After dropping out of the top 50 best cities in the world in 2025, Austin has continued to nosedive and now appears as the 87th best global city for 2026, according to a prestigious annual report by Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing firm Resonance Consultancy.
To determine the “World’s Best Cities,” data-crunchers at Resonance Consultancy annually compare the world’s top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of at least one million residents or more based on the relative qualities of livability, “lovability,” and prosperity. Factors that figure into the ranking include local landmarks, walkability, biking, air quality, weather, parks and green space, and public transit.
The firm additionally collaborated with AI software company AlphaGeo to assess each city’s “exposure to risk, adaptation capacity,” and resilience to change.
The No. 1 best city in the world is London, with New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Madrid (No. 5) rounding out the top five best global cities in 2026.
Austin’s disappointing 2026 placement is a far cry from its former No. 43 rank that it held in 2022 and 2023.The Texas Capital fell out of the top 50 last year, landing a middling rank as the 55th best global city.
Despite dropping 32 places, Resonance Consultancy maintains that Austin is “growing faster than anywhere in the U.S.” and that the downtown skyline “keeps reaching.” The report cited Austin’s housing and job markets as top reasons for why the city shouldn’t be overlooked.
“Median list prices in March 2025 hovered around $510,000, down more than 7 percent year over year, with active listings up 28 percent and new construction completions up 10 percent,” the report’s author wrote. “Samsung’s $17-billion Taylor fab chip factory is targeting mass production in late 2026 and Tesla is adding 5.2 million square feet to Gigafactory Texas for long-promised affordable EVs and robotaxis.”
The report doesn’t shy away from naming Austin’s less attractive qualities, such as high office vacancy rates and potential water shortages.
“Office vacancies remain above 25 percent, but growth in creative media, AI, and the chip sector are expected to tighten that in 2025-26,” the report said. “One potential caveat might be the dwindling water supply: the Texas Legislature is proposing annual allocations of $1 billion to the Texas Water Fund over the next two decades to maintain the flow of water, people and money.”
In Resonance Consultancy’s separate list ranking “America’s Best Cities,” Austin retained its position as the 15th best U.S. city, but Dallas jumped ahead to rank as the 14th best American city.
Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas and Houston also saw major declines in their standings for 2026. Dallas fell from No. 53 last year and now ranks as the 78th best city in the world for 2026, and Houston fell from No. 40 and now ranks as the 58th best global city.
“In this decade of rapid transformation, the world’s cities are confronting challenges head‑on, from climate resilience and aging infrastructure to equitable growth,” the report said. “The pandemic, long forgotten but still a sage oracle, exposed foundational weaknesses – from health‑care capacity to housing affordability. Yet, true to their dynamic nature, the leading cities are not merely recovering, but setting the pace, defining new paradigms of innovation, sustainability and everyday livability.”