The Queen City of the Teche has a new, dubious honor.

A new survey says New Iberia is the tenth-worst small city in the United States. That survey, compiled by WalletHub.com, ranked two other Louisiana cities finished in worse positions. Monroe ranked third-to-last, while Alexandria was rated the eight-worst small city in the nation.

Source: WalletHub

That survey included all 1,322 American municipalities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 people. WalletHub compiled its rankings by comparing 43 key factors and placing them into five different categories. Those categories are as follows:

  • Affordability, which includes median household income and cost of living.
  • Economic Health, which includes population growth, income growth, job growth, and the unemployment rate.
  • Education and Health, which includes school system quality, high school graduation rates, obesity rates, and COVID vaccination rates.
  • Quality of Life, which includes number of restaurants, bars, museums, parks, and other attractions. This metric also includes the number of hours people work and average commute time.
  • Violence, which includes violent crime rates, property crime rates, and car crash rates.

WalletHub considered only the "city proper"--the areas inside city limits--and not surrounding communities when compiling its rankings.

The only metric in which New Iberia finished in the top 50 percent is "quality of life." The city ranked 427th in that category.

The figures weren't too kind to New Iberia in the four remaining metrics.

New Iberia ranked in the bottom 40 percent in affordability, finishing at 796th. The city ranked in the bottom one percent in the remaining three categories, finishing 13th-to-last in education and health, sixth-to-last in safety, and fourth-to-last in economic health.

Here's a video showing the 10 best small cities in the U. S. according to WalletHub.

While this survey isn't too kind to New Iberia, locals know that the city has a number of redeeming qualities. Here's a look at just a few of them.

Things to See and Do in New Iberia

Lafayette TV Icons: Where Are They Now?

Tumbleweaves of Acadiana

More From Hot 107.9