Round Rock Emerges As Tenth-Best Texas City For Raising A Family

ROUND ROCK, TX — The city of Round Rock is the ninth-best place in which to raise a family, according to a new study.

Researchers at SmartAsset analyzed 87 cities throughout Texas to achieve their rankings, with Round Rock emerging in the tenth position. In particular, Round Rock was distinguished among the pack with its high level of high school graduates and its relatively affordable housing stock as compared to other cities among the top ten.

Only two other Central Texas cities joined the ranks of that exclusive club, with Leander taking the top spot among the 87 cities studied. Georgetown was just one notch above Round Rock, in the ninth spot. One shortcoming for Round Rock, however, was its $1,250 median monthly income per household—the second lowest among the top ten cities.

Another metric studied was the percentage of the population that are 19 or younger. In Round Rock, 33 percent of the total population fits that bill—the highest such percentage among the top ten cities save for Leander and the North Texas town of Frisco, each with 35 percent of that demographic.

The family poverty rate of 7.1 percent in Round Rock also likely weighed the city down in the rankings. It was the second-highest such percentage in the top ten compared with the 8.2 percent rate in Grapevine, another city located in North Texas.

Although relatively low, the Round Rock crime rate also affected its ranking. According to the study, there were 2,055 crimes committed per 100,000 population (that's a combined rate between property and violent crimes), the second-highest rate in the top ten except for the 2,234 in Grapevine.

The 94 percent graduation rate boded well in a city largely served by the strong-performing Round Rock ISD coveted by many parents.

The analysis examined various factors to achieve its rankings among cities with populations of 25,000 or more, including education levels, income, poverty rate and others. To read more about the findings and the methodology used, click here.

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