Best Small Cities In U.S. 2019: See Where La Mesa Ranks

LA MESA, CA — The personal finance site WalletHub released its 2019 Best Small Cities in America rankings and La Mesa landed on the list.

WalletHub compared more than 1,200 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 across five key dimensions: affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life and safety. Each relevant metric was listed with its corresponding weight and the cities were subsequently graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the maximum small city experience.

La Mesa finished in the 57th percentile overall for best small cities in the U.S. Here's how the city ranked among the various studied categories:

• TOTAL SCORE: 59.61
• Affordability: 1191
• Economic Health: 307
• Education & Health: 355
• Quality of Life: 314
• Safety: 418

Leawood, Kansas ranked as the best small city in the country, according to WalletHub, followed by Brentwood, Tennessee and Sammamish, Washington.

Bessemer, Alabama finished as the worst small city in the nation.

"Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few advantages," the study's authors said.

Here are the top 10 overall small cities in the country:

1. Leawood, Kansas: 71.98
2. Brentwood, Tennessee: 71.53
3. Sammamish, Washington: 71.34
4. Melrose, Massachusetts: 70.7
5. Carmel, Indiana: 70.59
6. Lexington, Massachusetts: 70.55
7. Milton, Massachusetts: 70.46
8. Brookfield, Wisconsin: 70.38
9. Fair Lawn, New Jersey: 70.25
10. Cedar Park, Texas: 69.98