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2 Houston high schools lead the report card among best in U.S. for 2022

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Two Houston high schools are at the head of their class when it comes to the best public high schools in the U.S.

New rankings from U.S. News & World Report put Houston ISD’s Carnegie Vanguard High School at No. 40 nationally (up from No. 42 last year) and DeBakey High School for Health Professions No. 43 nationally among the best STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) high schools and No. 18 nationally among the best magnet high schools.

Topping the national list is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Arlington, Virginia.

Here in Texas, Dallas ISD’s School for the Talented and Gifted came in at No. 8 nationally (up from No. 13 last year) among the country’s best high schools and at No. 1 in Texas. It also ranks No. 8 nationally among the best STEM high schools and No. 4 among the best magnet high schools.

These are the rest of Texas’ top 10 among the country’s best public high schools:

No. 34 (up from No. 41 last year), Austin ISD’s Liberal Arts and Science Academy. No. 70 nationally among the best STEM high schools.
No. 40 (up from No. 42 last year), Houston ISD’s Carnegie Vanguard High School.
No. 48 (up from No. 59 last year), Dallas ISD’s Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet. No. 17 nationally among the best magnet high schools.
No. 50 (down from No. 46 last year), Houston ISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions. No. 43 nationally among the best STEM high schools and No. 18 nationally among the best magnet high schools.
No. 77 (up from No. 102 last year), BASIS San Antonio - Shavano Campus. No. 25 nationally among the best STEM high schools and No. 17 nationally among the best charter high schools.
No. 78 (up from No. 108 last year), San Antonio ISD’s Young Women’s Leadership Academy. No. 18 nationally among the best charter high schools.
No. 102 (down from No. 96 last year), Northside ISD’s Health Careers High School (San Antonio). No. 26 nationally among the best magnet high schools.

Each year, U.S. News evaluates high schools on six factors: college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth, and graduation rates. In all, more than 17,800 schools were graded.

The rankings “take a comprehensive approach to evaluating schools,” says Eric Brooks, principal data analyst at U.S. News. “Looking at factors like graduation rates and underserved student performance, families can use this information to learn more about their local schools.”

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Houston than it did last year

Photo by Leo Yao on Unsplash

$100,000 stretches a little further in 2026.

A 2026 income study has good news for big earners in Houston: A six-figure salary goes further than it did last year.

A Houston resident's $100,000 salary is worth $84,840 after taxes and adjusted for the local cost of living, according to the new financial analysis from SmartAsset. That's about $1,500 more than Houstonians were bringing home last year.

The 2026 take-home pay is about eight percent higher than it was in 2024, when the same salary had an adjusted value of $78,089.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities. The figure was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services). Cities were then ranked based on where a six-figure salary is worth the least after applicable taxes and cost of living adjustments.

Houston ranked No. 60 in the overall ranking of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least. If the rankings were flipped and the cities were ranked based on where $100,000 goes the furthest, that places Houston in the No. 10 spot nationwide.

Manhattan, New York remains the No. 1 city where a six-figure salary is worth the least. A Manhattan resident's take-home pay is only worth $29,420 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living, which is 3.10 percent lower than it was in 2025.

SmartAsset determined Manhattan has a 29.7 percent effective tax rate on six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on a $100,000 salary in Texas (based on the eight cities examined in the report) is 21.1 percent. It's worth highlighting that New York implements a statewide graduated-rate income tax from 4-10.90 percent, whereas Texas is one of only eight states that don't tax residents' income.

Oklahoma City, No. 69, is the U.S. city in the report where a $100,000 salary stretches the furthest. A six-figure salary is worth $91,868 in 2026, up from $89,989 last year.

This is the post-tax value of a $100,000 salary in other Texas cities, and their ranking in the report:

Plano (No. 27): $72,653
Dallas (No. 47): $80,103
Austin (No. 53): $82,446
Lubbock (No. 59): $84,567
San Antonio (No. 62): $86,419
El Paso (No. 67): $90,276
Corpus Christi (No. 68): $91,110

According to the report, getting some "financial breathing room" by making six-figures really depends on where someone lives and what their lifestyle is. For residents living in the 42 states that levy some amount of income tax, their take-home pay dwindles further.

"And depending on how taxes are filed, reaching a $100,000 income may push a household from the 22 percent to 24 percent marginal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "Meanwhile, locations with high costs across housing and everyday essentials may be less forgiving to a $100,000 income."

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Houston than it did last year