WalletHub ranked the California city as the 'worst run' for the second year in a row
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San Francisco, California, was declared to be the "worst run" city in the U.S. according to a report by WalletHub.
The annual study measured the "effectiveness of local leadership" by comparing the quality of city services matched against the city’s total budget to determine its operating efficiency.
The report measured the 148 largest cities in the country and ranked them through a "Quality of Services" score made up of 36 metrics in six service categories compared to each of the cities' per-capita budgets.
Despite ranking 24th in quality of services, San Francisco placed dead last at 148 in its total budget per-capita rank, along with having the highest amount of long-term debt outstanding.
San Francisco, California, was named the "worst run" city in the U.S. based on city service efficiency (iStock)
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In a comment to Fox News Digital, however, Parisa Safarzadeh, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, derided the list.
"WalletHub does this every year and every year, it's misleading and inaccurate, because this study compares San Francisco's budget (City AND County) with other cities (City only budgets)," Safarzadeh said.
In response to the city's claims, WalletHub communications manager Diana Polk insisted that the report does not stray from the Fiscally Standardized Cities (FiSC) database regarding its findings.
"I would like to clarify that WalletHub relies on the FiSC dataset as it provides a reliable source for making accurate, apples-to-apples comparisons at city level between different municipalities. We do not alter the data provided by FiSC in any way to ensure an unbiased comparison," Polk told Fox News Digital.
The Office of the San Francisco Mayor claimed the WalletHub study was "misleading."
San Francisco was dubbed the "worst run" city by WalletHub in 2023 and ranked second-to-last in 2022.
In the 2024 report, WalletHub dubbed Nampa, Idaho, as the "best run" city. According to mayor Debbie King, this is the eighth year in a row that Nampa has won the title.
"It's interesting. I don't consider us a wealthy city, but the key is using the funds that we have wisely. And I would say that stewardship is a very important core value in our city. Because we are spending the taxpayers’ dollars. So we're always mindful of how we best utilize the tax dollars that we've been entrusted with," King told Fox News Digital.
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Nampa, Idaho was ranked the best run U.S. city for eight years in a row. ((Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))
She added, "What I would say for all of the cities and the elected officials that serve their communities and especially the smaller ones across the nation, you have a lot of people that work very hard to do a good job to meet the needs of their citizens. And personally, I think they should all be applauded for their hard work."
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
