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U.S. News: Top 250 Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2025-2026

Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:05 pm
Posted by Govt Tide
Member since Nov 2009
9476 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:05 pm
U.S. News & World Report rankings of the 250 best cities to live in America in 2025. Texas absolutely dominates the list. Florida has the 2nd most cities among SEC states

Listed below are all the cities in SEC states that made this year's list:


1) Johns Creek, Georgia
3) Pearland, TX
6) League City, TX
8) Leander, TX
12) Broken Arrow, OK
14) Flower Mound, TX
15) Pflugerville, TX
16) Sugarland, TX
20) McAllen, TX
22) Edmond, OK
23) Cedar Park, TX
24) Alpharetta, GA
25) Hoover, AL
26) Rogers, AR
27) Mansfield, TX
28) Round Rock, TX
29) O'Fallon, MO
30) Frisco, TX
35) St Peters, MO
36) St Charles, MO
37) McKinney, TX
38) Hendersonville, TN
41) Laredo, TX
42) Moore, OK
44) The Woodland, TX
45) Katy, TX
47) Springdale, AR
52) Roswell, GA
55) Enid, OK
58) Pharr, TX
59) Parkland, TX
61) Allen, TX
62) Edinburgh, TX
64) N Richland Hills, TX
65) Midland, TX
66) Franklin, TN
67) Missouri City, TX
68) Palm Harbor, FL
70) Mission, TX
73) Spring, TX
74) Weston, FL
75) Fayetteville, AR
77) New Braunfels, TX
82) Carrollton, TX
83) Rowlett, TX
85) Huntsville, AL
89) Conway, AR
90) San Angelo, TX
96) Oklahoma City, OK
97) Brownsville, TX
99) Temple, TX
102) Wylie, TX
105) Grand Prairie, TX
106) Lee's Summit, MO
107) El Paso, TX
108) Victoria, TX
111) Conroe, TX
112) Harlingen, TX
113) Georgetown, TX
120) Abilene, TX
124) Jupiter, FL
128) Alafaya, FL
130) Decatur, AL
137) Amarillo, TX
145) Odessa, TX
146) Kingsport, TN
147) Dalton, GA
149) Irving, TX
150) Plano, TX
152) Palm Beach Gardens, FL
153) Bryan, TX
158) Smyrna, GA
159) Mt. Pleasant, SC
160) Murfreesboro, TN
161) Metairie, LA
162) Ormond Beach, FL
164) Austin, TX
166) Pensacola, FL
169) Lubbock, TX
173) Norman, OK
176) Warner Robins, GA
177) The Villages, FL
178) Wichita Falls, TX
179) Naples, FL
181) Johnson City, TN
182) Daphne, AL
187) Ft. Smith, AR
189) Richardson, TX
190) Dothan, AL
193) Columbia, MO
195) Blue Springs, MO
198) Riverview, FL
199) Lexington, KY
200) Greenville, SC
203) Bonita Springs, FL
205) Eagle Pass, TX
206) Lewisville, TX
209) Corpus Christi, TX
212) Ft Worth, TX
216) Pinellas Park, FL
219) Kendall, FL
221) Apopka, FL
222) Tyler, TX
223) Elizabethtown, KY
225) Nashville, TN
227) Doral, FL
233) Longview, TX
236) San Antonio, TX
239) Jefferson City, MO
241) Clermont, FL
242) North Port, FL
246) St. Petersburg, FL
249) Arlington, TX


Number of cities listed for each respective SEC state:

Texas - 54
Florida - 18
Missouri - 7
Georgia - 6
Oklahoma - 6
Tennessee - 6
Alabama - 5
Arkansas - 5
Kentucky - 2
South Carolina - 2
Louisiana - 1
Mississippi - 0


LINK
This post was edited on 5/26/25 at 7:12 pm
Posted by IT_Dawg
Georgia
Member since Oct 2012
24446 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:07 pm to
quote:

1) Jones Creek, Georgia


It’s Johns Creek
Posted by NotoriousFSU
Atlanta, GA
Member since Oct 2008
11373 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:07 pm to
Dawson’s Creek
Posted by GeauxTigers123
Member since Feb 2007
2463 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:08 pm to
Broken bow is cool if you wanna get away and hunt and fish, but I don’t know how you would earn living there.

