Best Texas Cities For New Year’s Eve

The new year will be here before we know it, and the folks at WalletHub have put together a list of the Top 100 places in the United States to ring in 2018. You can read the full list here. We all know that the premiere spot in the country is Times Square New York City. But, quite a few Texas cities made the list this year!

Here is the rundown of cities throughout the Lone Star state that made the list. Note that New York is listed just as a reference and I have also included a couple nearby non-Texas cities as well:

• #1 New York, NY (77.23)
• #12 Dallas, TX (66.18)
• #15 Austin, TX (65.24)
• #18 San Antonio (64.06)
• #23 Houston, TX (61.13)
• #36 El Paso, TX (57.07)
• #50 Colorado Springs, CO (52.90)
• #55 Tulsa, OK (52.35)
• #57 Albuquerque, NM (52.02)
• #61 Oklahoma City, OK (51.33)
• #69 Fort Worth, TX (49.70)
• #73 Laredo, TX (48.66)
• #76 Plano, TX (48.43)
• #79 Arlington, TX (47.79)
• #88 Corpus Christi, TX (44.53)
• #93 Garland, TX (42.55)
• #95 Lubbock, TX (42.10)
• #96 Irving, TX (42.06)

So what do the scores next to each name mean and how did WalletHub come up with that score?

In order to determine the best spots for celebrating New Year’s Eve, WalletHub compared the 100 most populated U.S. cities across three key dimensions: 1) Entertainment & Food, 2) Costs and 3) Safety & Accessibility.

We evaluated those dimensions using 25 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for New Year’s Eve partiers. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), we used the square root of the population to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across cities.

Finally, we determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample. In determining our sample, we considered only the city proper in each case, excluding cities in the surrounding metro area.

Entertainment & Food – Total Points: 50

• New Year’s Eve Popularity: Double Weight (~7.14 Points)
• Legality of Fireworks: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
• New Year’s Eve Events per Capita*: Double Weight (~7.14 Points)
  Note: “Events” include festivals, performances and galas.
• Duration of 2017 Fireworks Show: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
  Note: “Duration” was measured in minutes.
• Google Search Interest for “New Year’s Eve Celebration”: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the real intent of the population to find information about “New Year’s Eve events,” “New Year’s Eve concerts,” “New Year’s Eve performances,” “New Year’s Eve party,” and “New Year’s Eve dinner.” “Real intent” is measured using the average monthly search volumes for those specific terms.
• Restaurants per Capita*: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
• Availability of Luxury Shopping & Gourmet Food: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the number of jewelry shops per capita* and the number of gourmet specialty-food stores per capita*.
• Nightlife Options per Capita*: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
• Music Venues per Capita*: Full Weight (~3.57 Points)
• General Fun: Triple Weight (~10.71 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “Most Fun Cities in America” ranking.

Costs – Total Points: 30

• Average Price per New Year’s Eve Party Ticket: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Availability of Affordable Fine Dining: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
  Note: “Fine Dining” includes restaurants rated 4.5 stars or higher.
• Average Alcoholic Beverage Price: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
  Note: “Beverage” refers to wine and cocktails.
• Taxi-Fare Cost: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Presence of Uber Transportation: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Restaurant-Meal Costs: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Lowest Price per Three-Star Hotel Room on New Year’s Eve: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Grooming Costs: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
  Note: This metric measures beauty-salon and haircut costs.

Safety & Accessibility – Total Points: 20

• Walkability: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Traffic Congestion: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Car Theft Rate: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Neighborhood Security: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the crime rate.
• DUI-Related Fatalities per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
  Note: This metric considers incidents recorded in December.
• Pedestrian Fatality Rate: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Forecasted Precipitation for Dec. 31: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)