Austin, Texas, drops on 'Best Places to Live' list for 3rd year in a row
Austin ranked No. 1 on the list three years in a row from 2017 and 2019
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/au...rd-year-row.amp


By Audrey Conklin FOXBusiness


Austin's ranking on a list of best places to live in the United States has dropped for the third consecutive year.

The capital of Texas ranked No. 40 of 150 cities on U.S. News & World Report's "Best Places to Live in the USA" list for 2023-2024, which was released this week.

Austin ranked No. 1 on the list from 2017 to 2019. It dropped out of the top 10 for the first time last year as the city's growth made it more expensive and increasingly prone to violent crime and homelessness.

Pedro Morales, an Austin resident since the 1990s and a business owner, said he has plans to move out of the city soon.

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The fourth most populous city in Texas ranked No. 40 out of 150 cities on U.S. News & World Report's "Best Places to Live in the USA" list for 2023-2024, which was released last week.

"As far as my taxes contributing to the delinquency of the mismanagement of the city of Austin and its resources, I will not continue to pay taxes into it," Morales said, adding that high taxes are hurting businesses more than landlords in Austin.

He pointed to the city's homeless issue as an example, saying the city's health department and homeless cleanup teams are not doing enough to help get people off the streets.

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"Nobody wants to be the guy to say, ‘Hey, wait, we don’t want to help the homeless,' obviously, especially not in Austin. It used to be a little-big town, but it's not a little-big town anymore," Morales said. "We were the number-one city in the country, and just in the matter of less than five years, we're turning into Detroit and Seattle, and everybody's just pulled up a lawn chair … watching it."

Pedro Morales, an Austin resident and business owner who spoke to FOX 7 earlier this month, said the city's homelessness may force him to leave down the road. (FOX 7 Austin / Fox News)

Austin still ranks as the No. 1 city to live in Texas.

The Central Texas city, which welcomed an influx of tech companies in 2020, falls at No. 13 on a list of the fastest-growing places in the U.S.

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The median home price in Austin is at more than $500,000 while the average salary is $60,000. The median monthly rent is about $1,400, and the unemployment rate is 6.8%, according to U.S. News & World Report (USN).-- excerpt, rest at link above --

sounds like they are racing to the bottom....