The 20 worst-run cities in America

- Quality of city services rank: 139
- Financial stability rank: 147
- Education rank: 132
- Health rank: 29
- Safety rank: 97
- Economy rank: 144
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 10

Hartford is governed by Mayor Arunan Arulampalam and a Court of Common Council. The city is Connecticut's capital — in one of the wealthiest states in the country — but carries the second-worst financial stability rank in this entire study, behind only Chicago. The structural reason is a constrained tax base: much of downtown Hartford consists of state government buildings and nonprofits exempt from property taxes, leaving the city dependent on state aid to sustain municipal services against a poverty rate above 26%.

Hartford's violent crime has improved dramatically. The city recorded just 10 homicides in 2025 — a 40-year low and a 73% drop from 2022 — while total shootings fell to a 25-year low. The safety rank of 97 reflects a city that has made genuine recent progress while still carrying elevated crime rates by Connecticut standards.

Hartford Public Schools entered 2026 facing a $74.5 million deficit after already cutting $70 million and eliminating 400 positions over the prior three years. Connecticut's legislature responded with emergency municipal aid, naming Hartford among the primary recipients of a $270 million statewide relief package. The structural fiscal problem predates the current administration and has no obvious local solution.

- Quality of city services rank: 21
- Financial stability rank: 26
- Education rank: 7
- Health rank: 11
- Safety rank: 98
- Economy rank: 129
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 47

Seattle is a counterintuitive entry on this list: its education rank is 7th, health 11th, and quality of city services 21st among all 148 cities studied. Mayor Katie Wilson took office in January 2026 after narrowly defeating incumbent Bruce Harrell by roughly 2,000 votes — the closest mayoral race in modern Seattle history — on a platform centered on housing affordability and workers' rights.

The city's economy rank fell from 60 to 129 in this year's study, the sharpest single-category drop of any city on this list. The Seattle metro has seen job postings fall 35% since 2020, Amazon has cut thousands of Seattle positions while shifting workers to lower-tax Bellevue campuses, and the city's JumpStart payroll expense tax came in $47 million short of projections in 2024.

The city closed a $250 million general fund deficit in its 2025-26 budget, then absorbed an additional $217 million revenue shortfall that materialized after the budget was already adopted. High per-capita debt and a largely unsheltered homeless population remain the structural anchors pulling Seattle's overall score down despite its quality of life metrics.

- Quality of city services rank: 92
- Financial stability rank: 131
- Education rank: 46
- Health rank: 64
- Safety rank: 51
- Economy rank: 31
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 141

Riverside is run by Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and a seven-member City Council. Overall crime fell 35% over the past two years, including a 22% drop in 2025, and the Riverside Police Department reached full staffing for the first time in more than 20 years after hiring nearly 90 new officers. The city's safety rank improved from 68 to 51 in this year's study.

The city attracted $4.3 billion in new construction in 2025 and created 18,000 new jobs. Office vacancy is near 4%, among the lowest in the country, and Riverside Public Utilities offers the lowest electricity and water rates in California. The economy rank sits at 31 — one of the strongest marks on this entire list.

Financial stability holds at 131, unchanged from last year and the persistent reason Riverside continues to appear here despite its progress. The city's general fund runs close to balanced, but the gap between what it spends per capita and the quality of services it delivers keeps it in the bottom tier.

- Quality of city services rank: 146
- Financial stability rank: 146
- Education rank: 86
- Health rank: 142
- Safety rank: 136
- Economy rank: 113
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 116

Shreveport is governed by Mayor Tom Arceneaux and a city council. Homicides fell 24% in 2025 — from 52 to 42, but in April 2026, a mass shooting in the Cedar Grove neighborhood killed eight children between the ages of 3 and 11, in what a city councilman described as a reflection of a "true epidemic of domestic violence." The safety rank fell from 112 to 136 in this year's study.

