Apparently, we don't need to just be upset about national politics in Washington, D.C. -- because we were just ranked the worst-run city in the country.
Living in Washington, D.C., you get used to hearing a lot about national politics. You likely know someone who works on the Hill, and your favorite bar plays CNN instead of sports. Well, Washington, D.C., residents might want to focus on local politics as well, because we were just ranked the worst-run city in America.
WalletHub, the personal finance website, recently ranked the best- and worst-run cities in America. To do this, WalletHub looked at the operating efficiency of the 150 largest U.S. cities. According to WalletHub, "We constructed a 'Quality of Services' score made up of 35 metrics grouped into six service categories, which we then measured against the city’s per-capita budget. Finally, for each city, we divided the Quality of City Services score by the 'Total Budget per Capita' (dollar amount) in order to construct a 'Score per Dollar Spent' index — displayed as 'Overall Rank.'"
Specifically, WalletHub looked at the city's financial stability, education, health, safety, economy and infrastructure, and pollution to create a total score out of 100. Some factors they used to figure out the scores are high school graduation rate, infant mortality rate, quality of public hospital system, violent crime rate, and unemployment rate.
Washington, D.C., came in dead last with a Quality of Services Rank of 90/150 and a total budget per capita rank of 150/150. Nampa, Idaho, came in first place followed by Provo, UT; Boise, ID; and Lexington-Fayette, KY. Close to Washington, D.C., was Detroit, MI, as the second-worst-run city, New York, NY, as the third and San Francisco, CA, as the fourth.
Some low points for our nation's capital include being ranked as the city with the highest long-term debt outstanding per capita and ranked in the lowest five cities for high school graduation rate.
The study showed some other interesting results. Rutland, VT, was ranked as the city with the lowest violent crime while Detriot, MI, had the most violent crime. California cities ranked as five out of the six lowest cities for quality of roads and least air pollution.
This study is certainly insightful for anyone who lives in the District and gives us some fresh material for calling our local officials!
What do you think? Are you surprised by the results? Let us know in the comments below!
