Report Says This Tampa Bay City Is The Best Run City In Florida

There’s no question that the Tampa Bay area has been in the headlines across the Sunshine State. From record growth to wild insurance hikes, we’ve seen it all. But, one report shows this Tampa Bay city is the Best Run City in Florida.

WalletHub recently released their report for the worst and best run cities in America for 2024. WalletHub compared the 148 largest US cities to see which cities are best managed through local leadership.

They based the city’s score on their “Quality of Service” across 36 key metrics in 6 different service categories. Then, they measured those scores against the per capita budget of each city.

Cassandra Happe, WalletHub Analyst said, “The best-run cities in America use their budgets most effectively to provide high-quality financial security, education, health, safety, and transportation to their residents. Many of the top cities also have a very low amount of outstanding government debt per capita, which can prevent financial troubles in the future.”

There were 8 different Florida cities that made the cut for the Best Run City in America. Coming in at the #36 spot overall for the best run city in America is St. Petersburg.

This makes St. Petersburg the Best Run City in Florida. But, what other Florida cities made their way into the Worst and Best Run Cities in America? We have Jacksonville (42), Hialeah (58), Miami (62), Tallahassee (66), Tampa (82), Orlando (87), and Fort Lauderdale (121).

Tallahassee comes in at the #1 overall spot for the High School Graduation Rate. We also see Hialeah and Miami coming in ties for 1st overall for the lowest Unemployment Rate in the Country, but Hialeah ranks 144th for the lowest Median Annual Household Income.

We see Tallahassee claiming the #1 overall spot for the highest quality of roads as well as Jacksonville coming in 3rd overall. Now, if we're talking about the quality of drivers ... that's a different story.

To learn more about the Worst and Best Run City in Florida and America, check out the report here.

There are a lot of things to consider when moving to the Tampa Bay area. Affordability, night life, walkability, safety, etc. Maybe you're thinking of moving from Hillsborough to Pinellas or from out of state and now all that's left to pick is the area. Well, these are the best neighborhoods in St. Pete, according to locals.

We were browsing on the St. Pete reddit thread the other day when someone was curious about the perks and positive experiences of different neighborhoods in St. Pete. Local redditors weren't afraid to voice their opinions. What's nice is it seems like most of the chatter was positive, which is a pretty rare thing to see when talking about how Tampa/St. Pete has changed over the years.

Locals and transplants can find common ground on why Tampa is such a great place to live. There are lots of reasons why people save all year just to visit. The year-round warm weather is a big selling point for those relocating from colder states. We have some of the best beaches in the country, a melting pot of foodie culture, soon to have a stellar baseball stadium and across the bridge we have championship winning sports teams.

Of course, with all major cities, you'll run into a few cons as well. Many complain about growing homeless population, cost of living, HOA's among others.

Before we get into the best neighborhoods in St. Pete (according to locals), we need to include these honorary mentions. These are great neighborhoods that a few people pointed out in the reddit thread:

This was the most common St. Pete neighborhood shouted out on the reddit thread. But not for the reasons you may think. Everyone seems to love this area because of all the peacocks grazing around the lake.

Driftwood, located on Big Bayou just south of 22nd Avenue South. Many homes in the neighborhood were designed during the 1930s-40s and still remain. They have a very tropical features with jungle-like landscaping. We hope they never start to govern the overgrown greenery because that's what makes the area so special.

Historic Old Northeast is just a stone throw away to Downtown St. Pete and includes the North Shore Park. It claims to have 3,000 historic buildings within its boundaries. The area also borders Coffee Pot Bay, famous for its resident manatees. Some redditors also mentioned this is the neighborhood to check out during the holidays because they go all out. But again, good luck finding a house that sells less for $1 million in this area.

Centrally located but not too loud/busy. Residents say there's more space and larger lots than Old Northeast and Euclid, less expensive than Crescent Heights, no flood zone, and just a 6 minute bike ride to the water and a 10 minute bike ride to northeast park by Vinoy.

This was the first residential subdivision in Downtown St. Pete. It's filled with a wide variety of architectural styles like Bungalow, Prairie, Foursquare, Craftsman, Mediterranean Revival, Colonial Revival, Neoclassical, and Tudor Revival.