Raleigh ranks 21st in WalletHub's best-run cities study
Raleigh finished 21st, just behind Durham and ahead of Greensboro and Charlotte, in WalletHub’s 2026 best-run cities ranking.
Raleigh landed 21st in WalletHub’s 2026 ranking of the best-run cities in America, while Durham finished 17th. Greensboro placed 34th and Charlotte 53rd, putting all four North Carolina cities in the national field that compared 148 of the country’s most populated cities.
The ranking scored each city across 36 metrics in six categories: financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure and pollution. It then weighed those results against each city’s per-capita budget. Raleigh ranked 11th for overall quality of services and 51st for budget per capita. Durham ranked 26th for quality of services and 33rd for budget per capita.
Raleigh’s strongest marks came in financial stability, where it placed 11th, and education, where it ranked 17th. The city also finished 22nd in health and 21st in economy. Its lower scores came in safety, where it ranked 40th, and infrastructure and pollution, where it placed 100th. Durham posted a different profile, ranking 3rd in financial stability, 24th in education and 24th in health, while finishing 37th in economy, 77th in safety and 144th in infrastructure and pollution.
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said the best-run cities use their budgets most effectively to provide “financial security, education, health, safety and transportation.” He added that many of the top-ranked cities also carry low outstanding government debt per capita. The analysis drew on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Zillow and Moody’s Investors Service.
Raleigh’s Budget and Management Services handles development and execution of the city’s annual operating and capital budgets, strategic plan development and implementation, and measurement and benchmarking. Raleigh was ranked the 2nd best state capital by WalletHub in 2026.
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