Top Brass

One DFW city marches in among top 10 places in U.S. for military veterans

Plano is among top brass when it comes to military vets.

Courtesy photo

Plano is being saluted as the No. 6 best place in the U.S. for military veterans to live.

Just in time for Veterans Day observances, a new study from personal finance website WalletHub examines the 100 largest cities in the country and ranks them based on their veteran-friendly atmospheres. To come up with the ranking, WalletHub looked at 18 factors in four categories: jobs, economy, quality of life, and health.

In those categories, Plano ranks No. 19 for jobs, No. 61 for economy, No. 6 for quality of life, and No. 20 for health. It earned an overall ranking of No. 5 best place in 2017.

"Plano has the lowest veteran unemployment rate in the country, at 2.4 percent, and ranked third best for housing affordability,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez says. “These are probably some of the reasons why there is a projected increase in its veteran population by 2045, at 9.26 percent — one of the highest rates in the country.”

Austin marches in as No. 1, appearing at No. 9 for jobs, No. 17 for economy, No. 5 for quality of life, and No. 20 for health.

"One of the reasons Austin is the best place for veterans to live is its high presence of veterans’ job fairs," Gonzalez says. "Those help lead to one of the lowest veteran unemployment rates in the country, at 3.5 percent,” “The city offers educational opportunities specific to vets as well.”

Austin also landed the No. 1 position in WalletHub’s 2017 ranking of the best places for veterans.

Other cities that ranked high in the WalletHub study were Fort Worth (No. 12), San Antonio (No. 28), and Arlington (No. 31). Dallas comes in at No. 33.

Interestingly, Texas was missing from a ranking released earlier this year by personal finance startup SmartAsset of the top 10 states for veterans. For its study, SmartAsset considered seven ranking factors, including veterans’ unemployment rate, share of population, and veterans’ income.

Meanwhile, home lender Veterans United ranks San Antonio as the best place in the U.S. for veterans who are buying homes, with Arlington at No. 3 and Fort Worth at No. 9.

In yet another study, the Military Times newspaper named San Antonio the third best big city for veterans to live in and New Braunfels the third best small city. The publication evaluated 599 cities based on economic indicators, livability criteria, military services, and other factors.

wallethub lists rankings

let loose dallas

Dallas earns a slot on new list of America's most fun cities

Photo by Mark Patterson on Unsplash

Dallas is a fun place to be, the study says.

Dallas' fun entertainment and nightlife scenes have helped the city improve in WalletHub's just-released ranking of the most fun American cities in 2025. Dallas now stands tall as the 26th most fun U.S. city this year.

WalletHub's "Most Fun Cities in America (2025)" study compared 182 U.S. cities across 65 metrics — spanning from the number of sports venues, music venues, and shopping centers per capita to the average cost for a restaurant meal — to determine how "fun" each city is. The metrics were split among three main categories: entertainment and recreation, nightlife and parties, and cost.

Las Vegas, Nevada continued its multi-year streak as the No. 1 most fun American city.

Across the three key dimensions, Dallas scored the highest for its nightlife and parties rank (No. 23), but its entertainment and recreation ranks (No. 35) and costs (No. 99) still have room for improvement. But overall, Dallas' level of "fun" is far higher than most U.S. cities.

Dallas' current "fun" status is five places higher than its 2024 rank as the No. 31 most fun American city.

Elsewhere in North Texas, Fort Worth ranked as the 60th most fun American city, while Arlington (No. 71) and Plano (No. 78) lagged farther behind.

Texas' most fun cities
Houston overtook Austin as the 6th most fun city in America and the No. 1 most fun Texas city for 2025. Austin, which ranked No. 6 last year, dropped two spots and now ranks No. 8 on the list.

Three more Texas cities that appeared in the top 100 include: San Antonio (No. 23), El Paso (No. 62), and Corpus Christi (No. 94).

"The decision of where to live could save or cost you a lot of money and fun, so it’s fair to wonder what makes a fun city," the report's author wrote. "In a city with enough variety, you won’t have to compromise with your friends, family, or even yourself about the next fun activity to do alone or together."

Surprisingly, both Chicago and New York City dropped out of the top 10 most fun American cities. Chicago now ranks as No. 11, and New York City ranks 14th on the list.

WalletHub's top 10 most fun U.S. cities in 2025 are:

No. 1 – Las Vegas, Nevada
No. 2 – Orlando, Florida
No. 3 – Miami, Florida
No. 4 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 5 – New Orleans, Louisiana
No. 6 – Houston, Texas
No. 7 – San Francisco, California
No. 8 – Austin, Texas
No. 9 – Portland, Oregon
No. 10 – Cincinnati, Ohio

rankings wallethub dallas