El Paso Ranked Top U.S. City For Quality Living In 2026

El Paso just got some more love. We're the #1, large, (over 600,000 residents), city to live and retire in across the entire USA.

No surprise there, the 915 rocks and totally deserves that honor. On top of all the things US News & World Report factored in, there are many, non - technical, human and natural benefits to living in the Sun City.

We earned the #1 spot for a variety of reasons, keep reading to see theirs and mine.

U. S. News & World Report just released their 2026 - 2027 rankings and they are loving El Paso. .

Reasons US News & World Report Chose El Paso

US News used data from Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) and their own, internal resources. AGS drew info from pririvate and government sources like the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Economic Analysis along with state and local sources. (US News)

US News Scored Cities In 6 Categories

They gather data on each category and gives it a certain percentage which result in a perfect score of 100.

Quality of Life Index – Things like crime rates, weather, air quality, walkability, etc = 27% Value Index – Things like housing affordability and cost of living = 24%
Health Care Quality Index – Hospital rankings = 16%
Retiree Taxes Index – Sales, Income and Property Tax averages = 16%
Senior Population/Migration Index – Population and migration rates = 9%
Job Market Index - Employment and unemployment rates = 8%

The Top 10 Best Cities To Live And Retire In

1. El Paso, TX
2.Oklahoma City, OK
3.Fort Worth, Texas
4.Raleigh, NC
5.Austin, TX
6.Mesa, AZ
7.Indianapolis, IN
8.San Antonio, TX
9.Nashville, TN
10. Houston, TX

Dubba G's Reasons El Paso Is #1

That stuff is important but there is more to El Chuco than all that mumbo jumbo.

There are so many reasons I love El Paso and think it's a great place to live, I could never list 'em all. I'll give you my top 6 categories though ...

Food - Locally owned restaurants cooking up the best food, in all cuisines. BBQ at the Rib Hut, Mexican food at Rosa's Cantina, Italian from the Italian Kitchen, Crawdaddy's Cajun cookin', burgers from Roscoe's ... the list goes on and on and on.

Sunsets - El Paso has absolutely stunning, (with a capital "stun"), sunsets and tons of clear sky to watch them spread out over.

Weather - Around 300 days of sunshine on average, low humidity and way mild winters. Yet, you can experience a real fall and winter or cool off in the summer by taking a quick, 2 hour drive to Ruidoso or Silver City. What more could you ask?

Bikers Dream - Great weather, miles and miles of clear, open road, scenic byways and beautiful views riding across the Franklin Mountains.

People - El Pasoans are down to earth, genuine, friendly people. True, "Gente" Granted, there's a jerk in every crowd but, comparatively speaking, El Paso has very few.

An International Experience - Juarez is a short drive ... better yet, a quick walk ... from the 915 and offers plenty of cool-ness of its own.

Plus a ton of history, natural beauty in the mountains and deserts, and plenty to keep wannabe ghost hunters happy; El Paso ROX. What are your reasons El Chuco is numero uno?