Fayetteville topped these best and worst lists in 2022
With countless studies analyzing finances, demographics and jobs, Fayetteville landed on several lists during 2022.
Sometimes it’s good to be known as top in the region, state or nation for certain categories. Other times it’s a measure for what can be improved.
Do you remember on which topics Fayetteville has been named the best city or the worst city?
Here’s a look back.
Universities and colleges
In March, Fayetteville State University was No. 2 in North Carolina and No. 7 in the U.S. on a list of the top 10 most affordable historically Black colleges and universities, according to an analysis by Leading Tree.
More:Fayetteville State ranks among top 10 most affordable HBCU in North Carolina, nation
Researchers gathered average annual net costs to attend each school and ranked them from lowest to highest, with FSU’s net cost estimated at $5,899.
Methodist University started the fall semester being recognized as North Carolina’s most diverse university out of nearly 150 other institutions in the state, according to an analysis by Niche University Rankings and Reviews.
Niche rankings are based on analysis of data and reviews from organizations such as the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.
Factors for the ranking included evaluating student and faculty racial diversity indexes, student and faculty gender and the percentage of international students.
More:Methodist University is most diverse university in North Carolina
Fayetteville Technical Community College was named on a list of the top 10 military-friendly schools, ranking No. 1 in large community colleges, according to Viqtory’s annual survey.
Viqtory, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business, evaluated schools in six different categories including military student support and retention.
Best and worst place to get married, and an OK place for singles
In February, personal finance website WalletHub ranked Fayetteville as the sixth midsized city and the 17th city overall in which to get married. The ranking was out of 182 cities nationwide.
WalletHub analyzers said they compared the cities using 28 indicators, from cost-effectiveness, convenience and enjoyment.
Average wedding cost, venues and event spaces per capita were among other data range factors, with Fayetteville ranking ninth for cost, 23rd for chapels and churches per capita, 97th for bridal shops per capita and eighth for restaurant or meal costs.
Landscaping and lawn care business LawnStarterhad a different analysis, ranking 190 best and worst cities in which to get and stay married.
LawnStarter ranked Fayetteville at 186 as the fourth worst city to get married in, while evaluating nine key indicators including marriage rates, five-year divorce rates and wedding venue access.
WalletHub ranked Fayetteville as the best city in North Carolina for singles, placing the city No. 64 out of 183 cities across the U.S.
Rankings were determined by indicators such as the average price of a two-person meal, average beer and wine prices, and nightlife options.
Unhappy, unemployed and bad money management
Among the worst lists that Fayetteville was named to this year, WalletHub ranked Fayetteville as 168th out of 182 unhappy cities, making it the 14th unhappiest city in the website's study.
It compared the cities based on 30 indicators of happiness to include data on depression rate, income-growth rate and average leisure time spent per day.
WalletHub also ranked Fayetteville as 171st out of 182 for being unhealthy, 177th out of 180 for unemployment, 159th out of 182 places to start a career, 163rd out of 183 for jobs, 175th out of 182 for people with disabilities and 246th out of 247 midsized cities for money management.
Ranking in the top 3% of cities with worst money management skills, WalletHub compared more than 2,500 cities based on 10 key indicators of money-management skills that included the average number of late payments and payments to mortgage debt-to-income ratio.
While WalletHub ranked Fayetteville 176th out 182 places to raise a family, Lawnstarter ranked it as the second worst city for new moms out of 180 cities.
In that same study, Fayetteville ranked low in maternity care at 164th, 175th for child care and 171st for socioeconomics despite ranking higher at No. 32 for affordability and No. 17 for social support.
Top rankings in jobs
Fayetteville ranked as a top city for minority professionals and veteran-owned businesses in two separate studies.
Fayetteville was ranked No. 10 in midsized metros for 47.5% of its professional workforce with bachelor’s degrees or higher being minorities, compared to 29.5% nationally, according to an analysis by financial product and service website Smartest Dollar.
The analysis found that 20,002 of Fayetteville’s professionals are minorities.
A LendingTree study found that at 11.2%, Fayetteville had the highest percentage of Black-owned businesses and the seventh-highest Black population out of 50 metros examined.
For the study, analysts compared the number of businesses to the number of Black-owned businesses in 50 U.S. metropolitan regions with the most Black-owned businesses.
Out of Fayetteville's 5,210 businesses, 585 were Black-owned at the time of the study.
More:Fayetteville has the most Black-owned businesses nationwide, study finds
Professional movers HireAHelper ranked Fayetteville at No. 1 in midsized metros with 604, or 11.6%, of all businesses owned by veterans.
A Smartest Dollar report found that Fayetteville was the fifth best paying city for accountants out of midsize metros, with Fayetteville area accountants earning a median annual wage of $81,904 compared to $77,250 nationally.
Construction Coverage, a construction researching consulting site, ranked Fayetteville as the 12th best-paying city for civil engineers out of midsized metros, with engineers in the Fayetteville area earning a median annual wage of $100,635, compared to $88,570 at the national level.
Fastest growing city with top home sales and low-rate purchases
A 24/7 Wall St analysis of Census data ranked Fayetteville as No. 3 in the nation out of 20 other cities and top in the state as one of America’s fasting growing cities.
From 2016 to 2021, the Fayetteville metropolitan area grew 37.9% from 380,389 to 524,588, according to the analysis.
A report from real estate firm Knock found that Fayetteville is No. 1 in the nation for selling homes.
The study found that out of 1,167 sold homes in Fayetteville, the median sale price was $225,000 after being listed for seven days.
Meanwhile, Realtor.com ranked Fayetteville as the No. 1 metro area with the smallest down payment for home purchases.
The study found that the median home purchase price was $239,900, with a 4.3% average down payment, and almost two-thirds of all mortgages using a Veterans Affairs loan.
Home services and projects platform Porch found that Fayetteville was the 11th most affordable place to live out of midsized metros.
The analysis found that the overall cost of living in the Fayetteville metropolitan area is 10.2% lower than the national average.
Worst place for breakfast and dessert?
Several lawn care websites critiqued Fayetteville’s food scene, with Lawn Love ranking Fayetteville as the second worst city out of 200 for breakfast lovers behind West Valley City, Utah.
More:Survey: Brunch in Fayetteville one of the worst in US. Here are 5 reasons why they're wrong.
Researchers evaluated the access, or diners and vendors per square mile, quality of food and popularity.
Lawn Love also ranked Fayetteville 185th out of 200 for cookie lovers, and 183rd out of 200 for pastry lovers.
Food review website Yelp named Superior Bakery in Fayetteville at No. 26 out of the top 100 donut shops in the U.S.
Baseball and sports
Though Fayetteville is home to the minor league baseball team the Woodpeckers, WalletHub ranked the city as the 10th worst midsize city for baseball fans.
The ranking analyzed more than 330 cities across 31 metrics including team performance and average ticket price.
The study ranked the city at 297th overall out of 332 cities, ranking the performance level of the team at 116th; its minimum-priced season ticket at 73rd; and fan engagement at 109th.
WalletHub also ranked Fayetteville at 101st out of 105 midsized sports cities.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: fayetteville-makes-these-best-and-worst-lists-for-2022
