Military grade
Austin saluted as America's very best city for veterans
This is one ranking that we can certainly salute: Austin has been named the best place in the U.S. for military veterans to live.
For the ranking, personal finance website WalletHub examined 17 key indicators of livability, affordability, and veteran-friendly attitude for the 100 largest cities in the U.S. Those metrics include share of military-skills-related jobs, housing affordability, availability of veterans’ health facilities, and more, which were divided into four broad categories: jobs, economy, quality of life, and health.
Austin scores especially well in three of the four main categories. We rank No. 4 for jobs, No. 5 for economy, No. 8 for quality of life, and No. 24 for health.
Among Texas’ four major metro areas, Houston fares the worst, coming in at No. 59 overall. San Antonio, “Military City USA,” ranks 18th. Dallas is No. 41.
Here are the full rankings for major cities in Texas’ four largest metro areas:
- Austin — No. 1. Austin ties for first as the place with the lowest unemployment rate for veterans.
- Plano — No. 5. Plano is one of the best places for the lowest percentage of veterans living in poverty (No. 5) but one of the worst places for the growth of veterans’ income (No. 99).
- Fort Worth — No. 11. Fort Worth shines in the category covering economic factors (No. 2).
- San Antonio — No. 18. The Alamo City lands at No. 7 in the economic category.
- Arlington — No. 29. Arlington gets dinged for a low quality-of-life ranking (No. 75).
- Irving — No. 32. Irving is one of worst places for military-skills-related jobs (97th).
- Dallas — No. 41. Among the four general ranking categories, Big D ranks lowest for quality of life (No. 52).
- Garland — No. 44. Garland suffers in the quality-of-life category (82nd).
- Houston — No. 59. A low ranking in the employment category (83rd) weighs down the Bayou City.