S.A. Ranks 99th in Wallet Hub's Latest Ranking of 'Best Managed Cities'

San Antonio gets mixed marks in this year's ranking of the 'best run' cities in the country, compiled annually by the financial web site 'Wallet Hub,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

The rankings list San Antonio as the 99th best managed city out of the 150 largest cities in the USA which were studied by Wallet Hub.

The study used several metrics to determine what were the best managed cities in the USA, from long term debt, infant mortality rate, high school graduation and street safety, to financial stability and what the study called the 'quality of services ranking.

'San Antonio's 'quality of services' and 'financial stability' were in the top third, ranking 48th on the level of services provided to residents and a strong 37th in 'financial stability,' largely due to the city's AAA bond rating.

But the city suffered lower marks for violent crime, and infrastructure, especially roads.

San Antonio's highest rating, interestingly, was a very strong 15th in education, including total overall education attainment and high school graduation.

City officials downplayed the Wallet Hub study.

"Internet surveys like this one should be taken with a grain of salt. San Antonio has the top rating – ‘AAA’ – from all three of the major credit rating agencies, which have a far more sophisticated analysis of city management than 'WalletHub'," City spokesman Jeff Coyle said.

He pointed out that several of the areas where San Antonio was ranked have nothing to do with city government, from hospital beds to graduation rates, questioning why a city's 'management' should be predicated on things the city has no real control over.

Coyle also pointed out that the top rated cities for strong management are all relatively small, homogeneous communities.  Number one, for example, was Nampa Idaho, followed by Provo Utah and Boise Idaho.  

Ranked at the very bottom of the list were major, diverse communities like Washington DC, ranked dead last, and New York City, ranked third from the bottom.

"WalletHub’s top ranked cities – places such as Nampa, Idaho; Provo, Utah; and Missoula, Montana – don’t have nearly the same challenges and complexities of a major metropolitan city like San Antonio.”