For people looking to Internet rankings when searching for their next place to live, 24/7 Wall St. produces some solid information. As opposed to some list-makers, they actually do real research with scientific data and come up with interesting findings.
They recently reviewed data on the 550 American cities with populations of 65,000 or more (measured by the U.S. Census Bureau). They looked at a range of variables, including crime rates, employment growth, access to restaurants/attractions, educational attainment, and housing affordability, and they identified America’s 50 Best Cities to Live.
Two Texas cities made the 24/7 Wall St. list, and both are in DFW. In the top five, Richardson, and in the top ten, North Richland Hills. Intrigued? So were we. Read on to see why they chose these two places for their list.
Here’s what 24/7 Wall St. had to say about both cities.
3. Richardson
> Population: 110,827
> Median home value: $226,000
> Poverty rate: 9.5%
> Percent with at least a bachelor’s degree: 53.2%
More than half of all adults in Richardson have at least a bachelor’s degree. With high educational attainment, incomes in the city are high and violent crime is scarce. The typical Richardson household earns $80,398 a year, and the city’s violent crime rate is less than half that of the state a whole. In many cities with higher incomes, the cost of living is also higher than normal. In Richardson, however, the cost of goods and services is roughly in line with the cost of living nationwide.
Located just outside of Dallas, Richardson residents benefit both from economic opportunities in the larger city, and the cultural amenities, without the higher violent and property crime rates.
10. North Richland Hills
> Population: 69,205
> Median home value: $163,300
> Poverty rate: 8.8%
> Percent with at least a bachelor’s degree: 27.3%
For most, the ideal city economy is one with high wages and a low cost of living. In North Richland Hills, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, the median household income of $61,498 is about $6,000 above the nationwide median income. In addition, with the exception of utilities, the cost of every major category of goods and services is lower in the Texas city than the nation as whole. A typical home costs 2.7 times the median annual household income, one of the lowest affordability ratios in the country. In College Station, Texas, home prices are more than five times the median income.
