BODY OF CONTENT
As the country’s second-biggest state, Texas has a huge variety of places to live spread across it. There is something here for everyone over the more than 260,000 square miles of land that it offers. From bustling cities to tight-knit communities, many people have looked at Texas and wondered which is the best location for living in. The following are some of their results.
Cinco Ranch for Greenbelt Activities
The Niche.com site looked at the places they considered to be best in the Lone Star State in 2020. Top of the list was Cinco Ranch, followed by Sugar Land and then The Woodlands. With a population of close to 17,000, Cinco Ranch is an attractive community in Fort Bend County.
As part of the Greater Katy area, it offers easy access to amenities such as shopping at the upmarket 300,000 square foot LaCenterra development, education, and entertainment. The Cinco Ranch Branch Library also offers useful information on a variety of subjects. The area is highly regarded for the number of attractive greenbelt trails it features. The arrival of an estimated 5,000 Venezuelan citizens in recent years has led to the town getting the nickname of Katy-zuela. Up to 15,000 people from this Latin American community attend the Viva Venezuela festival, in the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, that began in 2011 and is held every fall.
Austin for Culture and Work
A separate study stated that Austin is the best place to live in Texas in 2020. They gave the city a maximum score of ten for culture, with nine out of ten awarded for education and the job market. The lowest score was for security, but this was still a decent seven. Austin was followed in this list by San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and El Paso. As the state capital of Texas, this thriving city in Travis County is the 11th biggest in the country, with an estimated population of close to a million.
Austin is known for a range of cultural phenomena. Its live music scene is one: Time Out lists some of the best-known places to listen to live music in Austin, including The Continental Club, The Mohawk, and the blues-oriented Antone’s. The ACL Music Festival is held over two weekends in October, while the SWSW Festival takes place in March. For those looking at more alternative entertainment, Texas is also famous for the Hold’Em poker variant, and with Austin being the culture and entertainment hub that it is, you can play it at Shuffle 512 and the Texas Card House. Texas Hold’em was influential in the poker boom of the early 2000s, allowing the casino industry to grow alongside it. In fact, you can even get a taste of US tradition by renting equipment such as a roulette wheel. Roulette can now be played in numerous different versions but according to Betway, it originated in 18th-century France before turning into the US variety you’ll likely be playing in Austin – with a double-zero wheel. If thinking of hitting the casino tables has you considering high-fashion, fashionistas will be delighted in springtime by Austin Fashion Week, organized by Fashion By Texas, which gives local businesses like A Bead in Time Jewelry a chance to strut their stuff.
It is worth remembering that Austin has also been voted as the best place to the live in the U.S. in the last few years. The U.S. New & World Report awarded it this title in two consecutive years. It was also named by Forbes in 2016 as the most promising city of the future.
Odessa is Highly Affordable
As well as being entirely subjective, not all of these studies look at the same criteria when the decisions about the number one place for living is made. For example, in the report by MarketWatch in 2019, they chose Odessa as being the most affordable place to live in Texas.
The county seat of Ector County has a population that is currently estimated to be over 120,000. In 2014, it was classed as being third in the list of the country’s fastest-growing small cities. The oil industry is the biggest employer here, but there is a reasonable diversity in the economy too.
U.S. Census Bureau data from 2018 confirmed that Odessa is still one of the quickest-growing communities in the country. This has led a housing shortage, yet the average property price remains on the low side, at $200,000.
Well-known for its sporting events, the Ratliff Stadium hosts games by the Odessa Bronchos and the Permian Panthers. As for other affordable places to live in Texas, the report went on to list the likes of Lewisville, Cedar Park, and Pearland.
Seabrook Has a Low Crime Rate
The results of an online survey by AreaVibes gave the coastal community of Seabrook top spot in the state, with a livability score of 96 out of 100. This puts it ahead of Lake Jackson, with 95, and Allen, which scored 94. This city in Harrison County is believed to have a current population of around 14,000.
Seabrook is famous for the fish markets like Roses on its waterfront, its antique shops, and a variety of interesting trails between the city parks. The population here had dipped to 400 until the last 1940s, before the arrival new industries helped it to grow.
The annual Keels & Wheels Concours d’Elegance event that takes place here each year attracts over 10,000 visitors. It is a week-long show featuring a variety of boats and cars from over the country. While Hurricane Harvey caused some danger here, this was also one of the communities chosen to receive grants from the Rebuilding Texas Fund, to help restoration work afterward.
MoneyInc also placed Seabrook in the top spot in Texas. One of the main factors taken into account in this case was the fact that the crime rate is 61% lower than the average seen across the state. It also scores highly in terms of education and household income levels.
Conroe is Growing Rapidly
It was reported in 2017 that Conroe was the American city with the fastest growth rate. Indeed, almost half of the 25 cities in the list were located in the Lone Star State. At the top of the survey, Conroe was said to be more than double its size from the turn of the century, reaching 77,000.
Predictions at the time suggested the Conroe would reach a population of 100,000 by 2020. The latest figures available at the time of writing give the population in 2018 as over 87,000.
The availability of new homes at low prices is one of the main factors mentioned for this incredible level of growth seen in the seat of Montgomery County. It also offers the chance to close to nature, thanks to the presence of the East Texas Piney Woods.
All of the places he have looked at are great places to live, so it really comes down to personal opinion whether one of them is your choice as the best city in Texas.
