This North Texas city is one of the best places to raise a family, list says
Just North of Dallas sits the third-best city to raise a family in 2025.
WalletHub, a personal finance platform, put together a study of the best and worst places to raise a family in 2025. Out of 180 cities, Plano ranked No. 3.
“Finding the best place to raise a family is difficult, between balancing an affordable cost of living with good educational opportunities, safety and enough recreation to keep kids entertained,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the ranking. “Therefore, current or prospective parents can benefit from narrowing down their choices to a few of the best cities that are within a reasonable drive of their family.”
The rankings are based on data considering family fun, health and safety, education and child care, affordability and socio-economics. From these factors, each city received a score out of 100. The study used data from U.S. bureaus and agencies, review platforms (Trip Advisor, Yelp, Numbeo) and past WalletHub studies. See here for their full methodology.
15 other Texas cities also made the list. See where Fort Worth and Dallas land on the list.
Why did Plano rank as the third-best city in the country to raise a family?
Plano received third place in the ranking, with a 68.55 score out of 100.
The city has the 10th-lowest violent crime rate as well as the 29th-lowest property crime rate, according to the list
As for education, the city has the fifth-highest high-school graduation rate of cities surveyed in the study. More than 55 percent of its schools scored higher than a 7 out of 10 in the study’s ranking.
Lastly, WalletHub found that Plano has the fourth-highest documentation of two-parent households, and the ninth lowest divorce rate of the cities in the study, hich they say “promotes positive social development among children.”
The best and worst places to raise a family in Texas in 2025
When analyzing the key factors, WalletHub found that some Texas cities stood out in individual rankings, rather than overall:
Houston is No. 5 on the list for the amount of playgrounds per capita.
Houston is also tied for first place with the most attractions.
Laredo has the second-highest percentage of families with young children.
Brownsville is tied for second place for the highest percentage of families who live below the poverty line.
Out of 182 cities, here is how Texas cities ranked on the list of the best and worst U.S. cities to raise a family in 2025:
No. 3: Plano
No. 16 Austin
No. 75: Grand Prairie
No. 77: Amarillo
No. 90: Fort Worth (90 is the exact middle of the ranking)
No. 92: Laredo
No. 101: Arlington
No. 103: Irving
No. 105: Garland
No. 110: El Paso
No. 118: Brownsville
No. 121: Lubbock
No. 136: Dallas
No. 144: Houston
No. 147: Corpus Christi
No. 152: San Antonio