Ranking It

New list of best cities to live in America puts this Dallas suburb on top

Once again, people proclaim their love for Plano.

A new list of the best cities to live in America has surfaced, and — not surprisingly — Texas is all over the top 25. We have five of the best cities, according to Niche.com, with our closest competitor being California, with four.

Niche.com analyzed publicly available data and aggregated user reviews to determined these rankings. The stats for the 228 cities on the list looked at higher education rates from the U.S. Census Bureau and Niche's own grades for cost of living, diversity, crime and safety, commute times, jobs, weather, nightlife, outdoor activities, health and fitness, public schools, and family friendliness.

Plano takes North Texas' top honor at No. 7, with a Niche grade of A-plus and nearly 500 user reviews. The only areas where the suburb receives lower than an A are in outdoor activities, weather, cost of living, and crime and safety, though its number of violent and property crimes is still way below those of the nation as a whole.

Richardson is No. 12, with a grade that's slightly lower than Plano in health and fitness but curiously higher for outdoor activities. According to Niche, both are excellent for families and diversity.

No. 6 The Woodlands, just outside of Houston, is ranked the best in Texas. Its crime and safety score is mysteriously absent, but the public schools, jobs outlook, and family friendliness all pull in A-plus grades to make up for it. Even the city's notoriously humid weather is looked upon favorably — or at least the 229 users who've reviewed the city feel alright overlooking it.

Affordable, entrepreneur-friendly Round Rock gets the No. 16 nod, drawing in high scores for everything but crime and safety and ... cost of living. And neighboring Austin isn't far behind at No. 22, taking a bigger hit in those same two categories (theft seems to be a major problem in the Capital City). But more than 1,000 people are willing to declare their love for Austin, which is by far the most reviews in the top 25.

So which city does Niche declare the best? Ann Arbor, Michigan, despite a few B grades and even a C for weather. Clearly they've never lived in Texas.

bests rankings texas

Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

undefined

The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

marijuana