It's Official: Austin Is The Best City In America. Again.

AUSTIN, TEXAS — You may have to dodge the 14,000-plus electric scooters now deployed in the city, white-knuckle it while driving down congested Interstate 35 during rush hour and resign yourself to the likelihood you might not get any food after waiting three hours in line at Franklin Barbecue. Despite all that, Austin is the best place to live in the United States.

That's the assessment from U.S. News & World Report, which named the city tops in the nation for the third straight year. The capital city emerged to the top of a list of 125 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas. Austin has managed to maintain that lofty spot in the reckoning since knocking Denver off the top in 2017.

In your face, Denver!

The magazine noted the city's thriving music scene for which it's been dubbed the Live Music Capital of the World. But affordability (or lack thereof) was assessed with a warning to musicians it might be hard to ply their musical wares given the city's rising cost of living. Mention is made in the publication of such cultural festivals as Austin City Limits and SXSW.

But the publication's "local expert" also describes another event purportedly part of the reckoning for this year's list of best cities: "Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest has become beloved as a pioneering festival of progressive music and comedy," the author writes. But Fun Fun Fun Fest was staged for the final time in 2015 when it ended its nine-year run.

Oops.

Still, there's plenty to love love love about Austin: Its abundant recreation areas of which Zilker Park is the crown jewel; miles and miles of hiking trails; bucolic bodies of water such as Lady Bird Lake, Barton Springs Pool and Lake Travis; thriving entertainment corridors along downtown and East Austin; and music a'plenty, of all imaginable styles and genres.

And then there's the bats. Every night, spectators line the stretch of the Congress Avenue bridge to watch a swarm of some 1.6 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge for their nightly feeding. It's really something to watch, a unique of which few other residents anywhere else can avail themselves.

To compile its list, the publication considered five main metrics before grading them on a 10-point scale. Those five factors weighing into the final score were desirability, job market, net migration, value and quality of life.

But its not all paradise. While the city ranked a 9 for desirability and net migration, it scored a lower 6.7 on the the value metric that examines affordability and incomes. Overall, Austin's score was a 7.6. No other Texas city made the top 10 list.

In your face, rest of Texas!

The closest-ranked Texas city on the list is Dallas-Fort Worth in the 21st slot, while Houston ranked 30th. San Antonio came in at a respectable 34th rank.

The top ten cities, according to U.S. News & World Report, are:

• Austin, TX
• Denver
• Colorado Springs, CO.
• Fayetteville, AR
• Des Moines, IA
• Minneapolis-St. Paul MN
• San Francisco
• Portland, OR
• Seattle
• Raleigh/Durham, NC

Read the full list here.