Living Large
Ritzy Dallas neighbor nearly tops 2025 list of best places to live
![1982 E Highland St., Southlake, mansion](https://dallas.culturemap.com/media-library/1982-e-highland-st-southlake-mansion.jpg?id=30414149&width=2000&height=1500&quality=65&coordinates=0%2C0%2C1%2C0)
Life is good in Southlake.
A Dallas-adjacent city has nearly topped a new list of the best suburbs to live in America for 2025. It's Southlake, and it ranked as the No. 2 best American suburb, according to a livability analysis by Canada-based real estate platform ViewHomes Team.
The study examined over 600 cities across 12 metrics to determine the rankings. Factors that contribute to each city's quality of life include median rent prices, crime rates, residents' median income, the percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree, employment rates, and more.
The only city that topped Southlake was Vienna, Virginia, located 17 miles west of Washington, D.C.
The two major factors that helped Southlake cinch its top-three ranking were its favorable weather – 233 out of 265 days, to be exact – and its residents' median income. The suburb's affluent residents make the highest median annual income out of all cities in the report, at $250,000 annually.
Here's how Southlake stacked up in the study's other metrics:
- 1,266.6 – Crimes per 100,000 residents
- 74.1 percent – Percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree
- 2.3 percent – Percentage of residents without healthcare coverage
- 58.4 – Employment rate
- 2 – Poverty rate
- 26.1 minutes – Average time spent commuting for work
- 0.1 percent – "Walk to work" rate
- 7.63 – "Population diversity" rate
For many North Texans who want to live a little further from the big city action while still enjoying the perks of an urban lifestyle, suburbs like Southlake fit the bill, according to the study.
"The best suburbs offer great schools, thriving local economies, and homes that appreciate in value over time, making them ideal for families, professionals, and retirees alike," the report's author wrote.
Besides being one of the wealthiest suburbs in America, Southlake commonly appears on lists that also dub it one of the best small cities in the nation.
The city is also famous for its over-the-top mansions for sale that go wild on social media. And the report confirms Southlake's expensive real estate market by stating the median home prices come out to nearly $1.25 million. The city's median rent price is also fairly high, at about $2,518 per month.
Now the city will be known as the hometown of Dallas Trinity FC's newest player: Lexi Missimo, who has previously played on the United States women's national soccer team.
Southlake was the only North Texas city to make the top 10, but other Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs to earn spots on the list include Colleyville (No. 36), Grand Prairie (No. 37), and University Park (No. 49). That's right, Southlake beat University Park.
The top 10 best suburbs to live in 2025 are:
- No. 1 – Vienna, Virginia
- No. 2 – Southlake, Texas
- No. 3 – Lexington, Massachusetts
- No. 4 – Garden City, Idaho
- No. 5 – Winchester, Massachusetts
- No. 6 – Beverly Hills, California
- No. 7 – Brentwood, Missouri
- No. 8 – Clayton, Missouri
- No. 9 – Bethany, Oklahoma
- No. 10 – Ladue, Missouri