As expected, the ranking is led by the usual suspects of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. No offense to those cities, but we have to call out an obvious disadvantage — the list was clearly created by people who favor walkable neighborhoods, robust public transit, distinct character and proper seasons. If a few fans of toll roads, flat terrains and megachurches had been consulted, maybe we would have fared slightly better.
Jokes aside, No. 14 is nothing to scoff at, and World’s Best Cities has plenty of nice things to say about Big D. For our city, they mostly highlight the “prosperity” corner of their holy trinity grading system, citing the Hotel Swexan, Goldman Sachs and the Arts District’s JW Marriott as examples of the city flexing its swanky muscles. The incoming 2026 FIFA World Cup also got a mention, even though Arlington, which is hosting the event, was shut out of the list entirely. We’re sure this won’t bruise the ambitious city’s ego, but if it does, maybe Jerry Jones can buy them a spot on the list next year.
Unfortunately, Houston placed just ahead of us at No. 13, making it the highest-ranked Texas city on the list. (God-awful humidity and the occasional crippling hurricane was not among the criteria, obviously.) The city’s population increase, job market and cost of living were listed as highlights, as well as the lineup of retail and restaurant options.
Austin ranked just below us at No. 15, and we’ll absolutely take that win. We’re sure Houston would agree with us that it’s about time those Tesla-overrun podcasters were taken down a peg. San Antonio finished strong at No. 41 and El Paso just nabbed a spot on the list at No. 100.
As much as we enjoy beefing with other Texas cities, though, we were admittedly surprised to see that Fort Worth didn’t make the cut at all. That is, until we read the list a little more carefully. The Dallas blurb (the one that gave us points for an Arlington thing) credited the job growth of “Dallas-Fort Worth” when factoring our spot on the list. It would seem that World’s Best Cities has fallen victim to the classic mistake of not knowing that Dallas and Fort Worth are two distinct cities.
We’re tempted to tease our little sibling to the west for always living in our shadow, but it’s possible that their job numbers helped us beat Austin. We'll just bite our tongues and share some of the North Texas glory just this once.
