2019's Best & Worst Run Cities in America

Adam McCann l July 2019

Running a city is a tall order. The larger the city, the more complex it becomes to manage. In addition to representing the residents, local leaders must balance the public's diverse interests with the city's limited resources. That often means not everyone's needs can or will be met.

Leaders must carefully consider which services are most essential, which agencies' budgets to cut or boost and whether and how much to raise taxes, among other decisions.

But how do we measure the effectiveness of local leadership? 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.

Main Findings

Top 50 Best-Run Cities in America

Overall Rank (1=Best)	City	‘Quality of City Services’ Rank	‘Total Budget per Capita’ Rank
1	Nampa, ID	48	1
2	Provo, UT	2	3
3	Boise, ID	4	2
4	Durham, NC	35	10
5	Lexington-Fayette, KY	57	4
6	Las Cruces, NM	61	9
7	Billings, MT	51	11
8	Virginia Beach, VA	3	40
9	Missoula, MT	72	6
10	Fargo, ND	6	34
11	Sioux Falls, SD	17	28
12	Fort Wayne, IN	66	12
13	Nashua, NH	18	30
14	Huntington Beach, CA	1	59
15	Cedar Rapids, IA	23	26
16	Raleigh, NC	21	32
17	Greensboro, NC	60	16
18	Albuquerque, NM	104	5
19	Mesa, AZ	55	22
20	Oklahoma City, OK	78	14
21	Lewiston, ME	76	18
22	Madison, WI	12	54
23	Chesapeake, VA	28	36
24	Aurora, IL	26	39
25	Lincoln, NE	14	51
26	Salt Lake City, UT	24	41
27	Arlington, TX	43	33
28	Louisville, KY	91	17
29	Rapid City, SD	102	13
30	Salem, OR	63	27
31	Columbus, GA	120	7
32	Bismarck, ND	7	65
33	El Paso, TX	41	42
34	Phoenix, AZ	56	38
35	Tucson, AZ	97	20
36	Portland, ME	13	64
37	Grand Rapids, MI	31	53
38	Warren, MI	92	29
39	Manchester, NH	50	48
40	Charleston, SC	22	67
41	Topeka, KS	103	23
42	St. Petersburg, FL	64	47
43	Warwick, RI	67	46
44	Corpus Christi, TX	82	37
45	Tulsa, OK	117	19
46	Las Vegas, NV	47	58
47	Wichita, KS	113	24
48	Reno, NV	77	48
49	Dover, DE	88	45
50	Des Moines, IA	39	68
146	New York, NY	16	148

