North Texas Community Wins Best American City for Vacation

July 4th is shaping up to be … a little different this year. Many of us don’t travel yet, or if we do, it’s not to distant places. So now is the perfect time to resuscitate the idea of ​​a stay – or at least try to convince yourself that this three-day weekend is different and more fun than the current stay-at-home recommendations.

Personal finance site WalletHub did just that by comparing over 180 cities across 15 key metrics, evaluating things like parks per capita, average house size, and best summer weather conditions, to determine the best places to stay.

And guess who lands at # 1? The northern Texas suburb of Plano, with an overall score of 66.88.

It got a ranking of No. 18 for recreation (which also includes hiking and biking trails and the city’s walking score) and No. 2 for “rest and relaxation” (not just weather and great weather). houses, but also the share of houses with swimming pool, swimming pool and land of more than 1,000 square feet). The latter category also takes into consideration the average price of pizza, burgers, beer, and wine – some R&R staples.

Another DFW suburb is in the top 10: Grand Prairie, at No.8. Garland lands at No.19, while Arlington is a bit lower at No.26, followed by Irving at No.27.

Larger cities in the area don’t fare as well, Dallas receiving No.36 and Fort Worth receiving No.42. Cowtown ranks in the top five for lowest pizza and burger price, so at least that’s a tasty feather in her sun hood.

Austin has a strong performance at No. 9 overall, thanks in large part to its eighth place in Recreation (it is tied with four other cities for most racetracks per capita).

Houston lands at # 25 and San Antonio is at # 78, with a handful of other Texas cities appearing in different places on the list: Laredo (# 30), Amarillo (# 31), Corpus Christie (# # 35), Brownsville (# 44), Lubbock (# 57) and El Paso (# 80).

According to WalletHub, the least desirable city for a stay is Pearl City, Hawaii, on the island of O’ahu. Even though it receives a 162 for rest and relaxation and 182 for recreation, something about “the worst place to be” and “Hawaii” just doesn’t add up.