AUSTIN, Texas — Austin was ranked number nine on Indeed’s 2026 Best U.S. Cities for Work.
The list evaluates metro areas across the country with populations greater than 200,000, ranking them based on factors including job opportunity, compensation, job quality and security, career mobility, work-life balance, and economic opportunity.
Austin scored especially well for compensation, ranking fifth among the cities evaluated. The Austin-area also ranked seventh for work-life balance and flexibility, 11th for job opportunity and 11th for career mobility.
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The ranking comes as central Texas continues to add jobs. The Texas Workforce Commission’s labor-market data shows the area had about 1.42 million nonfarm jobs in July, a 1.7 percent increase from the same month last year.
The metro’s unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in July, with an estimated labor force of about 1.57 million people.