Move over, Florida! Austin among best warm weather vacation spots, according to new ranking
With winter fast approaching and temperatures across the country dropping by the day, Austin is likely to fill up with "snow birds" looking to take refuge in the warmth.
That's because the greater Austin area is the third best winter destination in the U.S. for warm weather-lovers, according to a new ranking from personal finance company WalletHub.
The Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown area ranked slightly behind the Las Vegas, Nevada, and San Diego, California, areas, which ranked first and second, respectively. Austin ranked second in terms of travel costs and hassles, sixth in terms of weather and 10th in attractions.
Weather: Austin will start off hot and end cool this week, with slight rain chances
Dallas, San Antonio, Houston rank in the top 10?
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area ranked fourth on the list, scoring second in weather and fourth in travel costs and hassles.
The fifth spot was held by the San Antonio-New Braunfels area, which scored third in travel costs and hassles and sixth in local costs. It also ranked ninth in warm weather activities.
More: Texas has the cheapest gas in the country, but where does Austin rank among major cities?
The greater Houston area marked the last of the Texas cities in the top 10 at number eight, according to WalletHub. It ranked first for travel costs and hassles and ninth for attractions.
To build its ranking, WalletHub compared 69 of the country's most populous cities across six criteria, including travel costs and hassles, local costs, attractions, weather, activities and safety. It then evaluated those criteria through 37 relevant metrics, among them the cost of the cheapest flight to the destination, the average price of a two-person meal in the area and the shopping centers per capita of the cities.
What is the full top 10 list?
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas
Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin ranked 3rd best vacation destination for warm weather
