Hear that? That's the sound of us all aggressively nodding our heads and mouthing "duh" as we heard the latest news: For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has named Austin the best place to live in America.
The report looked at 125 metro areas and based the ranking on a number of factors, including job market, value, quality of life, desirability and net migration, with sources from the United States Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Labor and U.S. News' own resources. Here's a complete breakdown of their methodology.
Austin came out on top with an overall score of 7.7 out of 10 (apparently no one is near-perfect), and the report included a slew of stats on living, working and retiring. A few items that contributed to our city's top marks: Austin's unemployment rate, at 3.2%, is lower than the national average; the crime rate is well below that of comparable cities; and our lack of a personal or corporate income tax, and a low state and local tax rate, help balance the city's rising housing costs (though, you know, tell that to anyone who's had their rent increased multiple times in the past few years). It's easy to see why our net migration score came out to 9.4.
Coming in behind Austin in the top five is Colorado Springs, CO; Denver, CO; Des Moines, IA; and Fayetteville, AR. The next Texas city to make the list is San Antonio at #14.
Read more about Austin's score here, and let us know in the comments below if you agree with their ranking!