Serial List-Maker WalletHub to Newark: You're Unhappy, Bad for Business, and You Hate Vets

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Newark is catching flak from some flack's sorta flimsy ranking.

WalletHub, some kind of financial-social-media-maker-of-surveys thingy, has dropped a bit of a shitstorm onto our downtrodden neighbors to the west.

According to the company's most recent list -- WalletHub really likes lists -- Newark is officially the worst large city in the country for veterans.

This is obviously a topical issue here on Veterans Day, and the report was picked up by what seems to be every single news organization in the state.

If you're wondering why, it's probably not because the ranking is accurate. It's because we reporters love rankings. And things that sound like facts. Especially when we don't have to actually do any research ourselves. They're awesome. After all, we have bourbon to drink and fedoras to wear unironically and a democracy to shore up and that shit's exhausting. So when some PR flack hands us a ready-made "thing" that sounds like "news," we're all for it. Boom. Blog post. Cocktail.

WalletHub's rankings were based on some veteran-specific numbers, like the veteran unemployment rate. But lots of the numbers just reflect broad economic data, like the city's housing availability and job growth. Also, somewhat inexplicably, factors like "best weather" and "best and worst cities for recreation."

Sure, that might have some validity. But if there was a good, consistent, meaningful way to rank cities for the needs of a diverse segment of the population -- like "veterans," who might be 90-year-old retirees or college-bound 26-year-olds -- you'd expect to have consistent results.

But that's not really what we see. Take a competing "ranking" of the Ten Best Places for Veterans from another financial-services company, the Unites Services Automobile Association.

The two groups say they used almost all the same benchmarks, yet their rankings have not a single city in common.

Of course, regardless of its usefulness, the best way to get reporters to pick up your list is to make sure that basically every city in the country is included on it. While a smaller list -- say, the top or bottom 10 -- would be far, far more useful for actual veterans, that's not the point, of course. It's what we in the biz call brand awareness.

If you rank 100 cities, you can bet that a reporter in every one of them will get with the typey typey. That's 100 media markets, son! A hundred different places where people will say, WalletHub? Never heard of it. Well, whatever, it's a thing! They've been the "Web's Best Personal Finance Resource" since February 2012! They were in the paper!

It certainly seems to have worked like a charm here, prompting a raft of negative press for a city that probably needs not a drop more.

It's not the first time that WalletHub has taken a shot at Newark, either. So far it's declared them the "Unhappiest City," and among the worst in at least five other categories, including the worst city in which to start a business; the worst city for recreation; the second-worst city for retirees; and one of the top 10 worst cities for Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Of course, it's not WalletHub's fault. They're just doing what they do. You don't resent the sun for shining.

A spokesperson for WalletHub told the Voice that the rankings, while they incorporated broad economic data, also included enough veteran-specific numbers to make the endeavor worthwhile. And to their credit, they took the Voice's calls and put up with our rather petulant questioning.

Unfortunately, that's more than we can say for Newark mayor Ras Baraka's office, or that of the Greater Newark Convention and Visitors Bureau. They weren't answering their phones -- not too surprising on a holiday -- but they also seem to have their voicemail system turned off.