U.S. News & World Report released its 2026-2027 Best Places to Live study on Tuesday and four Texas cities made the top 10 list. Flower Mound, a North Texas suburb near Grapevine, ranked third-best place to live in the country, behind two neighboring Indiana cities: Carmel and Fishers.
Texas continued its strong showing further down the list with Leander, Frisco and Sugar Land also making the top 10.
Researchers said they looked at factors such as job market strength, affordability, quality of life, and overall desirability to determine the rankings. The methods used to weigh all that included public surveys and data from government agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census, FBI, FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
With housing and affordability constantly making headlines, officials behind the study said their methodology gave extra weight to the cost of living in response to feedback from readers.
“As prices of everyday goods continue to rise, consumers are considering affordability as a top priority when choosing a place to live,” Erika Giovanetti, consumer lending analyst at U.S. News & World Report, said in a statement.. “While U.S. News’ consumer survey indicated that quality of life and affordability were close in importance, cost-of-living concerns resulted in many Americans putting what they can afford above their aspirations.”
Here’s a complete look at the cities that made the top 10:
In other words, as housing costs continue reshaping where Texans choose to live, it’s increasingly the suburbs—not the major metro cores themselves—that are drawing national attention.