Top 50 Detailed Breakdown by City

‘Quality of City Services’ Rank* (Score)	City	‘Financial Stability’ Rank	‘Education’ Rank	‘Health’ Rank	‘Safety’ Rank	‘Economy’ Rank	‘Infrastructure & Pollution’ Rank
1 (71.07)	Huntington Beach, CA	36	1	5	7	16	132
2 (69.23)	Provo, UT	20	145	44	2	2	7
3 (68.60)	Virginia Beach, VA	8	3	43	6	46	74
4 (65.34)	Boise, ID	17	43	24	12	8	52
5 (65.27)	Fremont, CA	108	2	11	14	1	127
6 (65.10)	Fargo, ND	47	9	26	21	10	21
7 (64.27)	Bismarck, ND	29	42	25	15	26	59
8 (64.25)	San Diego, CA	90	8	13	17	45	16
9 (64.21)	Boston, MA	3	149	19	10	60	3
10 (64.10)	Austin, TX	23	6	17	42	19	57
11 (64.03)	San Jose, CA	59	11	2	25	9	120
12 (63.66)	Madison, WI	7	92	10	16	61	81
13 (62.46)	Portland, ME	39	21	30	26	75	29
14 (62.41)	Lincoln, NE	12	47	42	18	49	76
15 (62.14)	Seattle, WA	31	30	7	74	29	36
16 (62.07)	New York, NY	80	60	15	5	114	26
17 (61.95)	Sioux Falls, SD	26	54	53	30	4	69
18 (61.85)	Nashua, NH	51	113	69	1	28	39
19 (61.50)	San Francisco, CA	45	63	1	84	15	38
20 (61.22)	Portland, OR	18	37	36	80	70	5
21 (61.15)	Raleigh, NC	13	61	33	20	68	66
22 (60.63)	Charleston, SC	16	58	32	64	56	28
23 (59.88)	Cedar Rapids, IA	30	100	34	34	12	82
24 (59.41)	Salt Lake City, UT	10	147	73	96	3	6
25 (59.22)	Frederick, MD	41	7	75	37	72	97
26 (59.19)	Aurora, IL	57	34	23	4	110	91
27 (58.69)	Anaheim, CA	97	32	3	23	64	138
28 (58.65)	Chesapeake, VA	21	22	117	19	33	116
29 (58.59)	Hialeah, FL	128	4	21	24	78	89
30 (58.34)	Eugene, OR	28	89	91	52	76	2
31 (58.11)	Grand Rapids, MI	73	50	50	39	39	34
32 (58.01)	Miami, FL	93	13	16	87	102	10
33 (57.98)	Tampa, FL	38	77	77	45	31	47
34 (57.96)	Long Beach, CA	83	12	12	38	80	124
35 (57.91)	Durham, NC	5	86	27	70	82	118
36 (57.53)	Charlotte, NC	15	41	41	83	41	119
37 (57.36)	St. Paul, MN	27	142	71	29	88	31
38 (57.16)	Santa Ana, CA	112	35	4	22	52	140
39 (57.10)	Des Moines, IA	67	82	51	58	34	37
40 (56.97)	Minneapolis, MN	52	144	18	82	42	9
41 (56.73)	El Paso, TX	86	19	38	11	77	123
42 (56.00)	Burlington, VT	132	20	39	9	106	11
43 (55.96)	Arlington, TX	56	16	85	44	27	130
44 (55.95)	Denver, CO	40	143	29	51	32	86
45 (55.81)	Aurora, CO	44	117	28	50	23	125
46 (55.67)	Washington, DC	45	83	118	66	93	4
47 (55.64)	Las Vegas, NV	96	68	80	65	44	14
48 (55.59)	Nampa, ID	82	123	68	32	20	51
49 (55.55)	Yonkers, NY	135	87	6	3	120	111
50 (55.40)	Manchester, NH	101	126	62	27	69	17

Ask the Experts

A well run city isn't just the product of efficient budgeting or lots of resources. It is the fruit of countless other decisions, too. For more insight into why some cities perform better than others, we turned to a panel of local government, economic and diversity experts.

In your opinion, what are the most important issues facing U.S. cities today?

Why are some cities better run than others?

What can citizens do to increase the transparency and accountability of local government?

Are some forms of city government — a strong mayor versus a strong city council, for instance — more effective than others?

In evaluating how well a city is run, what are the top five indicators?

How can local policymakers reduce racial tensions in the wake of recent movements?

Denise Scheberle

Ph.D., Clinical Teaching Professor,
University of Colorado Denver, School of Public Affairs

In your opinion, what are the most important issues facing US cities today?

Climate change. Failing to address climate change and to adapt to its consequences will touch virtually every city in the world.

Consider, for example, sea level rise as one consequence of a warming planet. If the predicted increases hold true, rising seas will redraw boundaries of our many large cities located near oceans or the Gulf of Mexico. Inland cities will face challenges of more extreme weather events, including flooding, tornadoes, drought, wildfires, higher incidences of insect borne disease and health problems associated with high temperatures.

Kerry Hunter

Ph.D. – Professor,
College of Idaho

In your opinion, what are the most important issues facing US cities today?

Obtaining high quality leadership who understands the problems each city faces and are able to IMPLEMENT solutions to those problems.

Why are some cities better run than others?

Those with the best leadership are the best run cities.

What can citizens do to increase the transparency and accountability of local government?
Citizens need to make lots of noise to make sure their concerns are truly heard.

Are some forms of city government - e.g., strong Mayor versus a strong city council - more effective than others?

I'm guessing it really depends on the quality of the mayor and folk on the city council.

David N. Schleicher

Professor of Law, Yale Law School

In your opinion, what are the most important issues facing US cities today?

