Friendswood Small City Ranking 2025 Drops in WalletHub List

Friendswood, one of Houston’s most well-known suburbs, didn’t shine as brightly on WalletHub’s 2025 list of the best small cities in America. While the suburb still made the cut, its ranking slipped compared to last year.

The annual WalletHub survey looks at more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000.

Researchers use 45 different factors to score them, focusing on five big categories: affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life, and safety. The higher the percentile, the better the city.

Top Cities That Outranked Houston Suburbs

This year, Carmel, Indiana; Brookfield, Washington; and Apex, North Carolina took the top three spots. Out of the 19 U.S. cities that reached the 99th percentile, none were in the Houston area.

Friendswood ended up in the 74th percentile—down from last year’s 79th percentile. About 22 miles south of downtown Houston, the suburb did best in affordability, landing at No. 59 nationwide.

But in the other four categories, Friendswood fell far behind:

No. 414 in safety
No. 455 in economic health
No. 628 in quality of life
No. 988 in education and health

Four other Houston suburbs landed in the 50th percentile: Conroe (59th), Lake Jackson (57th), Galveston (53rd), and Missouri City (53rd). Rosenberg, which was in the 60th percentile in 2024, slipped down to the 49th percentile this year.

Why Americans Prefer Living in Suburbs

WalletHub’s study also revealed how Americans feel about where they live. Nearly half (47%) said they’d rather live in a suburb, while only 24% picked a big city and 23% preferred rural areas.

“Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes,” the report noted. “But there are tradeoffs, like fewer restaurants or shorter business hours.”

Other Texas suburbs scored much higher. Near Austin, Leander ranked in the 97th percentile and Cedar Park in the 94th.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Allen (96th) and Flower Mound (93rd) also made the top tier. Both Allen and Flower Mound kept their high spots from last year, while Cedar Park slipped slightly from the 95th percentile.

Author Profile

Saleem Mubarak: Saleem Mubarak is a journalist and real estate writer who covers Houston’s evolving property market with a sharp eye for local trends and investor dynamics. He focuses on how shifting prices, interest rates, and migration patterns shape the city’s real estate future.

He has interviewed leading real estate professionals to bring readers first-hand insights into Houston’s changing market—from rising investor activity to the influence of social media on property buying.