I can tell you this, Massachusetts friends and neighbors. I do NOT envy any local government representatives. They have a lot of migraine-worthy issues to deal with whether it's crime, inflation, unemployment, regional debt, etc.

Despite sharing many of the same issues, certain cities across the country are much better maintained and run than others. How do some cities fare better than others when it comes to battling certain issues?

Recently, our good friends at WalletHub, the personal finance pros, conducted a study on this year's best- and worst-run cities in America and they finally released their report. Guess what? Massachusetts has three cities that ranked in the top 100!

For the study, the WalletHub team looked at 149 of the largest cities in the country and compared them based on their operating efficiency. For each city, they looked at several key metrics grouped into 6 main categories such as violent crime rates, unemployment rates, road quality, percentage of the population living in poverty, etc.

Sadly, the Commonwealth did not place any cities in the top 20 but we should be proud of landing three cities in the top 100. I'll make mention of those in a moment. First, let's salute the top dogs.

Here are WalletHub's Top 10 Best-Run Cities in America for 2023:

  1. Nampa, Idaho
  2. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky
  3. Boise, Idaho
  4. Nashua, New Hampshire
  5. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  6. Durham, North Carolina
  7. Provo, Utah
  8. Fort Wayne, Indiana
  9. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
  10. Wichita, Kansas

Great job to every one of those cities and it's nice to see New England represented with New Hampshire in there at #4! Now, onto the Bay State. The city of Springfield was the lowest out of the three Massachusetts cities ranking at #74. Still, a very respectable showing.

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Next up, Beantown came in at #67. Mad props, Boston! Finally, the highest "best-run" Massachusetts city performed very well ranking at #38! That city just happens to be Worcester. Congrats to all three cities for landing in the top 100.

It's a pretty comprehensive study. For the full rankings, visit WalletHub's website here.

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