The 10 Best Places To Live In Texas For 2022

The 10 Best Places To Live In Texas For 2022

University Park is a Dallas suburb of 25,027 people that has a lot going for it. With a median age of 35, University Park is the youngest city to make this list, so you know it’s a vibrant place with fresh ideas. It’s also the 2nd most densely-populated city in Texas, which adds to the dynamism here. And with Dallas right there, you can be in America’s largest urban art district in under 15 minutes.

In general, residents of University Park don’t have money problems, because they’re the 2nd best-paid workers in Texas, pulling in around $247,716/year. Moneyed individuals don’t often go in for crime, and that holds true in University Park, where violent crime is the 3rd lowest in Texas and the total crime rateis 50% lower than the national average.

Add to that top-notch schools and an excellent housing market, and you’ve got a recipe for the best place to call home in Texas.

We’re heading back down to the greater San Antonio area to arrive at our 2nd best city in Texas, Alamo Heights. Alamo Heights is a city of 8,501 people almost completely surrounded by the bigger city, which helps give it the title of 9th most densely populated city in Texas. Those who like to be in the center of the action will find plenty to love in Alamo Heights. It’s also a great jumping off point for getting to Natural Bridge Caverns, Texas’ largest underground attraction and a serene, but strangely eerie, spot to spend the day.

Alamo Heights has a diverse population, high-quality public schools, and hot markets for both jobs and housing. It’s also the place with the 3rd highest rate of insured residents in Texas, with 98.4% of people being covered.

Kicking off our list of best places to live in Texas is West University Place, an affluent suburb of Houston. As the most densely-populated city in Texas, West University Place is sure to have enough activity even for your most social of social butterflies. I mean, in just fifteen minutes you can be at an Astros game or Houston’s world-class Museum of Natural Science, depending on your inclination.

Over half of the population in West University Place has a master’s degree or higher, so you know that folks here aren’t dummies. All those fancy diplomas really pay off for residents, because at $250,001/year, West University Place has the highest median income in Texas. And since people with good jobs usually also have health insurance, West University place also has the 2nd highest rate of insured residents in the state.

Nobody gets left out of the good times in West University Place, as evidenced by the city’s ranking as the place with the 4th lowest poverty level in Texas. Seeing as poverty and crime usually go hand in hand, it’s no surprise that West University Place also boasts the 8th lowest rate of violent crime in Texas.

You should have no trouble recognizing that you’re living in high society in Highland Park, an affluent town that, together with University Park, comprises the Park Cities enclave of Dallas. Homes in University Park are the 1st costliest in Texas, going for a median price of $1,451,300. That’s okay though, because University Park residents are also the 4th best paid in the state, pulling in around $218,611/year.

Some other markers of University Park’s excellence are its sub-3% rates of poverty and unemployment and its distinction as the 11th least violent place in Texas. As a bonus, folks in University Park only commute 19 minutes to and from work, which is the shortest trip you’ll see on this list. In about the same amount of time, you can get to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens to add a bit of color to your life.

An affluent suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Trophy Club comes in as the 5th best place to live in Texas for 2022. As the town with the 4th lowest rate of crime in the state, Trophy Club is one of the safest places to live in Texas.

Trophy Club is also younger than most places on this list, with a median age of 39. The young folks are doing quite well for themselves, because the median household income in Trophy Club is $155,635/year. Combined with home prices of around $444,800, Trophy Club actually has the lowest overall cost of living among the cities featured here. And having the 11th lowest rate of poverty in Texas means that everyone in Trophy Club gets in on the good times.

Don’t worry about a dearth of activity here, because in just 30 minutes you can find yourself at Fort Worth’s Sundance Square, where the nightlife is popping.

A bedroom community of the Dallas-Fort Worth Area, Coppell is a city of 41,494 that ranks as the 6th best place to live in Texas. Coppell is a place where the economy works for everyone, as evidenced by the super-low rates of unemployment (2.4%) and poverty (2.0%). It also has one of the premier educational systems in the state, with GreatSchools giving Coppell’s schools an average score of 8/10 (with plenty of 10/10s available, depending on your district).

