If a recent report from WalletHub is any indication, Dallas has some work to do if it wants to call itself world-class. The personal finance website conducted a study of the 149 largest cities in the United States comparing 36 metrics that are compiled into a “Quality of Services” score that is measured against each city’s per-capita budget to determine the best-run cities in the U.S.
While Texas cities didn’t even break into the top 20, the results show Big D lagging behind El Paso (48th), Corpus Christi (50th), Fort Worth (54th), Arlington (75th), Garland (84th), Houston (85th), San Antonio (90th), and Austin (95th). Ranked 98th, Dallas beat out Lubbock (107th) in the field.
Ranking Best-Run Cities
Cities were judged on six key categories: 1) Financial Stability, 2) Education, 3) Health, 4) Safety, 5) Economy, and 6) Infrastructure and Pollution. Of these factors, several metrics were used to determine a city’s performance, such as credit ratings, walk scores, infrastructure condition, school performance, and the quality of a city’s public hospital system. Those results were divided by the amount spent on city services when measured against the quality of those services. Depending on a city’s efficiency, the locations were then ranked from 1 (most efficient) to 149 (least efficient).
Dallas received a 102 Quality of Life score with a total budget per capita ranking of 95. For comparison, the best-run city — Nampa, Idaho — received a 34 Quality of Life score with a total budget per capita ranking of 1. The worst-run city — San Francisco, California — had a quality of life score of 12 with a budget per capita ranking of 149.
Getting Engaged
Considering that the City of Dallas budget will be released soon and the city’s bond program is looking to invest billions in housing and economic development, the fact that Dallas ranked well below other Texas metros could be the impetus to get citizens engaged.
“Beyond voting, citizens need to communicate their preferences to their local government officials in between elections,” said James Davenport, Associate Dean for Social Sciences/Professor of Political Science, Liberal Arts & Sciences Division at Rose State College. “To do this, they need to become familiar with and knowledgeable about the issues impacting their communities. Demonstrating a consistent knowledge of and interest in local governments – which have the most direct impact on citizens’ daily lives of any government – is the best way of improving the transparency and accountability of local government.”
For the full list of cities and their rankings, go here.
