It’s the second straight year Sugar Land came in at No. 3.
SUGAR LAND, Texas — Sweet! A Houston-area city ranked among the top places to live in the U.S. in 2026. Livability is out with its annual rankings and for the second straight year, Sugar Land came in at No. 3 overall. And nearly half of the top 10 were in Texas.
The survey looked at small- to mid-size cities, so we’re talking about populations that are between 75,000 and 500,000 with median home values under $500,000.
The goal was to highlight cities where paychecks stretch further, commutes are shorter, and overall quality of life is prioritized. According to the survey, the scores were based on proprietary data collected from thousands of U.S. cities. Livability partnered with Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) to analyze more than 100 data points.
The survey came up with a ‘LivScore,’ which was made up of eight different criteria: Amenities, economy, education, environment, health, housing/cost of living, safety, and transportation. Of those, Sugar Land ranked No. 2 on health, No. 5 on education, No. 4 on housing and affordability, No. 5 on safety, and No. 6 on transportation.
The full top 10 overall cities are listed below.
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Carmel, Indiana
- Sugar Land, Texas
- Naperville, Illinois
- Plano, Texas
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Troy, Michigan
- Overland Park, Kansas
- Round Rock, Texas
- New Braunfels, Texas
Read more about the Livability scores and filters here, plus see more cities that made the rankings.
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