July 10, 2017
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
A cab operated by Freedom Taxi waits in a line of traffic on the JFK Boulevard Bridge near 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.
According to a new study from credit score site WalletHub, Philadelphia isn’t doing so great when it comes to running the city efficiently. Of the 150 cities sampled – selected based on the 150 largest populations in the U.S. – Philly ranked a dismal 136th.
Philadelphia is just one of many major cities to score poorly, however – Chicago came in at 140th, San Francisco at 147th, New York at 148th and Washington, D.C., dead last at 150th.
The top tier of the rankings is mostly monopolized by Midwestern and Southern cities, with Nampa, Idaho, (population: 88,211) taking the top slot.
What makes a city poorly run, according to WalletHub? The study analyzed six key points of data, weighing each one on a 100-point scale: financial stability, education, health, safety, economy and infrastructure/pollution. After arriving at scores for each section, WalletHub divided the final “Quality of City Services” score by the city’s budget per capita to reach a “score per dollar spent” index.
“How do we measure the effectiveness of local leadership?” WalletHub asks in the study. “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 also broke down data results into smaller categories to highlight the top and bottom five cities in categories like debt, crime and graduation rates, though Philly didn’t make the cut on either end. Wilmington, Delaware, however, ranked very high in violent crime rankings.
Overall, though, Wilmington outranked Philly, falling at 115th.
Cities in California dominated in terms of poor air quality and badly maintained roads.
To check out the full report, click here.
