San Francisco is worst-run city in the United States, study finds

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FILE ART - San Franciscos skyline and bay.

SAN FRANCISCO - These are not words that San Francisco Mayor London Breed wants to hear: The City is the worst-run in the United States.

Well, that's at least according to a new WalletHub study evaluating the effectiveness of local leadership, which calculated a "quality of city services" score, comprising 36 criteria compared against the city's total per-capita budget.

WalletHub's ranking, the personal-finance website said, tries to show how well city leaders manage and spend public funds by comparing the services that residents receive.

San Francisco ranked 148th – the bottom of the list.

Nampa, Idaho got the best ranking.

Breed's office took issue with WalletHub's rankings saying the website does this every year and "every year it's misleading and inaccurate."

That's because, Breed's office said, the study compares San Francisco's city and county budget with other cities, which just have city budgets.

And in general, Breed has much to tout about San Francisco, as she laid out the city's successes in her State of the City address this spring.

Breed highlighted the lower crime rate, the deterrence of open-air drug markets, housing for more than 15,000 people, and community-business partnerships in San Francisco as some examples.

"I’m tired of the people who talk about San Francisco as if our troubles are inevitable and our successes a fluke. Our successes are not a fluke, and they’re not fleeting," Breed said at the time. "They’re the product of years of hard work, collaboration, investment, creativity, and perseverance. They’re the output of thousands of people, in government and out, who believe in service not cynicism."

While San Francisco got dinged, Fremont was lauded for having the country's lowest share of its population living in poverty, the same WalletHub study found.

Earlier this month, WalletHub named Fremont the best city in the United States to raise a family.

Top 20 Best-Run Cities in America

1. Nampa, ID

2. Lexington-Fayette, KY

3. Boise, ID

4. Nashua, NH

5. Oklahoma City, OK

6. Durham, NC

7. Provo, UT

8. Fort Wayne, IN

9. Sioux Falls, SD

10. Wichita, KS