By John Dobberstein, Editor
Broken Arrow is, once again, listed very highly in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of the best places to live in the U.S.
The city landed at No. 19 out of 250 cities listed for 2026-27, and the city snagged the highest ranking in Oklahoma. Last year Broken Arrow clocked in at #12 in the same report.
Also doing well on the nationwide list was Edmond (#22), Moore (#45) and Enid (#64), while Oklahoma City landed at #124 and Norman #182. The city of Tulsa did not make the list.
The rest of the Top 20 cities was mostly dominated by suburbs near Dallas, Houston, Austin and Indianapolis.
The report highlighted Broken Arrow’s low cost of living compared to other similar-sized metro areas. Housing costs in Broken Arrow were significantly lower, with the median home value at $251,425, compared with the national average of $359,870.
In addition, the average work commute time in Broken Arrow is 20.52 minutes, which is 1.7 minutes less than the national average.
When it comes to employment, the job market in Broken Arrow is also better than the national average. Unemployment in Broken Arrow is 2.4%, compared to 4.5% nationally. The city’s median household income of $88,906 is nearly $6,000 higher than the national average at $83,181.
According to the city of Broken Arrow, the rankings are determined based on data from Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) and U.S. News’ internal resources. “Importantly, this data is categorized by a Value Index that measures how comfortably the average resident of each city can live within their means,” the company said.
The report includes a Quality-of-Life Index that examines the quality of education, the quality and availability of healthcare, the air quality index, environmental risk, state economy and state infrastructure.
Additionally, another important measure in the survey is desirability, which looks at the city’s crime rates, weather temperature, culture/leisure index, and commuter index. Taken together with the job market Index, these factors help establish the city’s overall ranking.
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