Real estate, tourism, and economic development advisor, Resonance Consultancy, has ranked Dallas among the top 100 cities in their 2023 World’s Best Cities Report.

Three cities from the Lone Star state made the list. Dallas landed at number 47, with Houston and Austin faring slightly better at 42 and 43, respectively.

To determine the rankings, Resonance looked at metropolitan areas globally with populations in excess of one million. Grades were applied using two dozen quantitative and qualitative assessment factors, broken down into six core categories: Place, Programming, Prosperity, Product, People, and Promotion.

Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, were both excluded from this year’s rankings, citing the invasion of Ukraine.

Dallas excelled in two categories, Place and Promotion. Cities were given favorable scores in the Place category based on “the perceived quality of its natural and built environments.”

Top grades were given to those with an above-average number of sunny days per year, lower crime rates, and numerous quality sights, landmarks, parks, and outdoor activities. Dallas was highlighted, in particular, for its well-connected international airport.

The city also scored well in the Promotion category. The authors of the annual report looked at how a city “tell[s] its story (and help others do the same).”

Resonance Consultancy said this “depends on how it incentivizes and rewards the sharing of experiences by locals and visitors. The number and frequency of media coverage, online articles, references, and place-based recommendations influence our perception of cities, whether the news is good or bad.”

To assess each city, the authors analyzed Facebook check-ins, search results, TripAdvisor reviews, Instagram hashtags, and Google trends. Dallas, for its part, performed well among its peers in terms of its Google search ranking, implying the city promotes itself effectively.

Of course, it’s not necessarily city officials who are to thank; residents and businesses alike all play a part in helping push the city higher in search results.

“Today, residents, businesses, and visitors promote a city to the world more than city marketers or chambers of commerce. Resonance ranks a city’s Promotion performance based on the number of stories, references, and recommendations shared online about that city.”

The report referenced Dallas’ over 10,000 corporate headquarters, the highest in the country. The city houses numerous large companies like Hilton, Citi, UPS, PepsiCo., and American Airlines.

The authors also highlighted the impressive $3 billion Terminal F project at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. While the pandemic paused construction, the terminal is expected to help the city more efficiently welcome millions, as DFW did the over 62 million passengers who landed in Dallas last year.

The recent approval of a new $2 billion, 2.5-million-square-foot convention center expected to be completed by 2028 also helped the city’s rankings.

The marketing consulting firm also approved of the fact that Dallas maintains the sixth-largest LGBTQ+ community in the country and maintains a vibrant arts and culture sector with numerous theaters, bars, galleries, and opera venues.