Austin Among Nation's Best New Year's Eve Cities, Study Says

AUSTIN, TX — Texan know how to party. Of the top 20 cities for ushering in a new year, three cities in the Lone Star state make the top 20 list — including Austin in the 15th slot — according a new study.

WalletHub researchers compared the 100 biggest cities based on 25 key metrics serving as ingredients for an epic New Year's Eve celebration. The data set ranges from average price of a New Year's Eve party ticket to forecast precipitation for Dec. 31 — the last day of 2017 before we usher in a new year.

Austin fared well across various categories in the reckoning. In a scale of 1 to 100 to determine a city's hearty party ways, Austin scored a 65.24 besting 18th-ranked San Antonio with its 64.06 score but falling behind Dallas — the state's best-performing partying city in the 12th slot, with an overall score of 66.18.

In the "Entertainment and Food" category, Austin also snagged the 15th ranking. In terms of costs (i.e. affordability, the "live music capital of the world" came in at the 39th position. In "Safety and Accessibility," the city fell to the 53rd rank among the 100 studied cities.

Yet Austin bested Dallas in that category by one ranking notch. And it was much more safe and accessibly than San Antonio given the party calculus, with the Alamo City ranking 69th in the category.

Related story: Austin New Year's Events: 2018 Guide

Of course New York City is the gold standard as it relates to New Year's Eve celebrations and the Big Apple snagged the top spot in WalletHub's study. But big cities aren't necessarily the best in terms of affordability. WalletHub notes the tendency of big towns to hike up prices exponentially for a major celebratory event — typically in excess of 300 percent to 500 percent in New Orleans and Atlantic City, respectively, to cite just two examples.

"The last thing you want to do in the final hours of 2017 is ruin your finances over one night of entertainment," WalletHub researchers correctly note in their overview. "Fortunately, you have plenty of fun yet affordable options for celebrating #NYE2018."

Other Texas cities include Houston (23), El Paso (36), Fort Worth (69), Laredo (73), Plano (76), Arlington (79), Corpus Christi (88), Garland (93), Lubbock (95) and Irving (96). Laredo was listed as the safest and most accessible NYE party city among the 100 cities studied.

To read the full WalletHub study and study its methodology, click here.

According to WalletHub researchers, 180 million people tuning in to the ball drop in New York City's Times Square and 83 percent of consumers spend up to $200 on the occasion. Planning and budgeting are therefore a must, they correctly note, hence their helpful compilation.

SPOILER ALERT: The worst city in which to celebrate NYE 2018, according to the study is North Las Vegas, Nev., with an overall ranking of 94, a costs rank of 96 and safety and accessibility ranking of 80. With those dismal showings, let's hope what happens in North Las Vegas stays in North Las Vegas without us there. Am I right, people?

Here are some more interesting findings from the WalletHub survey:

>>> Image: Concert goers celebrate the New Year at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 31, 2014, in New York City. Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images.