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4 Texas Cities Rank in Top 10 Best Places to Live for 2026
Four Texas cities—Sugar Land, Plano, Round Rock, and New Braunfels—rank among the top 10 best places to live in the U.S. for 2026, according to Livability's comprehensive index focusing on affordability, amenities, and quality of life.
Published May 1, 2026 at 10:00am by Alexis Simmerman
Sugar Land Mayor Carol McCutcheon speaks at a press conference announcing the city's participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.
Claire Goodman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
While there are plenty of "best place to live" lists out there, one in particular encourages readers to find their "everything" city.
Digital publisher and marketing company Livability doesn't limit its focus to economic trends, big cities or entertainment hubs—it considers all of these in a single index. To build its "Top 100 Best Places to Live" analysis, it emphasized accessibility and affordability: The list only includes cities with populations between 75,000 and 500,000 and those with median home values of $500,000 or less.
With these parameters, Livability analyzed proprietary data from thousands of U.S. cities and partnered with Applied Geographic Solutions to select the most desirable places. The project considered more than 100 data points across the following eight categories to measure each city's overall health and "fun factor":
- Economy and housing: Affordability was prioritized by comparing average rents and home prices with local incomes.
- Amenities and environment: Each city's "fun factor" was measured alongside air quality and green space.
- Safety, health and education: The analysis evaluated the vital infrastructure that keeps families safe and supported.
- Transportation: Cities in which residents spent less time in traffic were favored over others.
Texas cities dominated the top 10 list—and they weren't the usual suspects. Here's which made the cut.
The four Texas cities that ranked among the 10 best places to live are in close proximity to the state's largest cities, which suggests they may have more access to entertainment without the high costs associated with the major metros.
| Rank | City | LivScore | Population | Median home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Sugar Land | 840 | 114,818 | $431,815 |
| 5 | Plano | 813 | 295,296 | $494,745 |
| 9 | Round Rock | 789 | 128,126 | $447,197 |
| 10 | New Braunfels | 772 | 105,592 | $357,203 |
Livability's index is interactive, allowing users to filter by region, population and median home value. They can also find the best cities in specific categories, including amenities, economy, education, environment, health, housing and cost of living, safety and transportation.
Top 10 places to live, 2026
- Huntsville, Ala.
- Carmel, Ind.
- Sugar Land, Texas
- Naperville, Ill.
- Plano, Texas
- Birmingham, Ala.
- Troy, Mich.
- Overland Park, Kan.
- Round Rock, Texas
- New Braunfels, Texas