Running a city is no small task—and the past few years, marred by COVID and economic struggles, have tacked new challenges onto the old ones for those in such leadership roles. To see which of America's 150 or so largest cities are operating at peak efficiency, WalletHub looked at three dozen metrics in six main categories, which combined to make up an overall "quality of city services" category: financial stability (which includes a city's credit rating from Moody's and its owed long-term debt per capita); economy, which covers such factors as median household income, unemployment rate, and job growth rate; health (e.g., life expectancy and quality of hospitals); education; safety; and infrastructure and pollution. The Idaho city of Nampa nabs the top spot in WalletHub's rankings, while San Francisco comes in last. Here, the best- and worst-run cities in America:
Best-Run Cities
- Nampa, Idaho (No. 1 in "Total Budget per Capita" category)
- Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky
- Nashua, New Hampshire
- Boise, Idaho
- Provo, Utah
- Lincoln, Nebraska
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Las Cruces, New Mexico
- Missoula, Montana
Worst-Run Cities - Detroit (last in "Quality of City Services" category)
- Tacoma, Washington
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Oakland, California
- Gulfport, Mississippi
- Flint, Michigan
- Cleveland
- New York
- Chattanooga, Tennessee
- San Francisco (last in "Total Budget per Capita" category)
Check out
how other cities fared. (
Here are the best and worst cities in America to start a career.)
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