Sugar Land retains No. 3 ranking on list of best US places to live

A small city in Fort Bend County has again earned top marks in an annual ranking of the best places to live in the United States.

Sugar Land is once again the No. 3 best place in the country, according to an annual ranking from Livability.com, a website focused on small- and medium-sized cities. It also ranks as the best place to live in Texas, according to this year’s list.

Huntsville, Ala., ranked as the best place to live in the U.S., followed by Carmel, Ind., in second. 

In a statement announcing this year’s list, Livability editor-in-chief Amanda Ellis said the goal is to highlight places where Americans might find an attractive balance of amenities, services and opportunities. 

“As Americans face consistently evolving work dynamics and a desire for the best quality of life possible amidst inflation and uncertainty, our list celebrates places where people can more realistically build families, launch businesses and lead meaningful lives,” Ellis said.

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To compile its ranking, now in its 13th year, Livability first sets a few parameters. First, cities with a median home price north of $500,000 are excluded from consideration. (“If it isn’t attainable, it isn’t on our list,” the website notes.)

Livability also evaluates cities with populations of at least 75,000 but no more than 500,000 — what the website considers the “sweet spot” of size. “To us, this is the perfect size for getting plugged in and feeling at home fast.” 

Then, Livability said, it partners with data provider Applied Geographic Solutions to analyze about 100 data points across more than 2,000 U.S. cities, in categories ranging from health and safety to the economy and housing. 

Compared to 2025, Ellis said in an email, Sugar Land saw small declines in Livability’s ratings of the local economy, health and amenities.

This year, however, Livability gave more weight to housing and cost of living — and in those categories, Ellis said, “Sugar Land did even better this year than last year.” 

The website highlights the city’s “strong and business-friendly” economy. 

“Thanks to its proximity to Houston, the city has no shortage of opportunities and jobs,” Livability.com says. “Sugar Land’s business-friendly climate attracts companies from several industries, including biotech, insurance, manufacturing and more.” 

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Three other Texas cities claimed spots in the top ten this year. Plano, a suburb of Dallas, ranked as the country’s No. 5 best place to live. Round Rock, north of Austin, came in at No. 9, and New Braunfels, the historic small town northeast of San Antonio, ranked No. 10. 

Sugar Land was the only Houston-area suburb to appear in this year’s top 100. However, the site’s filters mean a number of somewhat similar suburbs were not eligible for the ranking.

Richmond, for example, which neighbors Sugar Land in Fort Bend County, recently appeared on a list of seven “magical” small towns. With a population of about 12,000, however, it is too small to be considered in Livability’s ranking, magic notwithstanding. Sugar Land has a population of about 115,000.

The Woodlands, to give another example, has appeared on a number of recent roundups of best U.S. cities to buy a house, live, or retire. The township’s median home price stands at around $635,000, however, compared to about $430,000 in Sugar Land.

In addition to that, Ellis noted, the website uses some discretion when it comes to highlighting cities in the “sweet spot,” as Livability.com puts it.

“We editorialize the data for suburbs to ensure the overall list has geographic diversity,” Ellis said. “We try to keep it to just one or two per city. So it’s possible some other Houston suburbs had solid scores, but Sugar Land’s was the best.” 

Overall, Ellis noted, Texas had nine cities on this year’s list, more than any other state. “Our affordability and quality of life focuses always puts a spotlight on some of the great places in Texas,” she said.