The best type of rankings are those that are determined on a field of play, cause a parade to be held for the victors, and give all of us the opportunity to practice the important art of faking a cough and forging a doctor’s note to give to the HR department. But sometimes you have to settle for a ranking from a financial website, and these most recent ones aren’t necessarily parade worthy for Lawrence.

Just out this morning is a new ranking of the Best Small Cities to Live In. Lawrence checks in at No. 321, according to the folks at the financial website WalletHub. That’s actually not bad, considering the website ranked 1,268 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000. But, No. 321 probably isn’t worth throwing a parade for. (Building a human pyramid that conveys we’re No 321 gets very complicated.)

What’s also a bit of a downer is that of all the Kansas communities ranked, Lawrence was second to last in the rankings. We finished ahead of only Salina, which came in at No. 437. The two Kansas communities that might be conducting parade planning and pyramid practice are Leawood and Shawnee in Johnson County. Leawood checked in at No. 5 in the country, while Shawnee came in at No. 54. In other words, both finished in the top 5 percent of the rankings. Overall, Kansas fared well in the rankings. There was no Kansas community that finished in the lower half of the rankings. Compare that to some other states, like California, which occupied the 23 bottom spots in the rankings. (Bell, Calif., in case you are wondering, evidently doesn’t have a nice tone to it. It ranked last.)

Here’s a look at all the Kansas communities and their rankings:

• Leawood: No. 5

• Shawnee: No. 54

• Dodge City: No 156

• Lenexa: No. 223

• Hutchinson: No. 264

• Manhattan: No. 273

• Garden City: No. 278

• Leavenworth: No 317

• Lawrence: No. 321

• Salina: T-No. 437

The study looked at 22 metrics from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FBI, Yelp and other sources to compile the rankings. It looked at issues such as housing costs, median household incomes, unemployment rates, population growth, income growth, education levels, commute times, health insurance coverage, crime rates, and per capita figures on items such as number of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, museums, pediatricians and other such statistics.

It provided sub-rankings for each community in various areas. Lawrence’s worst ranking was in the category of affordability. I think college communities are at a bit of a disadvantage in this area because the statistics don’t always do a good job of separating the incomes of college students from those of full-time workers. Lawrence ranked No. 877 in affordability out of 1,268. It was second to last in the Kansas rankings, trailing only Manhattan at No. 949.

But university town issues aside, affordability is at least a perception problem for Lawrence. It may be more than perception. The average affordability ranking for all Kansas communities was 373 out of 1,268. That’s a pretty big gap between Lawrence and the other Kansas communities.

Lawrence’s best sub-ranking was in the category of quality of life, which measured everything from crime rates to the number of bars and coffee shops per capita. Lawrence ranked No. 306. We finished third in the state behind Manhattan (No. 159) and Leavenworth (No. 275).

Perhaps the most surprising ranking for Lawrence was in the education/health category. We are the education capital of Kansas, and we generally think of ourselves as healthy. We finished OK nationally at No. 322, but there were quite a few other communities that finished ahead of us. Shawnee was No. 76. Other Kansas communities ahead of us: Leawood, No. 123; Hutchinson, No. 213; Manhattan, No. 245; and Garden City, No. 281.

In case you are wondering, it was a mixed bag for how other university communities across the region fared. The top ranked small city in the country was a university town: Princeton, N.J. Most of the university towns in the Big 12 exceed the 100,000 population threshold, and thus weren’t included in the rankings. Among those that were included: Ames, Iowa, No. 79; Morgantown, W. Va., No. 402; and Stillwater Okla., No. 625.

• Let’s move on to ranking No. 2. When it comes to good places to start a business in Kansas, Lawrence ranks near the bottom of the list, according to a new ranking compiled by financial website NerdWallet. Lawrence ranked No. 37 out of the 46 Kansas communities ranked by NerdWallet.

Whether the ranking is anything to be concerned about, though, is debatable. “Best place to start a business” is such a broad category. We’re probably good for some type of businesses and not so good for others. The rankings do rely on good data from the U.S. Census Bureau, but whether it is entirely on point is up for debate. For example, the survey looked at metrics such as the average revenue of businesses in a community, the percentage of businesses that have employees, and the number of businesses per 100 people. All those are interesting, but some may not speak directly to whether a community is a good place to open a business. Detroit, for example, has some of the larger revenue producing businesses in the country. It also is a city full of bankruptcy attorneys these days.

The rankings also look at economic health issues of a community such as median incomes, median housing costs and unemployment rates. The rankings are getting some media attention elsewhere, and people have asked me how Lawrence fared, so I want to pass them along. Take them for whatever you think they are worth. And if nothing else, they do serve as a good reminder of the importance of promoting the community as a good place to do business, which has been a major point of emphasis for local economic development leaders recently. Here’s a look at the results of the top 10:

• No. 1: Merriam

• No. 2: Mission

• No. 3: Lenexa

• No. 4: Overland Park

• No. 5: Emporia

• No. 6: Coffeyville

• No. 7: Abilene

• No. 8: Hays

• No. 9: McPherson

• No. 10: Dodge City

Here’s a look at the communities that ranked below Lawrence:

• No. 38: Andover

• No. 39: Junction City

• No. 40: Wellington

• No. 41: Leavenworth

• No. 42: Derby

• No. 43: Roeland Park

• No. 44: Haysville

• No. 45: Augusta

• No. 46: Gardner

One clear trend from this particular set of rankings is that — not surprisingly — being in the Johnson County part of the Kansas City metro has some appeal. That prosperity, though, hasn’t extended into Douglas County. But it is interesting to note that it hasn’t extended to all parts of Johnson County either, according to this ranking. Gardner is ranked last, despite having large population growth over the last decade and being next door to the very large BNSF intermodal facility that is generating a lot of potential for shipping and distribution jobs in the area.

All in all, I find the results of this one a bit confounding. The one thing that is clear: I think the KU goalposts should be safe from any ensuing celebrations.