And why Arlington Texas is on this list. I have no idea. I will say cost of living is cheap to live in Arlington and there’s no income state tax, but you might get murdered.
This post was edited on 5/26/25 at 7:09 pm
Posted by CharlesLSU
Member since Jan 2007
32753 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:10 pm to
League city and Pearland ahead of the woodlands is ridiculous. The list reeks of bullshite.
Posted by LSUWoodworker
St George "God's Country "
Member since Dec 2007
18673 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:11 pm to
No demographics for the top 10
Posted by HeadCall
Member since Feb 2025
2514 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:11 pm to
So a Texan made that list?
Posted by SmelvinRat
Slumwoody
Member since Oct 2015
1771 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:11 pm to
quote:

It’s Johns Creek


Traffic is horrible on Peachtree Pkwy. Good golf courses though. No. 1?
Posted by DavidTheGnome
Monroe
Member since Apr 2015
30585 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:13 pm to
#2 Carmel, Indiana is super nice
Posted by James11111
Walnut Creek, Ca
Member since Jul 2020
5306 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:13 pm to
These lists are always dumb. Best places to live depend on how much money you have.
Posted by StringedInstruments
Member since Oct 2013
19854 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:17 pm to
quote:

25) Hoover, AL


Wat.

Any list is shite that doesn’t include Mountain Brook as the premiere location for the state of Alabama. Makes me wonder what they were really considering in their analysis.
Posted by glassman
Next to the beer taps at Finn's
Member since Oct 2008
117318 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:18 pm to
(no message)
This post was edited on 5/26/25 at 7:20 pm
Posted by travelgamer
Member since Aug 2024
292 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:20 pm to
Jefferson City, MO might be the worst city I have ever lived in. All the big businesses go to Columbia and the people are just weird.
Nashville Murfreesboro,Smyrna, and Franklin, TN the traffic will make you hate your life.
A lot of the OK cities are ones that frequently get hit by tornadoes.

Posted by NIH
Member since Aug 2008
117283 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:21 pm to
Seems like the list values accessible suburbs. League City and Pearland have a lot of reasonably priced neighborhoods.
Posted by mwlewis
JeffCo
Member since Nov 2010
21509 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:22 pm to
quote:

ny list is shite that doesn’t include Mountain Brook as the premiere location for the state of Alabama. Makes me wonder what they were really considering in their analysis.

They listed Decatur and not Mountain Brook. I think whoever made it is clueless.
Posted by Odysseus32
Member since Dec 2009
8656 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:23 pm to
Tyler, Texas is a better place to live than St. Petersburg, Florida?

I'm all about having an open mind, but come on. Can we be serious?

EDIT - Just clicked on the link.

Apparently, Boise is the 6th best place to live in Idaho.

Among the cities in front of Boise are Twin Falls and Meridian.

That's the most absurd thing I think I've seen. This list is a joke. Not even in an outrageous way, but in an I actually think someone made a mistake in their criteria and weighted something incorrectly.

Meridian isn't a bad city, but it's not even close to as nice as Boise in any metric. It's a suburb of Boise and has worse traffic. Their parks are worse. They have worse food. They don't have as many job opportunities. The access to nature/outdoor activity is almost none. I genuinely don't know what they could be weighting so highly to put them above Boise.
This post was edited on 5/26/25 at 7:28 pm
Posted by Govt Tide
Member since Nov 2009
9476 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:28 pm to
quote:

Wat.

Any list is shite that doesn’t include Mountain Brook as the premiere location for the state of Alabama. Makes me wonder what they were really considering in their analysis.


I agree. There's probably a minimum population threshold which I'm guessing is roughly 25,000 to be included on the list which would explain Daphne, AL for example making the list instead of Mountain Brook.

Daphne, AL has a population just under 30,000 whereas Mountain Brook has a population of just under 22,000
Posted by fallguy_1978
Best States #50
Member since Feb 2018
51874 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:30 pm to
quote:

Any list is shite that doesn’t include Mountain Brook as the premiere location for the state of Alabama. Makes me wonder what they were really considering in their analysis

It also has Metairie above Greenville, SC and Naples, FL. These are always complied by some person (or software) in NYC that has never been to most of these places.
This post was edited on 5/26/25 at 7:31 pm
Posted by Dr Rosenrosen
Member since May 2006
3771 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:36 pm to
Those suburban Houston and Dallas strip malls are something else.
Posted by msutiger
Houston
Member since Jul 2008
70649 posts
Posted on 5/26/25 at 7:36 pm to
quote:

3) Pearland, TX



Send your kids to Shadow Creek High School for a week and then get back to me.
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