Study: Scottsdale, Gilbert ranked among the top 5 most caring US cities

PHOENIX — Some might say it’s the season of giving and there aren’t many U.S. cities more representative than Scottsdale and Gilbert, according to a recent study.

Scottsdale and Gilbert were rated by WalletHub as the third and fourth-most caring towns in the nation.

The Valley pair were among the top 100 most-populated American cities in the study published Monday called “Most Caring Cities in America (2026).”

Only Virginia Beach, Virginia and Boston were deemed more caring based upon the three primary criteria of caring for the community, caring for the vulnerable and caring in the workforce.

Chandler (17th) and Mesa (26th) also received high marks, whereas Phoenix was middle-of-the-pack at 43rd. Glendale (63rd) and Tucson (79th) lagged behind.

How Scottsdale, other US cities were stacked up

All cities in the study could earn up to 100 points, with community care weighted the heaviest (50 points), vulnerable care worth 40 and workforce care 10.

Scottsdale (68.01) and Gilbert (67.24) were both within 1.5 points of Virginia Beach (68.52), which was also considered the top city in community care.

Scottsdale earned the best marks in caring for the vulnerable due its fourth-highest adoption rate and sixth-lowest child poverty rate. Gilbert was rated second in caring for the community and boasted the second-lowest child poverty rate.

While Scottsdale also performed well in community care (seventh), the only knock on the city and Gilbert was in workforce care, with finishes in 92nd and 88th, respectively. Some subcategories of this included student-teacher ratio, in which Scottsdale wound up 96th and Mesa and Phoenix were 98th and 99th.

The deep South took the brunt of the blow as the study’s least caring cities, with New Orleans, Louisiana, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama in the bottom five.

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