Making the Grade

UT Austin hooks the No. 2 spot in new ranking of best Texas schools

UT Austin passes with flying colors.

Students and alumni of the University of Texas at Austin may want to lock horns over a new list that ranks the university not as No. 1, but as the second-best school in Texas.

Though it’s not the No. 1 spot Longhorns might want, personal finance website WalletHub has added to UT Austin’s accolades with a No. 2 ranking in Texas and a No. 45 ranking nationally among 2022’s best colleges and universities.

To determine the top-performing schools, WalletHub compared more than 1,000 institutions in the U.S. across 30 key measures, including student-to-faculty ratio, graduation rate, and post-school median salary.

Rice University in Houston claimed the No. 1 spot on the ranking of Texas schools.

In Texas, UT Austin ranks No. 2 for admission rate and graduation rate, No. 3 for post-school median salary, and No. 6 for gender and racial diversity. Not every ranking is that stellar, though. It comes in 39th for student-faculty ratio and 40th for net cost among 55 Texas schools.

The top schools in Texas, according to WalletHub, are the following institutions:

Rice University (No. 6 nationally)
University of Texas at Austin (No. 45 nationally)
Trinity University in San Antonio (No. 61 nationally)
Texas A&M University in College Station (No. 127 nationally)
Southwestern University in Georgetown (No. 144 nationally)
University of Dallas (No. 152 nationally)
Southern Methodist University in Dallas (No. 178 nationally)
Austin College in Sherman (No. 192 nationally)
LeTourneau University in Longview (No. 231 nationally)
University of Houston (No. 238 nationally)
University of Texas at Dallas (No. 252 nationally)
Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (No. 253 nationally)
Baylor University in Waco (No. 357 nationally)
Texas Lutheran University in Seguin (No. 375 nationally)
Southwest Adventist University in Keene (No. 407 nationally)

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share the road

Texas races to the bottom in new list of best states for cyclists

Photo by Justin Wallace on Unsplash

If you've ridden your bicycle in Austin, you already know how true this is.

In what will come as no surprise to cyclists around Austin, the state of Texas is not a good place for bicycle riding. According to a new report of the "Most Cycling-Friendly States in the U.S.," Texas comes in at No. 47 — meaning that only three other states are worse.

The report, from Philadelphia personal injury law firm KaplunMarx, examines all 50 states based on six metrics: Air quality index, the number of cyclist deaths per one million residents, bike routes per square mile, local government actions supporting cycling, federal funding for cycling projects, and bicycle laws.

Texas musters a mere 31 points out of 100 for its "cycling friendly score."

The most cycling-friendly state in the U.S.: Minnesota, which earned 84 points to claim the title.

According to the report's findings, there have been 15 local government actions per capita in Texas that integrate pedestrians and cyclists in transportation projects. Texas' has a 41 air quality index value, and there are approximately 1.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles in the state.

On cyclist deaths, Texas does a little better, with three cyclist deaths per one million residents in Texas — about nine percent lower than the national average.

According to KaplunMarx founding partner Ted Kaplun, there is an average of 857 cyclist fatalities in the U.S. every year. He adds that every measure or community effort to improve cyclist-friendliness is beneficial for all Americans.

"It's crucial for all states to continually assess and enhance their cycling provisions, learning from both high-ranking peers and their own experiences," he says.

Top-ranking Minnesota has only one cyclist death per one million state residents. It also has about 27.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles.

After Minnesota, the remaining top five best states for cyclists are Massachusetts (No. 2), Rhode Island (No. 3), Washington (No. 4), and Iowa (No. 5).

At the bottom of the list are Nevada (No. 48), Arizona (No. 49), and Utah (No. 50) — all of which performed far worse than Texas to be declared the three least cycling-friendly states.

The entire country still has areas for improvement when it comes to creating a safer environment for cyclists, regardless of where each state landed on the list, according to Kaplun.

"With over 53 million Americans riding bicycles regularly, the importance of cycling-friendly infrastructure and safety measures cannot be overstated," said Kaplun in the report. "This isn't just about rankings – it's about enhancing the quality of life, promoting sustainable transportation, and most crucially, saving lives."

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