Every Texas city has its charms, but which one is the “best” seems to be a constant, and mostly subjective, topic for debate.
Per the latest numerical analysis, however, it’s still Austin.
The capital city is the No. 1 best place to live not only in Texas but also among the 125 most populous metros in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report rankings released Tuesday. Austin didn’t budge from last year's list.
No other Texas metros made the top 10. San Antonio follows at No. 14 and Dallas-Fort Worth was knocked down a few pegs from last year to No. 18. You’ll find Houston at No. 26.
If that seems out of order to you, here's how the rankings were determined. U.S. News & World Report used data from the Census Bureau, the FBI, the Department of Labor and its own "internal resources." That data was organized into five weighted indexes:
- Job market (20 percent): unemployment rate and average salary
- Value (25 percent): median household income and annual cost of living
- Quality of life (30 percent): crime, health care, education, well-being, commuting
- Desirability (15 percent): survey asking people where they would most like to live
- Net migration (10 percent): how many people are moving to or away from an area
The information pertaining to those five categories was then evaluated using this methodology. Each metro was given individual scores in those five areas, an overall score and finally, a ranking out of 125 places.
Dallas-Fort Worth, praised for its “mix of Texas pride and cosmopolitan offerings,” performed best in desirability and net migration (so did Austin). So if given the choice, lots of people would like to move here and based on net migration, plenty of people are.
Dallas-Fort Worth earned an overall score of 7 out of 10. Here’s the full report for the metro.
While North Texas is populated by young professionals, yet another recent report from U.S. News & World Report, shows it’s also one of the best places to retire (but Austin did better on that list, too...San Antonio did the best, but we still beat Houston...by one spot.) In conclusion: Pick your Texas city and stay a while.
Top 10 best places to live in U.S.
- Austin, Texas
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Denver, Colorado
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Fayetteville, Arkansas
- Portland, Oregon
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Washington, D.C.
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
- Seattle, Washington