Study: Guy Fieri’s hometown named sixth-best state capital in America

By: Tyler Buchanan - February 18, 2020 3:02 pm

A sign in front of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. File Photo

Take that, Lansing.

The website WalletHub has deemed Columbus the sixth-best state capital in America, beating out rivals in Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

WalletHub, a personal financing site, tracked 49 separate “key indicators” among the 50 state capitals to determine its rankings. The factors included affordability, education and residents’ health.

Ranked No. 1 is Austin, Texas, which will play host to the South by Southwest festival next month but is regrettably not the home of a multi-sport festival dedicated to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The runner-up is Raleigh, North Carolina, a capital city known for its achievements in higher education but nonetheless is not the birthplace of the beloved actress in the National Lampoon’s Vacation series, Beverly D’Angelo.

The top five is rounded out by Madison, Wisconsin; Denver, Colorado; and Lincoln, Nebraska; respectable cities all, but so far as can be known, none feature a museum dedicated to cartoons and comic strips.

Columbus, besides its renown as the origin of the Wendy’s restaurant chain, is highlighted by WalletHub for its better-than-average living affordability, quality of education and “economic well-being.”

You can find the full ranking here.

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Tyler Buchanan

Tyler Buchanan is an award-winning journalist who has covered Ohio politics and government for the past decade. A Bellevue native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, he most recently spent 6 1/2 years as a reporter and editor of The Athens Messenger and Vinton-Jackson Courier newspapers. He is a member of the BG News Alumni Society Board and was a 2019 fellow in the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism.