Kid-friendly Plano has once again landed at the top of WalletHub's report of the best places to raise a family, continuing a multiyear streak for this family-oriented city.

Plano has ranked as the fourth-best city in America for families for several consecutive years, but moved up to the No. 3 spot in 2025. While it returns to the No. 4 spot in 2026, and one thing remains consistent: Plano has always reigned as the best place to raise a family in Texas.

To determine the best places for families to live, WalletHub's analysts compared 182 U.S. cities using 45 metrics relevant to "family fun," health and safety, education and childcare, affordability, and socioeconomics.

Plano ranks No. 2 spot nationwide for its socioeconomics, which encompassed factors such as the city's share of two-parent families, divorce rates, wealth gaps, unemployment rates, and others. The Dallas suburb also has the fourth-best health and safety ranking in the country, which considered air and water quality, crime rates, the share of uninsured children, public hospital rankings, and more.

Additionally, Plano was dubbed the sixth-most affordable city for families based on its cost of living, housing affordability, and "wallet wellness" (financial security). It ranked 30th for education and childcare, and 95th for "family fun."

There's plenty of things for Plano residents to enjoy in this happy-go-lucky city, such as its declining home prices, its hot job market, and the numerous well-maintained parks.

Living in a kid-friendly city isn't the only thing to consider when looking for the right place to start a family, UTHealth Houston professor Jeff Temple, Ph.D. said in the report. Access to high-performing schools, safe neighborhoods, good health care, and economic opportunities also play a part for prospective families.

"Children don’t develop in a vacuum — instead, everything around them plays a role in shaping them — within their families, schools, neighborhoods, and communities," Temple said. "Just as importantly, communities that foster connection and support tend to help families thrive. Chronic stressors like violence, instability, long commutes, and lack of resources have been shown to negatively affect both parents and children over time."

Six other Texas cities earned spots among the top 100 best places to raise a family this year: Austin (No. 22), Amarillo (No. 74), Grand Prairie (No. 85), Fort Worth (No. 87), Laredo (No. 91), and Irving (No. 96).