A new report by Wallethub evaluated and ranked the nation’s 150 largest cities to see which ones are the best, and worst, run. Nampa and Boise came in numbers one and two, respectively, as being the best-run cities in the U.S.
How does one measure the effectiveness of local leadership? Wallethub came up with a methodology that does just that. From their report:
“One way is by determining a city’s operating efficiency. In other words, we can learn how well city officials manage and spend public funds by comparing the quality of services residents receive against the city’s total budget.”
Wallethub compared the operating efficiency of 150 of the largest U.S. cities to reveal which among them are managed best. They created a “Quality of Services” score that was comprised of 38 metrics that were collected into six service categories:
- Financial Stability
- Education
- Health
- Safety
- Economy
- Infrastructure and Pollution
These service categories were then measured against the city’s per-capita budget to arrive at the rankings.
Nampa had the best overall ranking but ranked 74th in the quality of city services. It also had the best total budget per capita rank.
Boise was 2nd best overall and ranked fifth in the quality of city services and second in total budget per capita.
Noticeably absent from the rankings was Meridian, which in recent years has overtaken Nampa as the second most populous city in the state. Perhaps with the decennial census taking place, Meridian will be considered for future studies.
Nevertheless, with two of the area’s most significant cities landing on the top of the national standings, it further illustrates how desirable Idaho is for business and people looking to relocate.
Conversely, the city of Washington, DC, was the worst city according to the rankings. San Francisco, Gulfport, MS, Chattanooga, TN, and New York City rounded out the bottom five cities in the report.
The state of California had 15 cities represented in the study, with the best Golden State city being Santa Ana, California, which attained the ranking of 67th. It and San Diego were the only two California cities to rank in the top 50% of all of the cities profiled in the study.