A large share of Shreveport's residents live below the poverty line, and the city continues to lose population. The economy rank improved significantly from 140 to 113, driven in part by new data center investment, a film production deal at city-owned Millennium Studios, and a blight-reduction program that demolished more than 225 structures and cleared nearly 1.8 million pounds of trash in 2025.

Shreveport is in the final year of a 12-year federal consent decree to overhaul its aging sewer system, with a November 2026 deadline. The city has already spent $600 million on compliance — double the original estimate — and is negotiating with the EPA to adjust the remaining requirements.

- Quality of city services rank: 145
- Financial stability rank: 38
- Education rank: 146
- Health rank: 131
- Safety rank: 127
- Economy rank: 148
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 44

In May 2025, the EPA officially lifted its emergency order on Flint's drinking water — 11 years after a state-ordered cost-cutting measure contaminated the city's supply with lead and set off a public health crisis that drew global attention. The final lead service lines covered by a federal settlement were replaced by July 2025. About 500 lines remain to be swapped out, with that work expected to resume sometime in 2026. Many residents still filter their tap water.

The official end of the water crisis has not ended the city's broader condition. Flint's economy rank sits at 148 — dead last in the entire study — with a poverty rate above 34%, a median household income of roughly $37,600, and a population that has continued to shrink below 79,000. Residents have long experienced elevated rates of depression and PTSD tied to years of exposure and institutional betrayal, a mental health legacy that remains.

- Quality of city services rank: 136
- Financial stability rank: 115
- Education rank: 138
- Health rank: 109
- Safety rank: 146
- Economy rank: 90
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 83

Cleveland is governed by Mayor Justin Bibb, who won reelection in November 2025 with 74% of the vote, and a 15-member City Council that shrank from 17 seats after redistricting. The city's median household income remains roughly half the national average, and its child poverty rate is among the highest of any major U.S. city.

Violent crime fell across most categories in 2025 — homicides dropped 11.5%, robberies 21%, aggravated assaults 11% — but the safety rank worsened from 136 to 146 in this year's study. Cleveland still ranks as the highest-crime city in Ohio, and the improvement, real as it is, leaves the city near the very bottom nationally.

The economic picture is brighter. The city ended 2025 with a $91 million surplus, its economy rank improved dramatically from 121 to 90, and Bibb's lakefront vision is moving forward: $150 million in Lake Erie shoreline improvements are underway as part of a $5 billion Shore-to-Core-to-Shore development plan. The Cleveland Browns' decision to relocate to Brook Park cleared the primary lakefront site for that redevelopment.

- Quality of city services rank: 74
- Financial stability rank: 49
- Education rank: 98
- Health rank: 45
- Safety rank: 113
- Economy rank: 91
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 65

Denver has a mayor and a 13-member City Council, with 11 elected members representing geographic districts and two at-large. The city recorded 37 homicides in 2025 — a 48% drop from 2024 and the second-lowest rate since 1990 when adjusted for population — and its safety rank improved from 131 to 113 in this year's study.

Budget pressure is the main challenge. Mayor Mike Johnston announced a $200 million shortfall for 2026, triggering furloughs for most city workers and a hiring freeze. The financial stability rank held at 49 — among the steadier scores on this list — but the structural gap raises questions about the city's capacity to sustain recent investments in public safety and homelessness services.

Denver has seen a 45% reduction in unsheltered homelessness over the past two years. Johnston has set a goal of cutting street homelessness by 75% since 2023 and responding to all homelessness reports within one business day.

- Quality of city services rank: 51
- Financial stability rank: 122
- Education rank: 26
- Health rank: 28
- Safety rank: 50
- Economy rank: 114
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 69

The January 2025 wildfires that swept through Pacific Palisades and surrounding communities destroyed more than 16,000 structures and caused an estimated $25 billion in damage — the most destructive fires in the city's history. A year and a half on, rebuilding is underway and schools have reopened, but most displaced residents have not yet returned home.

