star-spangled celebration

Austin earns surprising rank in new list of best cities to celebrate Independence Day

Austin isn't the worst place to celebrate the holiday, but it's not high on the list, either.

H-E-B Austin Symphony July 4th Concert & Fireworks Facebook

Though the saying goes, "Everything is bigger in Texas," that might not necessarily be true about the state's Fourth of July celebrations. A new report by personal finance website WalletHub says there are 20 U.S. cities that do it better than Austin.

Despite the holiday's popularity in the city, Austin only came in at No. 21 in WalletHub's "Best and Worst Places for 4th of July Celebrations." That may come as a surprise to some who live in the state's capital.

The report compares the 100 biggest cities in the nation across 18 metrics like affordability, variety of attractions and activities on July 4th, weather favorability, and safety.

Austin's worst category was safety and accessibility (No. 84), with additional room for improvement on the variety of recreational activities surrounding the Independence Day holiday (No. 41). One category that (unfortunately) can't be improved is the weather, where the city ranked No. 37.

Dallas (No. 8), San Antonio (No. 9), and Houston (No. 15) were the only Texas cities to rank higher than Austin. California cities dominate the top 10, with Los Angeles and San Francisco taking the top two spots, respectively, and San Diego coming in at No. 6. The remaining cities that round out the top 10 are New York City (No. 3), Las Vegas (No. 4), Seattle (No. 5), San Diego (No. 6), Orlando (No. 7), and Milwaukee (No. 10).

Here's a look at how other Texas cities stacked up:

No. 26 – Plano
No. 31 – El Paso
No. 29 – Fort Worth
No. 50 – Irving
No. 51 – Arlington
No. 69 – Laredo
No. 82 – Lubbock
No. 90 – Garland

Despite Austin's ranking, Texans still love to celebrate their independence (or simply take advantage of having a random day of the week off) by hosting cookouts, checking out fun parades, and launching a ton of fireworks from their backyards. Even the National Retail Federation predicts Americans will spend $9.5 billion on food for the Independence Day holiday. One report surely won't put a damper on the festivities.

The full report can be found on wallethub.com.

WalletHub reports independence day 4th of july holiday austin

a city full of smartypants

Austin keeps top-10 rank as one of the most educated cities in America

University of Texas at Austin/Facebook

The home of the Longhorns is also one of the most educated cities in the country.

Austin is outsmarting all of its Texas neighbors as one of the most educated cities in the America, according to a new study by WalletHub.

Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown earned a prestigious rank as the No. 8 most educated U.S. metro, and No. 1 most educated in Texas. It's the second year in a row Austin has remained in eighth place.

WalletHub analysts compared the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) based on 11 educational attainment and education quality metrics. Educational attainment was weighted significantly higher than quality of education (an 80-20 split).

Ann Arbor, Michigan (a city outside of Detroit), earned the title as the No. 1 most educated city in America, followed by Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina (No. 2), and Madison, Wisconsin (No. 3).

Austin reigns over all other Texas cities with high rankings across the two key dimensions in the study. Austin landed in sixth place for its "quality of education and attainment gap" rank, and it has the ninth best "educational attainment" rank in the country.

Attainment measured the share of adults 25 or older with at least:

a high school diploma
some college experience or an associate's degree
a bachelor's degree
a Graduate or professional degree

Quality adopted values from GreatSchools.org, WalletHub, and other databases ranking:

quality of public school systems
quality of universities
enrolled students in top 822 universities per capita
number of summer learning opportunities per capita
percentage of Black bachelor's degree holders vs. white counterparts
percentage of female bachelor's degree holders vs. male counterparts
education equality index score

From elementary and middle schools, to award-winning high schools and globally leading public universities with highly sought after graduate programs, there's is no shortage of places for children and young adults to obtain the best education possible in Austin.

Forbes Advisor also agrees with WalletHub's assessment of the city's acclaimed educational opportunities; the publication ranked Austin the No. 7 most educated U.S. city in its September 2024 report.

"The most educated cities provide good learning opportunities from childhood all the way through the graduate level," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "In addition to overall education, it’s also important to look at how well cities promote educational equality when it comes to race and gender."

Educational rankings in other Texas cities
According to WalletHub, Austin is a far leap ahead of all other Texas cities when it comes to investing in its K-12 and collegiate education systems.

The second-most educated place in Texas is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, but the North Texas metro only ranked No. 71 out of all 150 cities on the list. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land took the No. 3 spot statewide, but only ranked No. 85 nationally.

San Antonio-New Braunfels ranked No. 100 overall, with six other Texas metros lagging behind outside the top 100: Killeen-Temple (No. 117), El Paso (No. 132), Corpus Christi (No. 140), Beaumont-Port Arthur (No. 141), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (No. 148), and Brownsville-Harlingen (No. 149).

The report says people with higher levels of education tend to earn bigger salaries, and the cities that attract these highly educated individuals "fuel their economic growth," thus leading to a greater contribution of tax dollars over time. The study also suggests that highly educated workers aim to live in places that will give them "a good return on their educational investment."

"People also tend to marry others of the same educational level, which means that cities that already have a large educated population may be more attractive to people with degrees," the report's author wrote.

The top 10 most educated cities in America are:

No. 1 – Ann Arbor, Michigan
No. 2 – Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
No. 3 – Madison, Wisconsin
No. 4 – San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
No. 5 – Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland-West Virginia
No. 6 – Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina
No. 7 – San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California
No. 8 – Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas
No. 9 – Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington
No. 10 – Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts-New Hampshire

austin universities rankings wallethub education schools