Nampa Idaho Is the Best-Run City (Again) in 2023

Nampa Idaho: Best-Run City in America (Again)

Hey, Dave Edwards, Treasure Valley Dave here, and yes, it’s true, Nampa Idaho — again — is the best-run city in the entire United States. We’re not surprised, those of us that live here. Hey, maybe you can live here too. 

Did you know that one of the reasons that Nampa Idaho is the best city in the entire country is because we have the second lowest long-term debt per capita? The only one that has it lower is Casper, Wyoming. I don’t know why, but that’s insufficient to make me move to Casper.

Effective Leadership in Full Display

Anyway, WalletHub has again said that Nampa is the best-run city in the United States. Its corresponding article talks about some of the things that make up what it takes to be the best-run city in America. And they measure the effectiveness of our local leadership.  

I live here, and I get to see that leadership play out daily. I have to say, it’s pretty decent, even during less difficult times — running a city is a tall order. In addition to representing the residents, local leaders must balance the public’s diverse interests with the city’s limited resources. 

But how do we measure the effectiveness of local leadership by its operating efficiency? And what does that mean? It’s how well the city officials manage and spend public funds comparing the quality of services residents receive against the city’s total budget. 

Best-Run Cities

So they measured 149 of the largest cities in the United States, and guess what? Number one: Nampa, Idaho. And then you can slide down a little bit, and we see the number four spot is Boise. 

Moving on down, we have some other decent places. But I’ve been to a lot of them, and those wouldn’t be my first choice because, you know, I’m getting older, and it’s that weather thing. I like it where no storms, tornadoes, or high humidity kill you when you walk outside. 

Best California Cities

Oh, the first one we see for California is Huntington Beach. Coming into 21, it used to be a very conservative area. And we don’t see another California until we reach San Diego at 56. 

What about some of those liberal bastions in California? Santa Ana used to be conservative. Fremont — okay, we’re starting to get to the Bay Area there. Number 78 is about halfway through the list, and we still haven’t seen that many cities from California. 

Anaheim — I’m sure Disneyland helps provide a considerable budget there, right? Bakersfield… Now, we’re starting to get towards the bottom of the list. Then we have Modesto, sack of tomato, and Stockton. Wow, we’re starting to get pretty heavy on California the closer we get to the bottom of the best-run cities in America. 

Ooh, coming in at the dead last: Chattanooga. Hey, that’s funny! I thought everybody who was conservative leaving California would go to Tennessee. Maybe it’s different from the traditional bastion of well-run cities we’d hoped for. 

Long-Term Low Debt Per Capita

And this next little part, long-term debt per capita, means the number of citizens. As I said, Casper, Wyoming is the only one that’s ahead of or spends less than Nampa, Idaho. And I’m very proud that Nampa is right up there. They don’t take all that much money from us, and what they do take from us, they spend very wisely. 

Small-Town Mentality

So another great reason why Nampa is the number one town in the United States is that we offer a great place where people want to come. Right now, we’re over here at the Stampede Rodeo, and we have thousands of cowboys and people who love that cowboy way of life. We love individualism but are here to help our neighbors and improve everyone. That’s this small-town mentality that we have here. 

Side note: You can check out our series of living in small towns in Idaho. We have one just about Nampa, and it’s great to get a feel for what Nampa is like. 

Going back, Nampa exemplifies small-town living, which is why it was rated the number one town in the entire country. Small-town living isn’t just the population number but the mentality of the people who run the city. It’s also the mentality of the people who live in the city. Nampa is a place where people want to help each other. 

What Makes Nampa Great?

What are some of the things that they are looking at? Well, health, safety, quality of life. Of course, our farmer’s market here in Nampa is one of the excellent quality-of-life things. It provides so many opportunities for people to shop and get something unique that you probably can’t get on Amazon. 

Walking around the farmer’s market, I wish I had Smell-O-Vision. That smells so good. What do they have in here? Some indoor shopping. That’s pretty cool. But it’s such a beautiful day, let’s check out what’s outside. 

Hey, a double-decker coffee bus? That looks pretty wild. So we got rocks and bread, cinnamon rolls and buns, flowers, cheese, and so much stuff to check out here. Brisket? Oh my gosh. It’s so great that the city puts this on. It’s such an excellent service for all the citizens. 

So you get some healthy food down here too. I know over on the next row, they have some grass-fed beef. Nothing wrong with that. 

Clean Nampa

What I don’t see down here, talking about small towns, is a bunch of crap going on, I don’t see graffiti. I don’t see gangbangers flying their colors. I don’t see disruptions going on. All I see is a bunch of good people having a good time, enjoying themselves. 

There might be places where graffiti and crime and flying your colors for your particular group that you like to associate yourself with. That might be fun, but that’s not what we do here. If you do like that, move to Portland, move to San Francisco, but not here. It’s a whole different place. It’s a small town. 

Fiscal Responsibility

What other reasons could there be that might make you interested in living in a small town? 

One of the big things about Nampa that put it at number one on this list is the politicians’ fiscal responsibility. And what does that include? Well, they’re financially stable. They spend money on the right things. They don’t blow it on trains to nowhere — they put it back into the community. 

Plus, they’re also very business-friendly. They try to make it as easy as possible. One of the things that first struck me when we moved here from California was the number of all these mom-and-pop businesses. You just never saw that in California because it was so hard. We had a mom-and-pop business, and the regulation, expense, and compliance stuff was enough to kill you. 

But that’s not the case up here. 

Want to Move to Nampa?

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey today, helping us celebrate all that’s great about Nampa. It’s such a great place to live. But that’s not to say there are no other great places in the Treasure Valley. Star is beautiful — Middleton is great. Meridian’s got a lot of pluses as well. 

So whatever you’re looking for, contact us. As always, we’re looking forward to helping you get home.