El Paso, TX cityscape

a landable guide

Best cities to live in Texas

No state income tax and a huge range of options. Texas cities ranked by affordability, weather, things to do, and quality of life.

By Karol Gajda

Texas gets pitched as the move for affordability and taxes. The no-income-tax case is real. The affordability case varies wildly by city: Austin and Dallas are not cheap, while El Paso and the smaller metros are. The state contains most of the national range inside its own borders.

This list covers every Texas metro in the Landable dataset, ranked by the full composite with no rent cap. The weather score penalizes extreme heat, so the most brutal summers rank lower.

the ranking

how we ranked

We rank by 30% affordability, 25% weather, 20% things to do, 15% parks, and 10% walkability among Texas cities. No state income tax statewide.

common questions

Is Texas really affordable?
It depends on the city. Austin and Dallas have seen big rent increases; San Antonio and El Paso stay genuinely cheap. This list shows the full spread.
What about the heat?
Texas summers are real. The weather score penalizes extreme heat days, so cities with brutal summers rank lower than those with milder warm weather.

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