A new study by personal finance site WalletHub ranks Nashville in the bottom half of America’s best large cities to live in.
Ouch. For a city sitting atop several economic and job lists (see this story’s Related Content for a few), that’s not a strong showing.
To compile the findings, WalletHub considered 31 metrics in categories including general livability, health factors, education systems, economic growth and tax rates. WalletHub ranked all cities with a population of 300,000 or more.
Nashville ranked No. 34 out of 60 cities overall. Austin, considered one of Nashville’s top competitors for jobs, employees and a cool factor, ranked No. 1 on the list. So where did Music City go wrong, and where did our Texas-based peer go right?
Nashville also ranked low in health scores, coming in at No. 40. While that may not be surprising (Nashville, Tennessee and the South in general consistently rank low in health grades), what may be is the city’s low “livability” score. In this category — which considered metrics like diversity, commuting convenience, and recreation options — Nashville ranked No. 40. Austin ranked No. 7. (continue reading at Nashville Business Journal)