When visiting another city, you have likely spotted some notable differences from the one you call home. From well-paved roads and less traffic congestion to a noticeable change in crime rate that makes you feel safer walking down a street alone, many factors contribute to the way cities run.

WalletHub looked at nearly 150 cities across America to determine which are the best-run cities and which are the worst in terms of "the effectiveness of local leadership," looking at a variety of factors like financial stability, safety, education and economy. According to the site:

"The larger the city, the more complex it becomes to manage. In addition to representing the residents, local leaders must balance the public's diverse interests with the city's limited resources. That often means not everyone's needs can or will be met. Leaders must carefully consider which services are most essential, which agencies' budgets to cut or boost, and whether and how much to raise taxes, among other decisions."

Among the list are two cities in Georgia, one of which is ranked in the bottom half among the worst: Columbus (No. 20) and Atlanta (No. 115).

These are the 10 best-run cities in the country:

Provo, Utah
Nampa, Idaho
Manchester, New Hampshire
Boise, Idaho
Nashua, New Hampshire
Dover, Delaware
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Lincoln, Nebraska
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Fort Wayne, Indiana

To determine the list, WalletHub compared 148 of the most populated cities in the U.S. across six factors: financial stability, education, health, safety, economy and infrastructure & pollution. These factors were then evaluated using 36 relevant metrics, including outstanding long-term debt per capita, high school graduation rate, average life expectancy (in years), quality of public hospital system, violent crime rate, share of sheltered homeless persons, perception of safety, unemployment rate, median annual household income, share of population living in poverty, change in housing prices, quality of roads, traffic congestion, water quality, air pollution and more.

Check out the full report at wallethub.com.

At Home with Gary Sullivan

At Home with Gary Sullivan