Best in Texas

New ranking honors Dallas suburb as very best place to live in Texas

Flo Mo is a fave.

Town of Flower Mound, Texas/Facebook

Everything's bigger in Texas, especially pride in our towns. Chamber of Commerce, a digital resource for small business owners, recently evaluated 2,509 Texas cities and ranked the top 100 best in which to live.

The five factors used to build the list included employment (number of establishments, median earnings); housing (owner-occupied housing with a mortgage, monthly housing costs); quality of life (work commute, poverty levels); education (percentage with a bachelor's degree or higher); and health (obesity ratios). Only cities with a population above 25,000 and enough data for analysis were considered.

And the top spot goes to — drum roll, please — Flower Mound, the affluent Dallas and Fort Worth suburb. As the ranking notes, "Flo Mo" boasts a strong economy driven by its retail sector and the introduction of light industry in recent years. A large percentage of its population is originally from outside the state.

Second on the list is Houston, Texas' largest city and the fourth largest in the nation. Being a business hub works in H-Town's favor, as it's home to the fourth-most Fortune 500 headquarters of any U.S. metropolitan area, with the energy, aeronautics, and manufacturing industries bringing tons of jobs into the city.

We head back to DFW for No. 3, where Richardson also displays a wealth of big-name businesses. AT&T, Samsung, and Texas Instruments call the area home, along with University of Texas at Dallas.

A little further north is No. 4 Frisco, one of the fastest-growing cities in the entire country. A lot of retail development is happening here, and it boasts a reputation of being a great commuter city for those who work in Dallas proper.

Finally, the Austin area gets a little love with Pflugerville claiming No. 5. The city's German heritage is proudly honored by plenty of festivals, and millions have caught a glimpse of the area's idyllic charm through the popular TV show Friday Night Lights, which used the city's stadium as a filming location. It's also a popular real estate enclave for hopeful homebuyers who've been priced out of Austin.

texas rankings bests

Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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