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Austin drops for third year on 'Best Places to Live in the USA' list

By FOX 7 Austin Digital Team
Published  May 16, 2023 4:37pm CDT
Austin
FOX 7 Austin

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin has dropped yet again on U.S. News & World Report's annual list of the "Best Places to Live in the USA" and out of the top ten completely for the second year in a row.

Austin now ranks 40th out of 150 U.S. most populous metropolitan areas on the list, despite having been no. 1 for three years straight from 2017 to 2019. Austin still ranks first in best places to live in Texas, according to the list.

Austin is also the only Texas city to rank in the top 100, with San Antonio just outside of it at no. 103.

Metro areas were analyzed based on quality of life, job market, value of living there and people's desire to live there. Scores are on a scale of 10 and Austin had an overall score of 6.4, down from 7.3 in 2021.

In the categories U.S. News looked at, this is how Austin scored:

  • Desirability - 6.5
  • Value - 6
  • Job Market - 6.5
  • Quality of Life - 6.6
  • Net Migration - 7.3

The publication uses data from sources like the United States Census Bureau, the FBI, the Department of Labor and their own internal resources.

According to the publication, people are drawn to Austin's music scene, outdoor spaces and cultural institutions, but the median sale price for a single-family home in Austin is well above the national median. Austin also offers a lower housing costs to household income value than other similarly-sized metro areas.

The publication also states that Austin has an average commute time of 0.7 minutes more than the national average, up from 0.4 minutes in 2019.

The top 10 is as follows:

  1. Green Bay, Wisconsin
  2. Huntsville, Alabama
  3. Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina
  4. Boulder, Colorado
  5. Sarasota, Florida
  6. Naples, Florida
  7. Portland, Maine
  8. Charlotte, North Carolina
  9. Colorado Springs, Colorado
  10. Fayetteville, Arkansas

Other Texas cities to make the list include San Antonio (#103), Dallas-Fort Worth (#113), Killeen (#122), El Paso (#124), Beaumont (#131), Corpus Christi (#132), Brownsville (#134), McAllen (#137), and Houston (#140).

You can get a look at the full list and get more information here.