St. Petersburg is the best-run city in Florida, followed by Jacksonville: study

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – According to a new study, St. Petersburg was found to be the best-run city in Florida and 36th nationwide.

Followed by St. Pete was Jacksonville at 42nd, the second Florida city on WalletHub‘s “Best- & Worst-Run Cities in America (2024)” list.

WalletHub considered criteria for the ranking such as financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure and pollution.

After St. Pete and Jacksonville was Hialeah at 58th in the nation, Miami at 62nd, Tallahassee at 66th, Tampa at 82nd, Orlando at 87th, and Fort Lauderdale at 121st.

However, Tallahassee topped the national list for high school graduation rate.

Among the “quality of services” category, Miami was found to be the best city in Florida and 15th in the U.S., followed by Hialeah at 18th, Tampa at 20th and Orlando at 21st.

For “budget per capita,” Jacksonville was the best in Florida, ranking 45th in the nation, followed by St. Pete at 50th and Tallahassee at 71st.

Overall, Nampa, Idaho was ranked the best-run city in America, followed by Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky; Boise, Idaho; Nashua, New Hampshire; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

“The best-run cities in America use their budgets most effectively to provide high-quality financial security, education, health, safety and transportation to their residents,” said Cassandra Happe, analyst for WalletHub. “Many of the top cities also have a very low amount of outstanding government debt per capita, which can prevent financial troubles in the future.”