross Timbers soil rather than Blackland clay, which generally means lower foundation risk than Duncanville, Lancaster or DeSoto. No PID and no MUD anywhere. Larger lots than a master-planned suburb will give you. And a collegiate academy offering guaranteed university admission, free for students on reduced lunch.
If the commute you actually drive is going to grind you down, if the foundation or the floodplain on that particular lot worries me, or if Mansfield or Arlington genuinely fits your situation better, you will hear it from me before you hear it from an inspector. Kennedale is right for a specific kind of buyer. I would rather lose a commission than talk someone into being the wrong one.
Budget for the tax rate. At about 2.32 percent Kennedale is the highest of the Tarrant County cities on this site, roughly $400 a year above Mansfield on a $500,000 home. Second, the city's own homestead exemption is genuinely unresolved — the city publishes 2018 figures while a live county record shows something different, so confirm it with the appraisal district rather than assuming. Third, if you are buying near the historic salvage corridor, order a Phase One environmental assessment; no Superfund site is listed here, but that is an absence from a registry, not a clearance, and it is a few hundred dollars against a very large purchase. Fourth, there is no hospital, no urgent care and no transit in town, so plan on Arlington or Mansfield and a vehicle per driver. And fifth, the Southeast Connector is rebuilding your interchange through about 2028 — years of construction, then materially better access.
Tell them the rate is about 2.32 percent, because a payment estimate built on a metro average will be low here and escrow is where that shows up. Worth mentioning too that Kennedale is not USDA eligible, so zero-down USDA financing is off the table despite the small-town feel. I recommend these lenders based on their expertise and service. I do not receive compensation for referrals.
Either is fine. I answer my own phone, and there is no version of this where you get routed to a call centre or handed to a junior agent. Send me an address and I will tell you whether it is actually in Kennedale or in Fort Worth, what the tax bill looks like, and which school it feeds.
Bobby Franklin, REALTOR® · Legacy Realty Group – Leslie Majors Team · 214-228-0003 · northtexasmarketinsider.com
Information on this page is provided for general reference and is not legal, tax, insurance or environmental advice. Kennedale addresses appear in both ZIP 76060 and ZIP 76140, and the latter is shared with Fort Worth and Everman, so jurisdiction should be confirmed by parcel rather than by street name or ZIP before relying on any figure here. Tax illustrations use published rate schedules, are shown before exemptions, and reset annually; the City of Kennedale's current optional homestead percentage, over-65 and disabled amounts and tax freeze status could not be confirmed and conflict between the city's published page and county records, so verify with the Tarrant Appraisal District. Kennedale's combined rate of about 2.32 percent is the highest of the Tarrant County cities covered on this site, though Lancaster in Dallas County is higher. Kennedale is a very small market with as few as four closings in a month, so its median is not statistically reliable and no figure on this site should substitute for a comparative market analysis on a specific property. Statements about the absence of a listed Superfund site reflect specific registries and are not an environmental clearance for any parcel; a Phase One environmental site assessment is recommended near the historic salvage corridor. Soil conditions vary within the city and no general description substitutes for a foundation inspection. Kennedale ISD attendance zones and the Mansfield ISD pocket must be verified by address, and accountability ratings change annually and are omitted from campus cards deliberately. Southeast Connector cost and schedule reflect current state figures and may change. Confirm anything specific to an address before acting on it. School information is not a recommendation regarding any school, district, neighbourhood or property. All real estate services are provided through Legacy Realty Group. Equal Housing Opportunity.
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