All these things are great indicators of Coppell’s high quality, but we haven’t come to the city’s best feature: being only ten minutes away from the Legoland Discovery Center. At 39, Coppell has a lower median age than most places listed here, so we think residents’ Lego appreciation is proportionally higher.

Next up #7: Southlake – a Dallas/Fort Worth suburb located about 25 miles north of the city centers near DFW airport. There’s plenty to do if you live in Southlake. There are restaurants like Taverna Rossa and TruFire and shopping nearby. And there’s Summit Park on Main Street.

Homes here will cost you a pretty penny – with the median price being 223,621, but that’s a bargain compared to some other places on this list. People here are making a cool 223,621 a year and the poverty and unemployment rates are both under 4%.

The public schools are fantastic – with 96% of high school students reading at the correct level and a 94% graduation rate.

We’re going to stick around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex to wrap up our list of best places in Texas with Keller, a suburb of 46,885. There’s no one statistic that earns Keller a spot on this list. Is the school system way above average? Yes. Is the crime rate among the lowest in the state? You betcha. Are poverty and unemployment rates hovering around 3%? You’d better believe it.

Folks in Keller earn the 13th highest salaries in Texas, with a median household income of $149,342. Of all the places on this list, the cost of living in Keller is second-lowest only to Trophy Club. As an extra attraction, having the top-notch Keller Farmer’s Market and Keller Pointe athletics center right in your neighborhood means it’s easy to eat healthy and stay active here. That’s the kind of quality that pays dividends down the road.

Another Dallas-Fort worth suburb, Colleyville is a city of 26,766 with across the board strong statistics. Noted for its consistently high-ranking public schools, you’d better believe kids who grow up in Colleyville get off on the right foot. Evidently, the importance of education transcends age, because about 30% of Colleyville’s residents kept earning degrees after earning their bachelor’s.

That work ethic really pays off for Colleyville’s residents, who earn the 9th highest pay in Texas, around $171,485/year. And since smart people with good jobs don’t have much reason to go around committing crimes, Colleyville also has the 9th lowest crime rate in the state, about 75% lower than the national average.

As for escaping the hustle and bustle of the big cities, not many cities on this list can boast having a 46-acre natural refuge, complete with nine ponds and countless fishing spots. Colleyville can, though.

Flower Mound is another northern suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area located on Grapevine Lake. Flower Mound ranks as the 10th best place to call home in the Lone Star State.

People who live here say Flower Mound is a beautiful town with a heart of gold. They say people are always friendly, no matter if you’re a friend or a stranger. And, maybe everyone is in a good mood because they never have to sit in traffic. The only drawback is you’d have to drive into Dallas or Fort Worth for work, and those places are not as charming.

Home prices in Flower Mound are the 10th most expensive in Texas, at around $376,500. But, you get what you pay for. It’s super safe here and the schools are the best in the state when you measure performance and the budget they have. And about 3 in 4 people in Flower Mound have a college degree, so lots of people are smart.

Methodology: How We Calculated The Best Cities To Live In Texas

Now that we had our set of cities, it was time to rank them.

We ranked each place in Texas across a number of criteria from one to 341, with one being the best.

We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the city posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Place To Live In Texas”.

The criteria we looked at were:

• Median Home Values
• Median Income
• Population Density (Higher better)
• Unemployment Rate
• Commute Time
• Crime
• Education Levels
• Health Insurance Coverage
• Poverty rates

Sources of criteria include the New Census Data and FBI Crime Data. You can download the data here.

After the dust settled, what was the best place to live in Texas? That would be University Park.

If your city or town isn’t among the top 10, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart of the best places in Texas.

Otherwise, buckle up for a ride down good living lane with University Park at the end of the cul-de-sac.