The fires compounded an already strained city budget. Los Angeles faced a nearly $1 billion deficit in fiscal year 2025-26 — driven by reduced tax revenues, fire costs, and liability settlements that tripled — requiring more than 1,600 layoffs across city departments. By the following fiscal year, Mayor Karen Bass had narrowed that gap to $25 million.

Bass advanced to a November 2026 runoff seeking a second term, facing backlash over her fire response. The city's homicide rate is at a 60-year low, and its safety rank improved dramatically from 76 to 50 in this year's study. More than 72,000 people remain homeless countywide — against Bass's 2022 campaign pledge to end street homelessness by 2026.

- Quality of city services rank: 140
- Financial stability rank: 141
- Education rank: 107
- Health rank: 77
- Safety rank: 116
- Economy rank: 122
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 148

Stockton is governed by Mayor Christina Fugazi, who took office in January 2025, and a six-member City Council. After more than eight years and public expenses approaching $100 million, a new City Hall in the Waterfront Towers received a partial opening in February 2026 — a project that started as a $25 million renovation in 2017 and grew largely without public scrutiny or council oversight.

The city's governance has been fractious. The vice mayor called for a state audit in late 2025, citing unauthorized spending commitments, procurement irregularities, and payroll errors totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. The council separately referred allegations of misconduct against a top official to prosecutors.

Stockton's overall crime fell 11% through late 2025, with homicides at a six-year low and vehicle theft down 30%. A mass shooting at a birthday party near the city in November 2025 killed four people, including three children, and prompted Governor Newsom to deploy dedicated state crime-fighting teams to Stockton.

- Quality of city services rank: 142
- Financial stability rank: 144
- Education rank: 105
- Health rank: 118
- Safety rank: 141
- Economy rank: 139
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 5

New Orleans welcomed a new mayor in January 2026: Helena Moreno, the city's first Hispanic mayor and a former City Council president, who succeeded LaToya Cantrell after two terms. Moreno inherited both a record of falling crime and a severe budget crisis — the city's general fund came in roughly $150 million below 2025 levels, federal pandemic funds were nearly exhausted, and police officer retention bonuses promised by the prior administration were left unpaid.

Violent crime fell for the third consecutive year in 2025, with 121 murders representing a 55% decline from the 2022 peak. Fourteen of those deaths came from the New Year's Day terrorist attack on Bourbon Street — now marked by its first anniversary. Without that attack, the homicide total would have been the city's lowest since the early 1970s, and the decline into 2026 has continued.

The safety rank worsened slightly from 137 to 141 in this year's study, even as the headline numbers kept improving. New Orleans has shed its designation as the nation's murder capital. The financial stability rank tells a harder story.

- Quality of city services rank: 121
- Financial stability rank: 74
- Education rank: 99
- Health rank: 46
- Safety rank: 135
- Economy rank: 138
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 87

Tacoma elected a new mayor in November 2025, when former city councilmember Anders Ibsen defeated incumbent councilmember John Hines with 56.6% of the vote. Ibsen succeeded Victoria Woodards, who was term-limited, and immediately inherited a structural budget deficit and an ongoing search for both a new city manager and a permanent police chief.

The safety rank improved from 145 to 135 in this year's study, and overall crime fell 22% year over year. The city's violent crime rate remains more than double the national average — Tacoma is still among the most dangerous cities in Washington state by that measure.

The economy rank collapse tells the bigger story, falling from 55 to 138 — the sharpest single-category drop of any city in this year's study. As a major port city, Tacoma draws substantial revenue from import activity, and city finance officials warned through 2025 that a contracting trade environment could hit all four of the city's major tax categories at once.

- Quality of city services rank: 61
- Financial stability rank: 118
- Education rank: 18
- Health rank: 19
- Safety rank: 79
- Economy rank: 73
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 115

Long Beach is governed by a nine-member City Council and Mayor Rex Richardson, who secured reelection in the June 2026 primary with over 56% of the vote — enough to avoid a runoff. Richardson's first term centered on economic development and preparing the city for the 2028 Summer Olympics through Elevate 28, the largest infrastructure investment program in the city's history. The economy rank improved significantly in this year's study, from 94 to 73.

