South Burlington and Burlington on opposite ends of ranking for people with disabilities

South Burlington took the title of 2019 best city in the nation for people with disabilities, according to the ranking of personal finance website WalletHub.

But its larger neighbor Burlington, the largest city in the state, ranked near the bottom at 146 out of 182 most populated U.S. cities. 

Why? 

WalletHub compared 33 key indicators of disability-friendliness, from physicians per capita to park accessibility and came up with scores focused on three factors: economy, quality of life and healthcare, each contributing an equal share to a city's score.

Although South Burlington had just marginally higher scores in both quality of life and healthcare, Burlington's economic ranking was far below South Burlington's.

South Burlington was also ranked as having the highest employment rate for people with disabilities and was third overall for the lowest percentage of people with disabilities living in poverty. 

Both South Burlington and Burlington were ranked high for most family doctors and general practitioners per capita. 

Contact Ryan Mercer at rmercer@freepressmedia.com or at 802-343-4169. Follow him on Twitter @ryanmercer1 and facebook.com/ryan.mercer1.