Life is good

This upbeat Dallas suburb is one of the happiest cities in America in 2020

The city has earned a reputation as a great place for families.

Residents of Plano have plenty to smile about. Their city ranks second on a new list of the happiest cities in the country.

In a study released March 9, personal finance website WalletHub looks at 30 happiness-related metrics for 182 U.S. cities — the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state.

The study places data into three buckets: emotional and physical well-being, income and employment, and community and environment. Plano’s best showing among those three is a No. 6 ranking in the category of emotional and physical well-being. It grabs the No. 9 spot for income and employment, and the No. 16 spot for community and environment.

Plano performs particularly well on one metric: No. 5 for the lowest separation and divorce rate.

On its website, the Plano Chamber of Commerce boasts that the city “has earned a national reputation as one of the best places in the United States for families to live and work.”

For Plano, there is one thing to be a tiny bit sad about in this year’s WalletHub ranking. In the 2019 happiest-cities study, Plano sat atop the list. This year’s No. 1 is Fremont, California, a San Francisco suburb. In 2018, Plano ranked fifth.

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez says the methodology for the study was changed this year, meaning an apples-to-apples comparison shouldn’t be made between the 2019 and 2020 rankings.

“However, the second happiest city is still a great place to be. Plano’s top marks this year include a low depression rate, and the smallest percentage of adults who are limited in their activities because of illness or disability,” Gonzalez says. “In terms of income and employment, almost 60 percent of households in Plano earn annual incomes above $75,000, and the poverty and unemployment rates are some of the lowest in the country.”

Here’s how other large cities in Dallas-Fort Worth rank this year:

Grand Prairie, No. 27
Irving, No. 35
Garland, No. 43
Fort Worth, No. 60
Arlington, No. 61
Dallas, No. 76

Aside from Dallas and Fort Worth, here’s how the state’s largest cities rank:

Austin, No. 22
San Antonio, No. 110
Houston, No. 111

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Texas shocks as America's No. 3 least safe state in 2026 report

Photo by Hiroshi Kimura on Unsplash

Texas ranks as the 48th "safest" state — out of 50.

While no state is invulnerable, some do more to protect their residents than others. And a new study has declared Texas one of the five least safe states in America.

WalletHub's "Safest States in America (2026)" report examined all 50 states for their emergency preparedness and for residents' personal and residential, financial, workplace, and road safety. Factors that weighed into the rankings include specific crime rates per capita, the share of the population that is uninsured, road quality ratings, workplace injury statistics, and more.

Texas ranked at the bottom of the list as the 48th "safest" state — or the third least safe state. It's joined by several other Southern states, like Mississippi (No. 50), Louisiana (No. 49), Florida (No. 47), and Arkansas (No. 46).

According to WalletHub, Texas specifically ranks third to last in the nationwide "emergency preparedness" category, which was determined based on the prevalence of climate disasters causing $1 billion or more in damages from 1980-2024, and the loss amount resulting from those disasters.

The Lone Star State also ranked 40th (or 10th worst) across three safety categories: personal and residential safety, financial safety, and road safety. The report additionally found that Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents nationally.

Texas' "workplace safety" was the state's highest-ranking category, landing 30th nationally.

Additional rankings that determined Texas' overall safety include:

No. 30 – Assaults per capita
No. 32 – Fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 full-time workers
No. 32 – Sex offenders per capita
No. 35 – Murders and non-negligent manslaughters per capita
No. 36 – Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel
No. 41 – Loss amounts from climate disasters per capita

According to the report, the five safest states in America are all located in the Northeast. Vermont leads as the country's safest state in 2026, followed by Massachusetts (No. 2), Maine (No. 3), New Hampshire (No. 4), and Connecticut (No. 5).

Though every state has varying levels of safety, WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo asserted that the safest places in the U.S. categorically invest in protecting their residents. Top-ranking states have low crime rates and diligently maintain their road infrastructure, and other states that prioritize their residents' safety have "strong economies and job markets that prevent people from falling into dangerous financial situations."

"[The safest states in America] have high levels of occupational safety and disaster preparedness, too," Lupo said. "In addition, states are made safer by efforts that individual residents take, such as forming a neighborhood watch or working in firefighting and EMT jobs at high rates."

safety texas wallethub reports