Based on an annual analysis that compares the quality of city services against the overall budget, San Francisco, California, has been proclaimed the “worst-run” city in the US by WalletHub.
Using per-capita spending and a “Quality of Services” score comprised of 36 measures across six service areas, the research rated the nation’s 148 biggest cities. Even though it ranked 24th for service quality, San Francisco had the most significant level of long-term debt and ranked dead last for total budget per capita at 148.
The office of San Francisco Mayor London Breed has attacked WalletHub’s rankings, saying that the company does this year after year and that every year it’s misleading and inaccurate. Breed’d office complained that the research supposedly compares San Francisco’s (city and county) budget against other cities’ (city alone budgets). In regards to the report’s conclusions, WalletHub communications manager Diana Polk emphasized that they remain faithful to the Fiscally Standardized Cities (FiSC) database.
Breed’s office has no idea if San Francisco is an outlier in WalletHub’s metrics.
After coming in at number two in 2022, San Francisco was named the “worst-run” city in 2023 by WalletHub. The mayor of Nampa, Idaho, Debbie King, said that 2024 marked the seventh consecutive year that Nampa has been named the “best-run” city by WalletHub.
Long, a gorgeous cultural center on the Pacific coast, San Francisco has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons: the social problems that have been afflicting the city. Just earlier this month, videos surfaced showing an entire retail street in San Francisco locked and deserted, revealing the reality of the city core, which has been largely abandoned. This vicious loop results in a staggering $790 million budget deficit as fewer businesses pay property taxes due to the deserted downtown area.
The Bay Area’s spiral into anarchy has been on full display during a slew of violent events in Oakland and along the waterfront.
The findings surprise no one, and Breed cannot possibly defend the depressing decay in the city on the bay.
