WalletHub, a company that describes itself as a “one-stop destination for all the tools and information consumers and small business owners need to make better financial decisions and save money,” ranked America’s “best-run” cities and found that Montgomery takes the top spot in Alabama.
In order to identify the best-run cities in America, WalletHub’s analysts compared 150 of the most populated cities across six key categories: 1) Financial Stability, 2) Education, 3) Health, 4) Safety, 5) Economy and 6) Infrastructure & Pollution.
We evaluated these categories using 25 relevant metrics… Each metric was graded on a scale from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the most optimal city management.
We then calculated “Overall City Services” scores using the weighted average across all metrics. Finally, we divided the Overall City Services score by the “Total Budget per Capita” dollar amount for each city in order to construct a Score per Dollar Spent index, which we then used to rank the cities.
After running all the numbers, Montgomery came it at No. 51 overall nationally, just ahead of Mobile (54) and well ahead of Birmingham (128), the other two Alabama cities whose populations qualified them for the study.
Montgomery ranked above average in Financial Stability (68th), Infrastructure and Pollution (28th) and Total Budget per Capita (28th).
“This is welcomed news and it’s truly a testament to our more than 2,500 city employees who work hard each and every day to make our community better,” Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said. “We strive to provide the most effective and efficient services possible, while catering to our community’s needs – especially safety, economic development and infrastructure upgrades.”
The Gump ranked below average, however, in Education (143rd), Health (113th), Safety (106) and Economy (121).
To check out the full steady, head over the WalletHub.
