{"id":246148,"date":"2026-04-12T08:56:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T08:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246148\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T08:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T08:56:17","slug":"austin-ranks-among-best-places-to-live-in-us-but-4-texas-cities-ranked-higher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246148\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin ranks among best places to live in US \u2014 but 4 Texas cities ranked higher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin ranked among the best places to live in the U.S. in a new report \u2014 but several other Texas cities scored higher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In Niche\u2019s 2026<a href=\"https:\/\/www.niche.com\/places-to-live\/search\/best-places-to-live\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:\u201cBest Places to Live\u201d;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;\u201cBest Places to Live\u201d&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> \u201cBest Places to Live\u201d<\/a> rankings, Austin came in at No. 28 overall with an \u201cA\u201d grade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Niche \u2014 formerly known as College Prowler \u2014 evaluates cities using 15 metrics, including public schools, crime rates, housing, jobs and access to amenities. The data draws from sources such as the U.S. Census, FBI, Bureau of Labor Statistics and CDC.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">How Austin scored<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin earned high marks for lifestyle and diversity but lagged in affordability and housing:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A in nightlife and diversity<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A- in family-friendliness and commute<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">B+ in public schools, jobs, outdoor activities, weather, and health and fitness<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">C in housing and crime and safety<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Among 229 cities analyzed, Austin also ranked No. 15 for young professionals and No. 40 for raising a family.<\/p>\n<p>Which Texas cities ranked higher?<img alt=\"The Woodlands was named the No. 3 best city to live in and the No. 2 best city to raise a family in Niche's 2026 rankings. (Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/73c6beed66fe60fb9fbadfedae17d78e.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Woodlands was named the No. 3 best city to live in and the No. 2 best city to raise a family in Niche&#8217;s 2026 rankings. (Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Five Texas cities placed ahead of Austin in the national rankings:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Woodlands (No. 3), also No. 2 for raising a family<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Plano (No. 6), also No. 5 for retirement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Richardson (No. 15), also No. 8 for retirement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin (No. 28)<br \/>College Station (No. 30)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Woodlands was the highest-ranked Texas city at No. 3 overall.<\/p>\n<p>Top 10 cities in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin ranked among the best places to live in the U.S. in a new report \u2014 but several&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,84268],"class_list":{"0":"post-246148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-niche"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}