Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2024-2025
U.S. News & World Report Best Places rankings
For the 2024-2025 Best Places to Live rankings, we selected 150 major cities to find the best places to live. To make the top of the list, a place had to have good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life.
#9. Austin - What’s it like to live in Austin, TX?
With the slogan “Keep Austin Weird,” this Texas city is laid-back to the point that if you’re dressing up, it must be a life event. People here enjoy the outdoors, even more so with their dogs. Austin has a contagious vibrancy and enthusiasm.
The downtown core is set on a grid, planned that way in the late 1830s. In the last decade, high-rise residential and commercial space has increased downtown, and that trend continues.
Some people move here because they want to work for one of the companies headquartered in Austin. At times, the city can be a who’s who of technology, although government, education and health care are top job sectors as well. And some people come here for college and never leave.
Austin attracts many visitors with its live music events. It’s one of the top things to do in Austin, though there’s more music to enjoy than during the South by Southwest and Austin City Limits festivals. As the live music capital of the world, Austin serenades its residents with live music in the airport terminal, on the downtown streets and at about 200 venues in the area.
48 - McAllen
62 - El Paso
77 - Corpus Christi
87 - Brownsville
89 - San Antonio
95 - Dallas
97 - Houston
99 - Beaumont
107 Killeen