Highly rated hamlet

This Dallas neighbor earns new bragging rights as 5th best city to live in U.S.

The Plano Balloon Festival is one of the hottest events of the year in DFW.

Photo by Silvana Baumann

Plano is on a hot streak. It can add yet another accolade to its resume. The city ranks fifth on Niche.com’s 2020 list of the best cities to live in the U.S.

Factors that Niche.com uses to judge the livability of a city include cost of living, quality of schools, home values, crime rates, employment rates, diversity, and health and fitness. Niche.com is a review website that crunches data about communities, schools, and employers.

"Living in Plano offers residents a dense suburban feel and most residents own their homes," the report says. "In Plano there are a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, and parks. Many families and young professionals live in Plano and residents tend to have moderate political views. The public schools in Plano are highly rated."

IN all 228 U.S. cities were ranked. Plano also was got No. 4 in "best cities to buy a house in America" and No. 8 in "best cities to raise a family."

Plano regularly receives accolades like this one. For instance, Plano ranks first on WalletHub’s 2020 list of the best places in the U.S. for summer staycations. Also this year, Plano appears at No. 2 on WalletHub’s list of the happiest places in the country.

Livability.com echoes Niche's assessment, saying Plano, home to roughly 290,000 residents, “boasts great neighborhoods, strong education, iconic and authentic Texas cuisine, affordable living, and plenty of entertaining things to do.”

Not too far behind Plano is Richardson, which ranks as the 12th best city to live.

"Living in Richardson offers residents an urban suburban mix feel and most residents own their homes," Niche.com says. "In Richardson there are a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, and parks.

Among Texas cities, only the Houston suburb of The Woodlands beats Plano, coming in at No. 2.

Arlington, Virginia, tops this year’s Niche.com rankings of the best cities to live in. Other Texas cities in the top 25 are Round Rock (No. 22) and Austin (No. 23).

Aside from being No. 2 overall, The Woodlands ranks as the second best city to raise a family, the third best city to buy a house, and the seventh best city for public schools. Nearly 120,000 people live in The Woodlands.

“The Woodlands is a great place to live. It offers [a] good cost of living and quality of life. Great food and events. Beautiful trees everywhere and lot of green space to spend time outdoors,” a Niche.com reviewer writes.

Round Rock, the Austin metro area’s No. 1 city on the Niche.com list, is no stranger to rankings like this one, either. Last year, Money magazine named Round Rock the second best place to live in America. In lauding Round Rock, Money cited the suburb’s stellar schools, robust economy, and array of spare-time activities.

Here, in list form, are the Texas cities that made Niche.com’s top 100 list of the best cities to live in America:

The Woodlands, No. 2
Plano, No. 5
Richardson, No. 12
Round Rock, No. 22
Austin, No. 23
College Station, No. 26
Irving, No. 40
Denton, No. 53
Lubbock, No. 58
Houston, No. 66
Arlington, No. 77
Dallas, No. 79
San Antonio, No. 85

lists rankings

A+ for Plano

Surprising Dallas suburb makes new list of best college towns in U.S.

Southern Methodist University students at a football game

Southern Methodist University/Facebook

Dallas knows how to show out.

Dallas' spirited neighbor Plano has entered the spotlight as the No. 16 best midsize college town in the U.S., while Dallas ranks among the best largest college towns, a new study by WalletHub has proclaimed.

While Plano might not be thought of as a "college town," it is home to primary campuses of Collin College (Spring Creek Campus and the Courtyard Center); Collin College has an annual enrollment of over 60,000 students. To qualify for the study, a city must have a university or college population of at least 7,500 students.

To determine the best college towns, WalletHub analyzed 415 cities based on their "wallet-friendliness," social environment, and academic and economic opportunities for college graduates. Cities are ranked overall and are sorted into one of three population categories: large, midsize, and small cities.

Several North Texas cities were represented across the three rankings by population, but none ranked higher than Plano. This Dallas suburb ranked as the 54th best college town in the nation overall, and ranks as the third-best college town in Texas.

Out of the three key dimensions, Plano ranked highest for its academic and economic opportunities – landing 25th nationally. This category analyzed Plano's quality of higher education, the earning potential for college graduates, unemployment rates, job growth rates, the share of part-time jobs and median income of part-time workers, and more.

In the remaining two categories for its "social environment" and "wallet friendliness," Plano respectively ranked 223rd and 271st nationwide. The social environment ranking compared the number of students per capita, the share of single people, crime rates, and the number of cafés, breweries, festivals, and shopping centers per capita, among others; the wallet-friendliness category examined local housing costs, student loan debt per person, the adjusted cost of living for young people, and other financial factors.

"As student living expenses can reach over $39,000 per year, it’s important to find the most bang for your buck," the report's author wrote. "Therefore, it’s best to live in a city with a reasonable cost of living, along with good academic and work opportunities. The ideal city should also provide a fun social environment to help students deal with the stress of college."

Dallas ranked as the 35th best large college town in the U.S., and it ranked 108th overall regardless of city size.

This is how the rest of North Texas fared in the report:

Denton – No. 77 overall, No. 23 among midsize cities
Fort Worth – No. 100 overall, No. 31 among large cities
McKinney – No. 110 overall, No. 31 among midsize cities
Richardson – No. 139 overall, No. 57 among small cities
Irving – No. 141 overall, No. 39 among midsize cities
Carrollton – No. 150 overall, No. 42 among midsize cities
Arlington – No. 189 overall, No. 53 among large cities
Grand Prairie – No. 230 overall, No. 71 among midsize cities
Garland – No. 265 overall, No. 83 among midsize cities
Mesquite – No. 317 overall, No. 111 among midsize cities

Other top college towns in Texas
Austin once again topped the list as the No. 1 best college town in America, boosted by the city's wealth of local colleges and universities and the local economy. The Capital City has outshone obvious contenders like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, for five years in a row, and it also tops the large cities list.

According to the report's findings, Austin has the 15th best academic and economic opportunities for college students and graduates, and the 16th best social environment. WalletHub commends Austin for having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation and the "34th-best annual job growth rate," while also offering students ample ways to "de-stress after class."

"On top of that, Austin ranks 22nd in the nation for the quality of higher education among more than 400 cities in our study," the report said. "It also has the 112th-cheapest in-state tuition (including room and board), at $34,651 per year."

Four other cities in the Lone Star State appeared on the overall list of America's best college towns: College Station (No. 37), San Antonio (No. 72), Houston (No. 73), and Lubbock (No. 83).

In the rankings by city size, San Antonio ranked as the No. 2 best large college town in Texas and 23rd in the U.S., with Houston right behind as the third-best statewide and 24th nationwide.

San Marcos, a college town between Austin and San Antonio, ranked as the No. 2 best small college town in Texas, and 54th best among the small colleges nationally. In the overall list regardless of city size, San Marcos ranked 132nd nationally.

The top 10 best college towns in America for 2027 are:

No. 1 – Austin
No. 2 – Ann Arbor, Michigan
No. 3 – Charlottesville, Virginia
No. 4 – Raleigh, North Carolina
No. 5 – Atlanta
No. 6 – Tampa, Florida
No. 7 – San Diego
No. 8 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 9 – Orlando
No. 10 – Charleston, South Carolina

college towns reports wallethub dallas plano