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Austin's Pecan Street Festival returns to Bee Cave and more top stories

Austin's beloved Pecan Street Festival has found a new home in Bee Cave.

Photo courtesy of Pecan Street Festival

Editor's note: The top Austin news of the week includes new roots for a beloved festival, a Texas-sized Longhorns watch party, and the best barbecue in the state. Get the details on our most popular stories below, then check out this guide to Labor Day weekend events.

1. Austin's Pecan Street Festival reveals fall 2025 dates and music lineup. Austin's beloved Pecan Street Festival is going strong in a new location. The festival, which relocated from Sixth Street to Bee Cave in spring of 2025, will return to the Austin suburb September 13-14.

2. A ramen window, plus 6 other openings + closings reset Austin food news. In this food news roundup, a new ramen window, the rise of a queer diner, and two chains add to locals' options for a low-key meal out.

3. East Austin sports bar kicks off gigantic Longhorns watch parties. As football season kicks off, there are a lot of places around Austin to watch the Longhorns. One of the largest watch parties in town will be held at East Austin sports bar Chalmers during every away game — with a fun twist for fans.

Chalmers Austin exterior Chalmers will seat fans from each team in different sections to ramp up the competitive spirit. Photo courtesy of Chalmers

4. The Infatuation ranks its top 20 Texas BBQ spots, with 8 around Austin. The No. 1 spot goes to a buzzy Austin barbecue joint.

5. Austin is building more new apartments than any other U.S. city. A new analysis finds that Austin has the No. 1 highest apartment construction rate out of all U.S. cities this year, with more than 15,000 new units expected to be completed in 2025.

let loose atx

Austin slips on new list of America's most fun cities for 2025

Rowing Dock downtown Austin Congress Avenue Bridge bats kayaking

Rowing Dock Facebook

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A new WalletHub study ranking the most fun American cities in 2025 has revealed Austin needs to learn how to let loose a little more next year.

Austin currently ranks as the 8th most fun city in the U.S., with Houston surpassing it as 6th most fun American city and the No. 1 most fun city in the Lone Star State.

WalletHub's "Most Fun Cities in America (2025)" study compared 182 U.S. cities across 65 metrics – spanning from the number of sports venues, music venues, and shopping centers per capita to the average cost for a restaurant meal – to determine how "fun" each city is. The metrics were split among three main categories: entertainment and recreation, nightlife and parties, and cost.

Las Vegas, Nevada, continued its multi-year streak as the No. 1 most fun American city.

Across the three key dimensions, Austin scored the highest for its nightlife and parties rank (No. 6), but its entertainment and recreation rank (No. 22) and costs rank (No. 82) still leave room for improvement. But overall, Austin's level of "fun" is far higher than most U.S. cities.

Austin's current "fun" status is two spots lower than its 2024 rank as the 6th most fun American city. In 2023, Austin ranked No. 7 on the list.

Other Texas cities that appeared in the top 100 include: San Antonio (No. 23), Dallas (No. 26), Fort Worth (No. 60), El Paso (No. 62), Arlington (No. 71), Plano (No. 78), and Corpus Christi (No. 94).

"The decision of where to live could save or cost you a lot of money and fun, so it’s fair to wonder what makes a fun city," the report's author wrote. "In a city with enough variety, you won’t have to compromise with your friends, family, or even yourself about the next fun activity to do alone or together."

WalletHub's top 10 most fun U.S. cities in 2025 are:

No. 1 – Las Vegas, Nevada
No. 2 – Orlando, Florida
No. 3 – Miami, Florida
No. 4 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 5 – New Orleans, Louisiana
No. 6 – Houston, Texas
No. 7 – San Francisco, California
No. 8 – Austin, Texas
No. 9 – Portland, Oregon
No. 10 – Cincinnati, Ohio

Surprisingly, both Chicago and New York City dropped out of the top 10 most fun American cities. Chicago now ranks as No. 11, and New York City ranks 14th on the list.

wallethub rankings austin

Hot Headlines

Austin's Pecan Street Festival returns to Bee Cave and more top stories

let loose atx

Austin slips on new list of America's most fun cities for 2025

Texas Restaurant Association encourages Austin diners to pay in cash

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Austin's Michael & Susan Dell donate $6.25B to 'Trump Accounts' for kids