Dollars and Cents

The cheapest cities to live in the U.S.? Arlington is one of them.

Arlington is one of the cheapest cities in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of Arlington CVB

If growing your bank account is a top priority, wages and cost of living only tell part of the story. For the third consecutive year, GoBankingRates.com has determined the best and worst cities in which to live if you're trying to save money, and Texas makes a stellar showing.

San Antonio shows up at No. 2, and Arlington comes in at No. 5. El Paso also sneaks onto the "best" list at No. 9, giving the Lone Star State one-fifth of the top scorers.

Researchers examined seven key factors, including median household income, unemployment rate, median home list price, median rent price, average gas price, average monthly cost of groceries, and sales tax.

Cheap groceries are San Antonio's claim to fame, ringing up at a thrifty $239 a month. And while a median salary of $46,744 is certainly not the highest, it does stretch extra far when compared to other cities around the country, thanks to an overall low cost of living. Paying only an average of $2.21 per gallon for gas doesn't hurt either.

Arlington's cost of living and median income is right in line with the national median. While that might sound mediocre, it actually means that it's that much easier to put aside extra bucks for a rainy day. And the study also points out that Arlington makes a great alternative to its expensive neighbor, Dallas, which has a median home price that's nearly twice that of Arlington's $199,000.

Virginia Beach, Virginia, takes the top spot, boasting the highest median income — $66,634 — of any city on the cheap list. Oklahoma City and Omaha, Nebraska, round out the top five.

So which cities drain your wallet dry? New York, for one, but mostly metropolitan California. Anaheim, Oakland, and Los Angeles make the list of the five most expensive cities, with San Francisco getting crowned the absolute worst if you're trying to save money.

bests rankings

top employers

11 Dallas-Fort Worth companies named best places to work by U.S. News

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Downtown Fort Worth at night.

Nearly a dozen distinguished Dallas-Fort Worth-based companies have been hailed among the best places to work in 2025 by U.S. News and World Report.

The annual "U.S. News Best Companies to Work For" report examines thousands of publicly-traded companies around the world to determine the best employers based on six metrics including work-life balance and flexibility; quality of pay and benefits; job and company stability; career opportunities and professional development; and more. The companies were not ranked, but included based on reader surveys and publicly available data about each workplace.

New for the 2025-2026 ratings,U.S. News expanded its methodology to include privately owned companies and companies with internship opportunities for recent graduates and new, current, and prospective students. Companies were also grouped into job-specific and industry-specific lists, and the publication also added a new list highlighting "employers that are particularly friendly to employees who are also caregivers in their personal lives."

U.S. News included four publicly-traded companies and seven privately owned companies across DFW on the lists, with eight of them located in Dallas, and one each in Plano, Fort Worth, and Grand Prairie.

It may not come as a surprise that Fort Worth's own Ben E. Keith, a food and beverage distributor, was named one of the best local companies to work for in 2025. The company was founded in 1906 and is known for distributing Anheuser-Busch products statewide.

According to U.S. News, Ben E. Keith employs between 1,000 and 5,000 people, and it earned high ratings for its employee compensation, work life balance, and job stability.

Texas Instruments landed among the top publicly traded Dallas-based companies for the second year in a row. The company currently employs more than 34,000 people, generates $15.64 billion in annual revenue, and has a market cap of $138.44 billion, according to the report. It received high ratings for its job stability, work environment, quality of pay, and professional development opportunities.

U.S. News included Texas Instruments in its "Best in Manufacturing and Agriculture," "Best Companies in the South," and "Best Companies for Internships" lists.

Event services company Freeman was named among the top privately owned employers based in Dallas, specializing in corporate events like trade show, conferences, and exhibits. In addition to being included in the list of best overall companies to work for, Freeman was also highlighted in the "Best in Media and Communications" list.

"The company provides audio-visual services including stage rigging, lighting designs, creative direction and live streaming, as well as event technology services including polling and audience engagement enhancements, artificial intelligence solutions, and platforms for hosting virtual events," U.S. News said in the company's profile.

Other top companies to work for across Dallas-Fort Worth include:

Aimbridge Hospitality, Plano
Coach America, Grand Prairie
Integrity Marketing Group, Dallas
Lincoln Property Company, Dallas
RGP, Dallas
Sammons Enterprises, Dallas
Veritex Community Bank, Dallas

Interestingly, U.S. News named data center services company Digital Realty as one of the top employers headquartered in Dallas, but CultureMap reported the company relocated from San Francisco to Austin in 2021, and Digital Realty's own website says its corporate headquarters are located in Austin. However, the company does operate more than a dozen data centers in the Dallas area.

Other top Texas employers
In all, 30 employers headquartered in the Lone Star State made it onto U.S. News' 2025-2026 "Best Places to Work For" lists. Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth tied for the most employers to make the list, at 11 companies each. Diamondback Energy in Midland was the only company from West Texas to make it on the list for the second year in a row.

"'Best' is a subjective term relative to career satisfaction, and many aspects factor into someone’s decision to apply for a job with any given company," U.S. News said. "But some universally desired factors can contribute to a good workplace, such as quality pay, good work-life balance, and opportunities for professional development and advancement."

The best places to work for in Houston are:

American Bureau of Shipping
Calpine
Chevron
ConocoPhillips
Hines
Insperity, Kingwood
KBR
Men's Warehouse
Occidental
PROS
Skyward Specialty Insurance

The top companies to work for in Austin are:

Cirrus Logic
Dell Technologies, Round Rock
Silicon Labs
Yeti

The top companies to work for in San Antonio are:

Frost Bank
H-E-B
Sachry Group

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