Best and Worst Small Cities in Connecticut: Where Does Trumbull Rank?

WalletHub is back with one of its most popular annual rankings — the Best and Worst Small Cities in America.

WalletHub, a personal finance website, studied 1,268 small cities in the United States with a population between 25,000 to 100,000 in its 2015 rankings.

It examined 22 different metrics, which are divided up into four categories including: affordability, economic health, education and health, and quality of life.

Affordability includes: housing costs, cost of living and home ownership rate.

Economic health includes: unemployment rate, median household income, population and income growth.

Education and health includes: quality schools, percentage of residents with bachelor’s degree, percentage of population with health insurance coverage, and the number of pediatricians.

Quality of life includes: commute time, hours worked in a week, number of restaurants, bars, museums, restaurants, coffee shops, fitness centers, and a community’s crime rate.

The best small city in the United States, according to WalletHub, is located in Princeton, N.J., followed by Littleton, Colorado; Dublin, Ohio; Brookfield, Wisconsin; and Leafwood, Kansas.

The worst 10 small cities in America are all located in California, according to WalletHub.

How did Connecticut fare?

Connecticut entered the list with Wethersfield placing 123rd out of 1,268 small cities across the United State. Wethersfield was ranked 40th best in the nation in the category of education and health. (For definitions of the categories see above)

Here are the rest of Connecticut’s small city rankings:

No. 144, Westport, which ranked 53rd best nationally for its economic health

No. 163, Manchester, which ranked 48th best nationally for its economic health

No. 258, Newington

No. 330, Shelton, which ranked 300th nationally for its economic health

No. 342, West Hartford, which ranked 246th best in education and health

No. 347, Milford, which ranked 240th best in education and health

No. 446, Middletown, which ranked 86th best in education and health

No. 528, Trumbull, which ranked 261st best in its economic health and 283rd best in education and health

No. 539, East Haven, which ranked 155th best in education and health

No. 560, Danbury, which ranked 354th best in education and health

No. 566, Torrington

No. 637, Stratford, which ranked 482nd best in education and health

No. 652, Norwalk, which ranked 364th best in education and health

No. 652, Naugatuck which ranked 135th best in education and health

No. 695, Meriden, which ranked 166th best in education and health

No. 702, East Hartford

No. 731, Bristol

No. 919, Norwich

No. 958, West Haven

No. 1,038, New Britain

Other notable national stats from the report:

Key Stats

• The homeownership rate in Granger, Ind., is 5 times higher than in Union City, N.J.

• The percentage of residents below poverty level in Statesboro, Ga., is 25 times higher than in Trumbull, Conn.

• The percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher in Bethesda, Md., is 26 times higher than in Soledad, Calif.

• The average commute time in Lake Elsinore, Calif., is four times higher than in Fort Hood, Texas.

• The mean hours worked per week in Fort Hood, Texas, are two times higher than in East Lansing, Mich.

• The number of coffee shops per 100,000 residents in Santa Monica, Calif., is 118 times higher than in Pharr, Tex.

• The percentage of millennial newcomers in Hoboken, N.J., is 19 times higher than in Sun City, Ariz.

• The property-crime rate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is 61 times higher than in Winona, Minn.

Read the full WalletHub report here.