Mark Bennett: Pluses, minuses found within Terre Haute's low 'Best Small Cities' ranking

Oct. 14—Take solace, Terre Haute. It is possible to be America's "Best Small City" while also having a massive roost of crows nearby.

Indeed, the southeastern Pennsylvania town of Lancaster received the No. 1 spot in the 2022 "Best Small Cities in America" rankings released last week by the personal finance website WalletHub. The city of Lancaster's population of 58,039 nearly matches Terre Haute's 58,621. Lancaster County, home of the city of Lancaster, also sees winter invasions of up to 100,000 crows, placing it alongside Terre Haute as having one of the seven largest annual crow roosts in the U.S., according to a 2010 University of Vermont study.

In fact, Terre Haute's most robust effort to steer crows from the city to the countryside, deployed in 2010, was patterned after Lancaster County's crow-mitigation plan.

Lancaster is also the birthplace of the nation's 15th president, James Buchanan, and the Easter confection Peeps.

When it comes to rankings, Buchanan regularly earns a last-place rating of American presidents by CNBC for his dithering as the Civil War brewed, and Peeps got labeled the country's least-liked Easter candy in survey by RetailMeNot last April.

Still, WalletHub's "Best Small Cities" crew clearly concluded there's more to Lancaster than crows, Buchanan and Peeps. That city's quality of life, economic health and safety drove it to the top of the list of 1,319 American cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000. Lancaster also has the nation's lowest crime rate, according to FBI data in the WalletHub study. Those pluses helped Lancaster edge the No. 2 city, affluent Hoosier mega-suburb Carmel.

Lancaster's amenities include its historic 1889-era Central Market, the nation's oldest continuously run farmers market, a must-stop for visitors, said Anne Williams, the Lancaster City Alliance communications director. The market also embodies another strength for that town — its diverse population with nearly 40% of residents from Latino ancestry, 12% African American alongside large Amish and Mennonite communities.

"We have a large immigrant population, people from all over the world," Williams said Tuesday by phone. "I think that's what makes us so unique — a real international flavor."

Central Market and its smorgasbord of 60 vendors "melds the Amish and Mennonite influences with those of the immigrant population," Williams said.

Terre Haute didn't fare as well as Lancaster. It ranked 1,257th overall, among the bottom 5%.

Like Lancaster, Terre Haute received high marks for its quality of life at 86th-best. Terre Haute got dragged down, though, by its economic health (1,210th-best), education level and physical health (1,232nd), and safety (1,296th), along with a middle-of-the-pack 748th in affordability.

Quality of life does matter, though. and Terre Haute possesses some valuable attributes in that particular category.

Among the 13 different aspects of daily life that factor into that quality-of-life rating, Terre Haute ranked in the top 10% for its parks per capita, average weekly work hours, share of the population that walks to work, museums and restaurants per capita, average commute time, and its overall number of attractions.

This community holds a gem hand when it comes to city and county parks. Its parks-per-capita placing, 21st in the nation, was the city's second-best in the 2022 numbers. Its only higher mark was for its relatively low unemployment rate, among the tops on the list. Terre Haute had the most parks-per-capita in WalletHub's 2019 and 2020 calculations.

The "Best Small Cities in America" selections go beyond that, though.

WalletHub measured the cities in 43 total categories, which it called "key indicators of livability," using data from federal agencies, university researchers and private marketers. It gave double weight to four categories — COVID vaccination rates, number of attractions, violent-crime rates and property-crime rates.

Terre Haute got dinged for its low median household income ($37,299), high share of population living in poverty (25.3%), low percentage of residents fully vaccinated for COVID-19 (51.5%), high share of physically inactive adults (32.7%) and high percentage of residents with limited access to healthy foods (20%).

Only two of 34 other Indiana cities rated lower than Terre Haute — Elkhart at 1,265 and Gary at 1,300. Not surprisingly, cities in the affluent rim counties around Indianapolis drew the highest ratings. Danville, Ill., ranked 1,304th. Among Indiana's college towns, Valparaiso ranked highest at 336th.

Terre Haute's overall scores are discouraging, but also include reasons for hope. Community projects are underway to address several of the chronic problems that are reflected in the city's lowest scores.

The United Way of the Wabash Valley has focused programs on combatting sources of poverty in Vigo County and its surrounding counties. The Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce updated its "See You in Terre Haute — Community Plan 2025" earlier this year, and aiming to reverse the local population decline and bolster income levels. The long-awaited Terre Foods Cooperative Market is closer than ever to becoming a reality in the 12 Points neighborhood, an area considered a food desert. COVID-19 vaccinations and updated booster shots are readily available, as is professional medical advice for the vaccine hesitant, to offset social media misinformation on social media.

"For us to be one of those 'Best Places to Live,' the key is to address those root causes of poverty and then break the cycle of generational poverty," said Richard Payonk, executive director of the United Way of the Wabash Valley.

One-fourth of United Way's resources go toward providing food and shelter for the needy. The nonprofit agency also has refocused its efforts on poverty's root causes affecting struggling working families — often those with incomes too high for federal relief but too low to make ends meet, Payonk explained Tuesday. Forty-four percent of Terre Haute households fall below a threshold of financial stability, which the United Way calculates to be average earnings of $31.13 per hour to support a two-adult, two-child family.

So, United Way puts resources — $3.1 million in the past two years — toward addressing those root causes, such as bolstering educational opportunities for kids from early childhood through high school, financial management training for families and substance-use help.

Terre Haute was making progress in those areas before the pandemic, Payonk said. COVID-19 has exacerbated existing problems through the past two years. The tools to lift struggling families remain, though.

"I do think we're making progress and doing the right things," Payonk said.

Someday, crows may be hanging out in a healthier, more prosperous Terre Haute.

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.