Fort Lauderdale has the dubious honor of being named among the worst-run cities in America — if you believe a ranking by WalletHub that has some questioning its accuracy.
The popular tourist town was ranked as the nation’s 37th worst-run city, getting low marks for safety due to traffic fatalities per capita along with theft, murder and other violent crimes.
Personal finance website WalletHub says it compared the operating efficiency of nearly 150 of the largest cities in the U.S. to identify which among them are managed the best — and the worst. The rankings, released last year, listed San Francisco as the worst-run. Best run? Nampa, Idaho.
Fort Lauderdale came in at No. 113, making it the 37th worst-run city in the country, according to WalletHub’s metrics. Nampa scored No. 1 for its overall ranking while San Francisco came in at the bottom with a 149.
“We’re easy targets,” said Mayor Dean Trantalis when asked how Fort Lauderdale wound up on the list. “A lot of it is just clickbait and gives these websites some level of relevance. Many of these rankings don’t have the most accurate and scientific justification for some of their conclusions.”
WalletHub ranked each city by a “quality of services” score, dividing the metric by each locale’s per-capita budget.
WalletHub compared 149 cities across six categories: Financial stability; education; health; safety; economy; and infrastructure and pollution. Each city earned a “Quality of Services” score based on 36 metrics across those six categories, including crime rates, high school graduation rates, the quality of the local public hospital system and average life expectancy.
The lower the ranking, the better the city is doing in that category.
Across the six key categories, Fort Lauderdale ranked 30 out of 149 in health; 130 in safety; 40 in both economy and financial stability; 50 in education; and 54 in the category of infrastructure and pollution.
Fort Lauderale ranked 56 for quality of services but came in at 124 for total budget per capita. The higher budget per-capita rank contributed to the city’s overall ranking of 113, said Cassandra Happe, analyst and communications manager for WalletHub.
Only large cities were ranked by WalletHub, leaving smaller cities out of the equation.
“I feel like it’s a misrepresentation of the reality and the experience that people have in Fort Lauderdale,” Trantalis said. “In reality it’s everyday experience that should determine if a city is well run.”
Critics question ranking
Commissioner Steve Glassman also pooh-poohed the ranking.
Why did Fort Lauderdale make the list?
Glassman answered with wicked sarcasm.
“I don’t know what the criteria was so it’s hard to opine on that,” he said. “But is that the reason everyone is moving here? Is that the reason why (soccer superstar) Leo Messi decided to live here? Is that why the city is growing by leaps and bounds? Is that why our population is growing so significantly? I guess everyone wants to be living and doing business in one of the worst-run cities in the country.”
Glassman, whose district includes the very beach where spring breakers have been flocking to since the 1960s, questioned the veracity of city rankings like the one done by WalletHub.
“They’re catchy, they grab your eye,” he said. “But I’m not so sure how objective they are. It’s certainly not what I see when I’m driving around and meeting with people.”
Fort Lauderdale came in 37th place behind New Orleans; Seattle; Modesto, Calif.; Pittsburgh; Fresno, Calif.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Sacramento; Stockton, Calif.; Knoxville, Tennessee; Syracuse, N.Y.; Charlotte, N.C; Nashville; New Haven, Conn.; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Los Angeles; Long Beach, Calif.; Rochester, N.Y.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Baltimore, Md.; Riverside, Calif.; Philadelphia; Denver; Memphis; Yonkers, N.Y.; Chicago; Kansas City, Kan.; Detroit; Tacoma, Wash.; Hartford, Conn.; Oakland, Calif.; Gulfport, Miss.; Flint, Mich.; Cleveland; New York, N.Y.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and San Francisco.
‘Far from the truth’
City Manager Greg Chavarria said he didn’t want to label the ranking as fake news.
“But this story is far from the truth,” he said. “People are coming to Fort Lauderdale because of the opportunities. The proof is in all the events, the real estate growth, the thriving communities that we see all around us. We also have some of the best sports venues. And we’re excited about a new pickleball complex opening soon with 42 courts.”
Chavarria wondered whether the folks who did the rankings have visited Fort Lauderdale.
“I invite the writer to visit Fort Lauderdale and experience Fort Lauderdale,” he said. “I’m sure they’d have a different narrative to write. These are hooks. Other rankings have ranked us very high. Livability.com ranked us last year as one of the best places to live in the United States.”
That ranking described Fort Lauderdale as one of the best places to live in the U.S. thanks to a diverse and robust economy, great arts scene, 24 miles of sandy beach, world-class restaurants and 31 distinct neighborhoods.
The low ranking stunned Mary Peloquin, a longtime resident currently serving as president of the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations.
“I don’t know the entity doing the rankings,” she said. “But living in Fort Lauderdale is like living in a country club. You’ve got the beach, the waterways, great restaurants, great parks. I call B.S. I just don’t believe that ranking.”
Clicks and eyeballs
Fort Lauderdale is far from perfect, Peloquin admits.
“The city has problems,” she said. “Every city has problems. We do have traffic. But traffic in L.A. is bad. So is traffic in New York. They’re just as bad if not worse.”
Commissioner John Herbst also found fault with his city’s poor showing.
“Look at the metrics they’re measuring us on,” he said. “Education. Health care. Climate change. We don’t control any of that. They’re holding the city accountable for things the city has no control over. Don’t measure me based on regional transportation because that’s the county. Don’t measure me on education because that’s the School Board. Don’t measure me on health care because that’s Broward Health. There’s a lot of things we’re being dinged on that are simply not the responsibility of the city.”
Herbst pointed to Fort Lauderdale’s high bond rating.
“We’re a triple A-rated city,” he said. “We have $100 million in reserves in the bank. We have one of the lowest tax rates in the state. We have the lowest tax rate of the 25 largest cities in Florida. And we’ve held our (base) tax rate steady for 17 years.”
Even though they may be popular, you can’t always believe the rankings, Herbst says.
“These rankings are designed to attract readers — clicks and eyeballs — because everybody wants to go and see where their city rates,” Herbst said. “But they make up their own metrics about what they consider a success. What you measure is incredibly important. And you can manipulate these things by changing what you measure and how you measure it.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at . Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan
