Fayetteville moves up to fourth in ranking of best places to live

U.S. News and World Report named Fayetteville the No. 4 best place to live in the country in its annual rankings, published this week.

Why it matters: The rankings are based on aspects like overall quality of life and affordability. Fayetteville consistently makes this list and moved up from No. 8 last year.

Between the lines: Fayetteville now ranks higher than Austin, Texas. The much larger city in the South, which often draws comparisons to Fayetteville for its politics, music scene, and community of college students, also consistently ranks high on this report.

Of note: The ranking appears to take into account the NWA metropolitan region, as it mentions a metro population of more than 514,000 people and jobs at Tyson and Walmart, which are not headquartered in Fayetteville.

1 correct thing: U.S. News warns, "Fayetteville residents take college football very seriously."

Go deeper: See how scores are calculated here.