WalletHub: Birmingham Ranked “Worst-Run City” in Alabama

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on October 18, 2024

An Editorial Opinion

Financial website WalletHub ranked Birmingham the “Worst-Run City” in Alabama and the 129th “Worst-Run City" in America (out of a list of the 148 most populated cities in 2024). 

The WalletHub rankings come after Forbes Magazine ranked Birmingham as the No. 3 most dangerous city in the U.S. in 2024. Today, the city is racing to become the "Murder Capital of the U.S."

From 1979 to 1999, Birmingham was one of the five best managed cities in America, according to U.S. News and World Report Magazine.  Birmingham had safe and clean neighborhoods, a quality public educational system for its children, a strong economic empowerment program for disadvantaged businesses, plenty of opportunities for financial security, a rock-solid tax base, effective public safety programs that reduced crime to a 25-year low, and strong officials within the halls of city government. 

How did Birmingham go from one of the five best managed cities in America to the worst-run city in Alabama and the 129th worst-run city in the U.S.?  The methodology used by WalletHub explains it all.

WalletHub’s Ranking Methodology

To compile its “Worst-Run City” ranking, a panel of experts for WalletHub compared Birmingham with 147 other "most populated cities in the U.S." using six key categories of measurement. These six service categories were:

Financial Stability – Total Points: 16.67

• Moody’s City Credit Rating

• Outstanding Long-Term Debt per Capita

Education – Total Points: 16.67

• K–12 School-System Quality

• High School Graduation Rate

Health – Total Points: 16.67

• Infant Mortality Rate

• Average Life Expectancy (in Years)

• Hospital Beds per Capita

• Quality of Public Hospital System

Safety – Total Points: 16.67

• Violent Crime Rate

• Property Crime Rate

• Motor Vehicle Fatalities per Capita

• Share of Sheltered Homeless Persons

• Perception of Safety (Safety walking alone during daylight/night):

Economy – Total Points: 16.67

• Unemployment Rate

• Underemployment Rate

• Median Annual Household Income (Adjusted for Cost of Living)

• Median Annual Income Growth Rate

• Annual Job Growth Rate (Adjusted for Population Growth)

• Share of Population Living in Poverty

• Growth in Number of Businesses

• Change in Housing Prices

• Zillow Home Value 1-year Forecast

• Building-Permit Growth

Infrastructure & Pollution – Total Points: 16.67

• Quality of Roads

• Average Commute Time (in Minutes)

• Transit Access Shed

• Traffic Congestion

• Walk Score

• Bike Score

• Transit Score

• Recreation-Friendliness

• Share of Residents with Access to Internet

• Water Quality

• Air Pollution

• Greenhouse-Gas Emissions per Capita

• Share of Parkland

To create its rankings, WalletHub used data collected as of April 30, 2024 from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Moody's Investors Service, GreatSchools.org, County Health Rankings, Health Resources and Services Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Chmura Economics & Analytics, Zillow, The Road Information Program, Center for Neighborhood Technology, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Walk Score, The Trust for Public Land, INRIX, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, Numbeo and WalletHub research.

Local Media Coverage of Birmingham’s Negative WalletHub Ranking

The state’s largest media organization, AL.com, placed this bad news for Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin behind a paywall. AL.com is a Newhouse family-owned media company. It receives city money that is laundered through another local media company to publish favorable news about Woodfin and suppress bad news about him.  AL.com has never publicly acknowledged its shady financial payment arrangement with the city of Birmingham.

The Newhouse media companies in Alabama have a long and sordid history of shady business practices that is well-documented, including a 2004 Alabama Supreme Court case affirming a $16 million court judgment against the Birmingham News for committing egregious business fraud against six of its newspaper distributors.