Sioux Falls in Top Half of Best Cities for People with Disabilities
2020 is the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the 1990 law that attempted to establish new standards in employment and access to facilities for the more than 60 million people who deal with a disability that impacts their major activities.
And while the law has provided some long-overdue changes across the country, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Three decades after ADA became law, WalletHub is checking in with a new study, ranking the biggest 182 cities in America in regards to how accomodating they are.
The rankings take into account three main factors:
- Economy – Housing Affordability, Household Income, Cost of Living, Employment Rate for People with Disabilities, Share of People with Disabilities Living in Poverty, Annual Cost of In-Home Care, etc.
- Quality of Life – Share of People with Disabilities, Special-Education Teachers per 1,000 School-Aged People with Disabilities, Graduation Rate for Students with Disabilities, Wheelchair-Accessible Restaurants per Capita, Wheelchair-Accessible Grocery Stores per Capita, Wheelchair-Accessible Art, Entertainment & Recreational Establishments per Capita, Wheelchair-Accessible Trails per Capita, etc.
- Health Care – Cost of Doctor Visits, Average Per-Person Health-Insurance Premiums, Family Medicine Physicians per Capita, Occupational Therapists per Capita, Home Health Aides & Personal Care Aides per Capita, Quality of Public Hospital System, etc.
Sioux Falls finds itself in the top half of the overall rankings, 81st out of 182 cities.
South Dakota's largest city was in the bottom half in both economy (104th) and quality of life (105th) but bolstered its overall rating with a top 25 score in health care (21st).
The only other South Dakota city on the list, Rapid City, is near the top and bottom in two areas. The city has the fourth-best employment rate for people with disabilities in the nation but is dead last in the cost of at-home services. Overall, Rapid City ranked 122nd on the list.
Two cities in neighboring states managed top ten rankings overall - Bismarck at number-five and Minneapolis at number-six.
BEST CITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (WalletHub)
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- St. Louis, Missouri
- South Burlington, Vermont
- Huntington Beach, California
- Bismarck, North Dakota
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Denver, Colorado
- Overland Park, Kansas
- San Francisco, California
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
On the worst list, several Northeast cities rank poorly, as do a pair of California towns.
WORST CITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (WalletHub)
- Bridgeport, Connecticut
- Gulfport, Mississippi
- Providence, Rhode Island
- New Haven, Connecticut
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- San Bernadino, California
- Worcester, Massachusetts
- Juneau, Alaska
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Moreno Valley, California