The city's financial picture has worsened. Long Beach ended fiscal year 2025 roughly $40 million over budget, drawing down several reserve funds in the process. The projected deficit for fiscal year 2027 has grown to between $60 and $80 million, and a longer-term structural threat looms: the city is projected to lose more than half its oil revenue by 2035, a stream worth up to $300 million annually.

Long Beach's safety rank fell from 64 to 79 in this year's study despite Richardson's claim of the city's lowest overall crime rate in 20 years. Traffic deaths rose to their highest level in more than a decade, a metric that carries significant weight in WalletHub's safety calculation.

- Quality of city services rank: 122
- Financial stability rank: 119
- Education rank: 80
- Health rank: 91
- Safety rank: 100
- Economy rank: 99
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 138

Along with a seven-member City Council, Mayor Jerry Dyer — a former police chief now in his sixth year in office — has kept public safety and homelessness at the center of his agenda. Fresno recorded just 22 homicides in 2025, a 51-year low and a 70% decline from 2020, a result the department credited to tighter law enforcement collaboration and the removal of more than 1,500 guns from city streets.

The city's safety rank still fell from 80 to 100 in this year's study. Pedestrian deaths rose to 28, outpacing homicides for the first time, and DUI arrests climbed year over year — metrics that weigh against the headline homicide numbers.

On homelessness, two publicly funded shelters closed at the end of 2025 after state and federal funding ran out, displacing more than 120 residents. The FY27 budget adds a new Homeless Assistance Response Team but does not restore the shelter beds lost.

- Quality of city services rank: 137
- Financial stability rank: 79
- Education rank: 143
- Health rank: 146
- Safety rank: 131
- Economy rank: 137
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 84

Baltimore is governed by a 15-member city council, with 14 members representing each of the municipal districts, and a council president elected citywide. Mayor Brandon Scott's Group Violence Reduction Strategy produced its most dramatic results yet in 2025: the city recorded 133 homicides, the fewest in nearly 50 years and a 31% drop from 2024, capping a 58% decline in both homicides and shootings since 2021.

Baltimore's education rank remains near the bottom of the study at 143 of 148. The city's four-year graduation rate stands at 71.7% — the lowest in Maryland — despite a 38% increase in school funding over the past eight years.

Two years after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse killed six construction workers and closed the Port of Baltimore, the rebuild is under mounting strain. The estimated cost has grown from $2 billion to between $4.3 and $5.2 billion. The primary contractor was not retained for Phase 2 in April 2026, and the completion date has been pushed to late 2030.

- Quality of city services rank: 129
- Financial stability rank: 125
- Education rank: 147
- Health rank: 111
- Safety rank: 109
- Economy rank: 108
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 52

Now in her third year as mayor, Cherelle Parker has centered her administration on a Prevention, Intervention, and Enforcement public safety strategy — and the numbers are moving. Philadelphia recorded 222 homicides in 2025, one of the lowest totals since the late 1960s, and the city's safety rank improved from 116 to 109 in this year's study.

Philadelphia's education ranking tells a different story, falling from 139 to 147 — the second-worst in the entire study. The school district's own data shows improving graduation rates and test scores, and the superintendent has called it one of the fastest-improving large urban districts in the country. WalletHub's metrics, based on school quality ratings and graduation data, do not reflect that trajectory yet.

Philadelphia is set to host a series of major events in 2026, marking the nation's 250th anniversary, a spotlight the city has spent years and significant budget resources preparing for. Whether the attention translates to lasting improvement in the city's standings remains to be seen.

- Quality of city services rank: 128
- Financial stability rank: 148
- Education rank: 60
- Health rank: 62
- Safety rank: 48
- Economy rank: 116
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 30

Chicago's jump from 13th to 5th on this year's list is driven by two things: a financial crisis that has grown more severe, and a collapse in its education rank. The city holds the worst financial stability rank in the entire study — 148 out of 148 — for the second consecutive year.

