Nearly a dozen Dallas suburbs, including perennial favorite Flower Mound, have landed among the best places to live in 2025, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The annual list of Best Places to Live in the U.S. is designed to help readers make the most informed decisions when choosing where to settle down, using data from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve and the Bureau for Economic Analysis, as well as state and local sources.

For the 2025-2026 rankings, U.S. News expanded its coverage from 150 to 250 U.S. cities, and updated its methodology to examine each city based on five livability indexes: Quality of life, value, desirability, job market, and net migration.

The top three best places to live are located in Johns Creek, Georgia (No. 1), Carmel, Indiana (No. 2), and the Houston-area suburb of Pearland, Texas (No. 3).

Flower Mound ranked No. 14 nationwide, and it landed in the coveted No. 4 spot in U.S. News' separate rankings of the best places to live in Texas for 2025-2026.

Aspects of Flower Mound that put it at the top of the list include its high median household income ($163,766), median home values ($476,609), and its bustling population of more than 77,000 residents.

The city's population is a healthy mix of young individuals and families, with 26 percent of residents being under 20 years old and 28 percent of the population being between the ages of 20-44. Nearly a third of Flower Mound's population is between 45-64 years old, while only 13 percent of residents are over 65, the report says.

Flower Mound is a listmaker's favorite, landing the top spot of Livability.com's list of the best places to live in 2025 as well as a 2024 list that named it one of the most livable small cities in the country.

Flower Mound has many parks for families to enjoy.Flower Mound Parks and Recreation/Facebook

"Finding a community to be part of can play a major role in making a place feel like home," U.S. News said. "If you’re a parent with young children, you may want to live in a neighborhood with other people in that phase of life. If you’re a professional moving to a hot job market for your field, you may want to live in an apartment close to the office or within walking distance of friends and colleagues."

However, if people are looking for a public transportation-friendly city, they may need to look elsewhere. Almost all commuters in Flower Mound drive to their workplaces, making access to a vehicle absolutely necessary for living in the suburb. Flower Mound's 26.7-minute average commute time is also 4.7 minutes higher than the national average, U.S. News said.

The suburb's housing costs are admittedly more expensive than the national average home value ($370,489), but that shouldn't deter newcomers that are looking for a place to settle down.

"Flower Mound offers a better value than similarly sized cities when you compare housing costs to median household income," the report said.

Other Dallas-area suburbs
Mansfield ranked as the 27th best place to live in the U.S., and No. 9 in Texas. The city boasts a median household income of $117,680, and median home values at $364,136.

Residents in Mansfield also predominantly rely on vehicles for their daily commutes, spending an average time of nearly 28 minutes driving to work, U.S. News determined.

More than half (56.1 percent) of all Mansfield residents are married, and 51 percent of the population are between the ages of 25 and 64-years-old.

Here's how other Dallas-area cities faired among the top 150:

• No. 30 – Frisco
• No. 37 – McKinney
• No. 64 – North Richland Hills
• No. 82 – Carrollton
• No. 83 – Rowlett
• No. 102 – Wylie
• No. 105 – Grand Prairie
• No. 149 – Irving
• No. 150 – Plano

Dallas drops out of the top 100
Though Dallas clawed its way back among the top 100 best places to live in U.S. News' 2024-2025 report, the city plummeted toward the bottom of the list for 2025-2026, coming in at No. 439. In addition, it ranked No. 65 in the statewide comparison, showing that the city has been eclipsed by its appealing suburban neighbors.

The top 10 best places to live in the U.S. are:

• No. 1 – Johns Creek, Georgia
• No. 2 – Carmel, Indiana
• No. 3 – Pearland, Texas
• No. 4 – Fishers, INdiana
• No. 5 – Cary, North Carolina
• No. 6 – League City, Texas
• No. 7 – Apex, North Carolina
• No. 8 – Leander, Texas
• No. 9 – Rochester Hills, Michigan
• No. 10 – Troy, Michigan