A new Nextiva report ranked the Alamo City as the 21st best “Third Place” U.S. cities for remote work in 2026. Austin, on the other hand, ranked lower on the same list as the 44th best metro for remote working areas.w
San Antonio and Austin were the only Texas cities to make the report’s top 50 best alternative spots for work outside of the home and corporate office, solidifying them as the state’s most popular region for remote workers. To determine the rankings, Nextiva analyzed 200 most populous U.S. cities based on factors like the number of coffee shops per capita, each shop’s Wi-Fi availability, average price of a latte, pastry and more.
Nextiva also surveyed 600 American workers to learn their habits and preferences for an ideal remote space, such as turning cafés and coffee shops into their portable office. With a total of 67.10 points, San Antonio stood out for having an average lower price for coffee ($5.10) and pastries/croissants ($4.43).
The Alamo City has a population of more than 1.5 million residents, and at least 1 coffee shop/cafe per 10,000 people. San Antonio also had 25 four-star reviews for its top 25 coffee shops and scored well for its cafes having free Wi-Fi and adequate seating accessibility.
Hailing a total score of 66.24, Austin had more coffee shops than San Antonio, with 2.77 cafes per 10,000 residents, but had higher prices for coffee ($5.50) and pastries ($4.75). Earlier this month, Austin was crowned the No. 1 best coffee city in the U.S. by Food & Wine, thanks to its abundance of cafés in office buildings, cocktail bars, breweries, alleys, trailers and more.
According to Nextiva, the Capital City ranked the same as San Antonio for its coffee shops having free Wi-Fi and adequate seating. Overall, the report’s top 5 best “third place” cities for remote work were: Vancouver, Washington (No. 1), Seattle, Washington (No. 2), Kansas City, Kansas (No. 3), Tacoma, Washington (No. 4) and Minneapolis, Minnesota (No. 5).