My children are still a bit too young, but there are lots of kids that play in my neighborhood in DFW. The city park at the end of my street has families playing, people out walking their dogs, fishing in the ponds. People play sports at the fields in the park. People hang out on their front patios when it's not 100F outside, have trunk or treats at the park, etc.

The apartments I've lived in the past several years had get together events from time to time. I also met a lot of neighbors going to the gym or hanging out around the pool or playing billiards in the clubhouse.

None of this seems radically rare from my experiences in Houston and DFW.