Housing. In a large number of cities, there is a housing crisis with rents and/or mortgages requiring a greater and greater slice of the percentage of income. But housing crises have different causes in different places.

In many rich cities like San Francisco and New York, local governments have used their regulatory powers to make it difficult for private developers to build enough housing to meet demand. As a result, prices are sky high, and the gains from growth in their economies are taken by property owners.

These cities should allow new buildings to accommodate people who would like to move in, particularly by allowing new construction in high demand areas.

In other cities there is a housing crisis, but it is not driven by housing costs per se, but rather by low incomes. In those places, either the incomes need to rise or cities need to figure out how to provide subsidized housing.

And, of course, most people live in the suburbs, but I think you're asking about big cities only.

Why are some cities better run than others?

Two big reasons. The first is political competition. In most big cities, there is little political competition particularly for non-Mayoral positions.

In most cities, there are no competing political parties to provide voters with easy shorthand about which politicians support what, either because elections are non-partisan or because one party dominates so completely. As a result, only the heavily invested and informed lobbyists, powerful interest groups, and long term homeowners vote and participate. Other interests suffer when there is little political competition.

The second is the way government decisions are made. Many cities are fractal. They allow individual city council members to make decisions about what happens in their neighborhood. They create special purpose governments to decide policy on one issue specifically and not others. This means that broader interests suffer. Every neighborhood says no to the new garbage dump even though the city needs it. The city's fire budget increases even if it is not needed because it is run by a special purpose government focused on that issue alone.

Cities with strong centralizing institutions — strong mayors, city planning requirements, smart budgeting rules — can avoid this plight.

What can citizens do to increase the transparency and accountability of local government?

Create mechanisms for making information about local government available and easy to digest. The best thing is to support local newspapers.

In cities where local papers have declined, borrowing costs increase, and corruption is not investigated as incumbents are safe from challengers. Where would anyone hear about them? The other thing would be to create local slates of officials so voters can see how teams of local officials behave in office.

Are some forms of city government--e.g., strong Mayor versus a strong city council—more effective than others?

I am a big fan of strong Mayor systems, particularly in bigger cities. It is hard for voters to track what the huge number of local officials are up to. But they can hang successes and failures of the city on a Mayor.

In evaluating how well a city is run, what are the top 5 indicators?

Does the cost of housing roughly track the cost of constructing housing? If it is much higher, there are too many regulatory barriers facing developers. If it is much lower, the city has been shrinking economically and now has too large a housing stock. Places like Houston do well on this metric.
Does it have mechanisms for remaking city plans regularly on a citywide basis? Making citywide decisions, rather than neighborhood by neighborhood just led Minneapolis to historically important reasoning of its city, increasing development capacity along rail lines and allowing tri-plex apartment buildings citywide.
How big is the total debt burden per resident, counting all debt and unfunded pension liabilities issued by all overlapping local governments? Many cities hide their levels of indebtedness behind the lack of accrual accounting, pension accounting tricks, and other gimmicks, like lease and buyback arrangements. In others, there are many overlapping local governments (city, county, school district and so forth) and special authorities that govern the same territory and issue debt and have unfunded pension liabilities. The combined total debt can be crushing even if anyone given the government is not in too much debt.
Crime and policing indicators. Policing is one of the most important responsibilities of local government. What is the crime rate and is it higher/lower than in similar cities? Is there a trusted mechanism for investigating police abuses? Do police actually solve crimes and do they do so evenly across the city? The clearance rate for murders is shockingly low in many cities and even lower in poor and minority areas?
Are local politics competitive? Do incumbents simply win all the time? Are there factions – groups of officials with a clear policy program — that voters can select between? Do the local media environment — local newspapers and other sources — give voters enough information?

How can local policymakers reduce racial tensions in the wake of recent movements?

There is no substitute for the hard work of integrating institutions and monitoring bad and racially biased governance. Schools are frequently even more segregated than the segregated neighborhoods they draw from due to the way cities create catchment zones. That's a choice and it is one that cities can fix. Similarly, cities can do more to make instances of unfair or racially biased governance visible and accountable, whether that's through a healthy local press or ombudsmen and accountability boards.