What’s the best run city in the United States? According to the researchers at Wallethub.com, that distinction goes to Lubbock, Texas, a model of efficiency when it comes to spending on schools, police and parks and recreation.
Wait a second there, Wallethub... Lubbock?
Out of 65 cities studied, Wallethub ranked Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Stockton, Calif. toward the bottom of the list, in 52nd through 55th place, respectively.
But none of those cities fared as badly as St. Paul, which ranks 56th — in other words, as the 10th worst-run city in the U.S.
Even Madison, Wis. and Milwaukee placed better according to Wallethub, in 27th and 30th place, respectively.
St. Paul officials are taking the new rankings with a grain of salt. After all, Wallethub is the same click-bait outfit that ranked St. Paul as the best city in the country to hang out in on Halloween, followed by Minneapolis.
One way in which the study measures efficiency is by dividing each city’s parks acreage by overall Parks and Rec spending. In other words, cities that spent less money on parks or rec centers climbed higher in the rankings. That’s a red flag to some observers, who worry that the study effectively rewards neglect.
Tonya Tennessen, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office, called Wallethub an unreliable source.
"The city holds AAA ratings from multiple major bond rating agencies for our strong financial management – and we have for 18 years," she said, via email. "We continue to be one of the safest cities in America and our parks system is nationally recognized for its excellence. The methodology here is both simplistic and incomplete. As apparently happened the last time they rated our city – declaring we are known for having one of the best Halloween’s (perhaps confusing us with Anoka) - they clearly have confused us once again with some other city."
In the Wallethub study, St. Paul fared about average for parks efficiency, but dragged bottom when its public spending was compared to school test results and crime figures.
For education, St. Paul ranked 81 out of 90 cities studied. Wallethub compared spending on schools to test scores in reading and math for grades 4 through 8. Adjustments were made based on poverty rates and rates of single-parent families, households who speak a language other than English at home and median household income.
So what’s so special about Lubbock?
Located in northwestern Texas, Lubbock has a population of 240,000 people and Lubbock High School was recognized for three consecutive years by Newsweek as one of the top-performing high schools in the country, says this reliable source.
In the Wallethub study, it scored in 12th place for efficient spending on education and public safety, and 20th for parks and recreation spending.
The city’s population is 76 percent white, 9 percent African-American, and 32 percent Latinos of any race. Not all of its prosperity is self-made. As part of the largest cotton-growing region in the world, Lubbock is heavily dependent on federal agricultural subsidies.
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