Niche, a platform that establishes annual rankings for schools, neighborhoods and companies, has again named The Woodlands its No. 1 City to Live in America based on various public data compiled, the company announced on March 14.
The ranking is among 228 cities. Although The Woodlands is not a city—it is a special-purpose district, governed by a board of directors—it has now received the designation two years in a row.
Following The Woodlands’ designation as Niche’s No. 1 city in 2021, the township has included the Niche insignia on its website and marketing materials, and throughout the township on banners.
According to Niche, The Woodlands scored an overall grade of A-plus, receiving an A-plus in categories, such as "Public Schools," "Good for Families" and "Jobs." The lowest scores assigned to The Woodlands included a B-minus in "Cost of Living" and a B for "Commute."
Niche rankings are calculated using reviews and public data sets, which are subject to analysis by data scientists, according to the site. Those include the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core Data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Uniformed Crime Report from the FBI as well as Niche’s own surveys. The methodology assigns a score to various components, such as the cost of living, housing, diversity, walkability and weather to produce an overall grade.
Niche outlines its practices in detail on its website.
Other categories include the "Best Place for Families," "Most Diverse" and Best Place to Buy a House."
“This is a tremendous honor for The Woodlands,” said Bruce Rieser, chair of Visit The Woodlands, the township's convention and visitors bureau, in a news release. “While the award addresses ‘living,’ leisure travelers and conventioneers look for the same attributes: fine dining, entertainment, environment and low crime in selecting a venue for conventions and business meetings. This ranking by Niche will showcase The Woodlands to a broad spectrum of leisure and business travel professionals and reinforce our reputation as a world-class venue for their clients.”
Editor's note: This story was updated with a quote from the township's convention and visitors bureau.