Mayor Brandon Johnson warned publicly that the city's finances had reached "the point of no return." The city faced a $1.15 billion corporate fund gap for 2026, and the City Council passed an alternative budget over Johnson's objections that his own team said still left a $163 million deficit entering the year.

Chicago's education rank fell from 2nd to 60th in the 2026 study — the sharpest single-year drop of any city in any category on this list. It tracks with the ongoing Chicago Public Schools budget crisis, including a second consecutive year in which CPS failed to make a $175 million pension fund payment.

On crime, the city recorded its lowest homicide count since 1965 in 2025, with murders down 29%. Progress that is real, if incomplete.

- Quality of city services rank: 102
- Financial stability rank: 112
- Education rank: 56
- Health rank: 5
- Safety rank: 138
- Economy rank: 123
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 94

Oakland is governed by Mayor Barbara Lee, who took office in early 2025 following a recall election, and an eight-member city council. The city recorded its second consecutive year of major crime declines in 2025, with violent crime down 25% and homicides at their lowest level in decades — yet Oakland's safety rank of 138 out of 148 cities reflects how much ground remains to be recovered.

Oakland's financial picture is darkening in parallel: the city faces a $290 million budget gap over the next two fiscal years, compounded by a separate $100 million deficit within Oakland Unified that could exhaust district funds by late 2026. Downtown's office vacancy rate has climbed to nearly 20%, even as the AI boom drives a commercial real estate recovery just across the bay in San Francisco.

- Quality of city services rank: 29
- Financial stability rank: 101
- Education rank: 27
- Health rank: 16
- Safety rank: 23
- Economy rank: 127
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 34

New York City is governed by a mayor and a 51-member City Council. Zohran Mamdani, who took office on January 1, 2026, inherited what his administration called a $12 billion budget gap left by the Adams administration — the largest shortfall since the Great Recession — driven by years of underbudgeting core services, including rental assistance, shelter operations, and special education. Mamdani released a $124.7 billion budget in May 2026 that closed the gap without raising property taxes or cutting services, though fiscal watchdogs flagged its reliance on state aid and one-time measures as a concern for future years. The city's financial stability rank fell from 77 to 101 in this year's study, even as its safety rank improved. New York recorded its fewest shooting incidents in the city's recorded history in 2025.

- Quality of city services rank: 148
- Financial stability rank: 143
- Education rank: 131
- Health rank: 140
- Safety rank: 140
- Economy rank: 147
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 123

Detroit's unemployment rate has climbed back above 10% — nearly double the state average — after rising steadily from its historic 2023 low. The city also ranks as having the highest premature birth rate of any large U.S. city, and a persistent infant mortality crisis that continues to fall disproportionately on Black families.

In December 2025, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Sierra Club's challenge to the EPA's air quality designation for the Detroit area, a victory that could force stricter pollution controls on the region. Detroit received an F grade in the American Lung Association's 2026 State of the Air report, and a new Sierra Club lawsuit over the city's ozone violations was expected to be filed by late June 2026.

- Quality of city services rank: 41
- Financial stability rank: 90
- Education rank: 137
- Health rank: 1
- Safety rank: 65
- Economy rank: 130
- Infrastructure and pollution rank: 3

WalletHub data has ranked San Francisco as the worst-run city in America for four consecutive years, and the 2026 results extend the streak. The city now scores first in health outcomes among all 148 cities in the study — a genuine achievement made possible, in part, by its per-capita budget, the highest of any city in the country.

Average rent has climbed to more than $2,000 above the national average per month, driven in part by surging demand from the city's booming AI industry, deepening a housing crisis that shows no sign of easing. San Francisco's total homeless population remains close to 8,000, though the most recent count found the number of unsheltered residents at its lowest point since 2011 — a figure some advocates dispute following a change in the city's counting methodology.

Additional writing by Jaimie Etkin and Cu Fleshman. Story editing by Louis Peitzman. Story updated by Colby Droscher.