An Idaho city tops list of ‘best-run’ places in the US — and it’s not Boise, study says

The best-run city in the U.S. is in Idaho — and it’s not Boise, a new WalletHub study says.

Yup, Idaho dominated another rankings list. This time, two of Idaho’s cities ranked as the “best-run cities in America.”

Nampa and Boise secured the No. 1 and 2 spots, respectively, to claim the title of “best-run cities” in the country.

WalletHub looked at six categories to come up with the list of best-run places: financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure and pollution. It looked at 150 of the largest cities in the U.S.

“How do we measure the effectiveness of local leadership?” WalletHub said. “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.”

When it comes to WalletHub’s “Quality of Service” ranking, however, Nampa didn’t do so well. That score is based on the weighted average across all six of the metrics WalletHub looked at.

Nampa ranked 74th overall for the quality of services, while Boise still ranked in the top five. Both cities ranked high when it comes to “Total Budget per Capita” rankings, though, with the No. 1 and 2 spots respectively.

Another metric that helped secure the cities’ high rankings was lowest long-term debt outstanding per capita.

It turns out Nampa has the second lowest long-term debt outstanding per capita of the 150 cities, according to WalletHub. Boise wasn’t far behind, ranking No. 4.

This isn’t the first time Boise and Nampa have ranked high in WalletHub’s study. In 2017, Nampa was named the best-run city in America, and Boise was third. The same happened in 2018.

This year, the two Idaho cities were joined by Provo, Utah; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Durham, North Carolina, in the top five for best-run cities, WalletHub said.

“In addition to representing the residents, local leaders must balance the public’s diverse interests with the city’s limited resources,” WalletHub said. “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.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 1:01 PM.