Houston and three other Texas cities were just hailed in U.S. News & World Report's new rankings of the best places to live for their high quality of life.

This new list, published July 11, is part of U.S. News' Best Places to Live rankings, but the 25 cities that made the list were chosen solely based on quality of life factors such as education, healthcare, crime rates, air quality, resilience to natural disasters, and more.

The top two cities that are the best places to live for their top-tier quality of life are Brookline (No. 1) and Newton (No. 2) in Massachusetts. Bethesda, Maryland (No. 3), Bellevue, Washington (No. 4), and Malden, Massachusetts (No. 5) round out the top five.

Houston ranked 15th on the list overall, and was the second-highest ranked city in Texas. U.S. News praised Houston's role as a foodie city with more than 100,000 different eateries serving up every cuisine imaginable, from Vietnamese to Louisiana-Creole, to classic Southern fare like Tex-Mex or barbecue.

The report also touted Houston's highly-rated medical system, and its culture of residents that are drawn to the city for its "better value for homebuyers than similarly sized cities."

"Houston ranks No .5 for health care access, with nearby Houston Methodist Hospital, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and Memorial Hermann Hospital serving residents in the Greater Houston area," the report said. "Houston also consistently ranks as one of the nation’s most diverse cities, hosting one of the largest immigrant populations in the U.S."

According to U.S. News, the median income for a Houston household comes out to $63,944 a year, and the median value of a home is nearly $277,000.

Other Texas cities on the list
Austin ranked two spots above Houston as the 13th best place to live for its quality of life, and the No. 1 best in Texas. Dallas ranked 20th, and the Rio Grande Valley city of McAllen earned a spot on the list as No. 23.

"The town of McAllen boasts year-round sunshine and a vibrant business scene for retail, international trade and manufacturing," the report said. "Situated on the Mexico border, this bicultural community ranks No. 32 for college readiness and reports a shorter commute time, 18.3 minutes, compared with the national average of 22 minutes. McAllen also is one of the most affordable cities, claiming the No. 9 spot for cost of living and No. 23 on the most affordable places to live list."

U.S. News' top 10 best places to live for their quality of life are:

• No. 1 – Brookline, Massachusetts
• No. 2 – Newton, Massachusetts
• No. 3 – Bethesda, Maryland
• No. 4 – Bellevue, Washington
• No. 5 – Malden, Massachusetts
• No. 6 – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• No. 7 – Cambridge, Massachusetts
• No. 8 – Kirkland, Washington
• No. 9 – Rockville, Maryland
• No. 10 – Passaic, New Jersey