Growing stature
2 Houston neighbors named some of America's most livable small cities in 2022
Two Houston suburbs are proving that small town life reaps big rewards.
Houston-area suburbs Missouri City and Atascocita have been named by personal finance website SmartAsset as some of the most livable small cities in the U.S. This year’s SmartAsset study positions Atascocita No. 85 and Missouri City No. 90 overall.
SmartAsset’s analysis compared 286 cities (with populations between 65,000 and 100,000) across 11 metrics related to home affordability, job opportunities, health care accessibility, income equality, and entertainment density.
In the report, Atascocita scores 1.14 percent for population density, 11.57 percent for healthcare facilities distribution, 18.22 percent for housing costs relative to income, and 5.8 percent for poverty rate. Meanwhile, Missouri City scores 1.44 percent for population density, 15.14 percent for healthcare facilities distribution, 21.54 percent for housing costs relative to income, and 5.6 percent for poverty rate.
In 2018, Missouri City was named one of the most family-friendly cities in the U.S. In 2020, the area made headlines with news of a new Amazon fulfillment center.
Other North Texas cities ranking high on the SmartAsset list (but not nearly as high as Flower Mound) are Mansfield, No. 35; North Richland Hills, No. 78; and Rowlett, No. 103.
Elsewhere in Texas, cities ranked by Smart Asset are:
- Flower Mound (Dallas metro area), No. 5
- Mansefield, No. 35 (North Texas area), No. 35
- Cedar Park (Austin metro area), No. 44.
- Georgetown (Austin metro area), No. 63.
- North Richland Hills (North Texas area), No. 78
- Atascocita (Houston metro area), No. 85.
- New Braunfels (San Antonio metro area), No. 86.
- Missouri City (Houston metro area), No. 90.
- Temple (Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metro area), No. 96.
- Rowlett, (North Texas area), No. 103
- Harlingen (Brownsville-Harlingen metro area), No. 113.
- Victoria (Victoria metro area), No. 146.
- Edinburg (McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area), No. 172.
- Pharr (McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area), No. 173.
- Bryan (Bryan-College Station metro area), No. 175.
Topping the SmartAsset list of small cities again this year is O’Fallon, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.
The Hotel Saint Augustine has checked into Montrose.
Photo by Julie Soefer