I believe my TV room couch recently was ranked as a top destination for empty Dorito bags and crushed Dr Pepper cans. Yes, there is a ranking for nearly everything. Some make you feel good. Some make you feel bad. Rarely, a few of them make you think. There’s a new ranking out about Lawrence’s growth that might be a prime candidate for a little thought.

Here’s why: Currently, Lawrence City Hall leaders are beginning to debate about whether we need new regulations to combat urban sprawl and to promote infill development. It is a classic type of conversation for a community that is experiencing a good amount of growth. But, at least according to one new report, Lawrence is one of the slowest growing cities in America.

The report analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, among others, to evaluate both population growth and economic growth. The report ranked Lawrence growth at No. 479 out of 515 U.S. cities.

Lawrence’s ranking was the lowest in Kansas and the broader region, although many of our neighbors also ranked middle-of-the-pack or worse. Here is a look:

• Columbia, Mo.: No. 123

• Norman, Okla.: No. 232

• Olathe: No. 287

• Iowa City: No. 304

• Kansas City, Kan.: No. 336

• Overland Park: No. 341

• Topeka: No. 371

• Wichita: No. 388

• Kansas City, Mo.: No. 438

• Independence, Mo.: No. 462

• Lawrence: No. 479

In case you are wondering, a few of our usual suspects for comparison purposes — Manhattan and Ames, Iowa, for example — were not part of this report.

The report looked at two broad categories. The first was called “sociodemographics” and it measured total population growth, working-age population growth, and college-educated population growth. Lawrence ranked No. 479 in that part of the study. The second category was a “jobs and economy” ranking. It looked at median household income growth, changes in unemployment rates, poverty rates, job growth totals, full-time vs. part-time jobs, gross domestic product growth, business establishment growth, startup numbers, venture capital totals, housing price growth and foreclosure data. In the jobs and economy category, Lawrence ranked No. 421.

For most metrics, the report looked at data from 2009 to 2015, in order to account for any one-year blips. I’m still not sure that I buy that Topeka is a better growing city than Lawrence, but the results are a good conversation starter.

As the city and county get closer to officially rewriting Horizon 2020 — the comprehensive plan that addresses policies on growth, development, urban sprawl and a host of other topics — it will be important to see what numbers government officials have about our recent growth performance.

Is Lawrence really one of the slower growing communities in the country? Are we either urban or sprawling? This report from WalletHub shouldn’t be viewed as definitive on any of those questions. But Lawrence leaders do need to do research that gets at some of those answers. If Lawrence really is one of the slowest growing cities in America, a discussion about urban sprawl regulations might be the wrong discussion to have.

You can read the full report here.

In other news and notes from around town:

• One of the measures in the WalletHub report looked at the amount of venture capital local companies have raised. Well, one local company has gotten a boost in that area. Lawrence-based Mycroft AI recently completed a $335,000 round of venture capital funding, with many of the investors coming from the Kansas City area, according to an article on the website Startlandnews.com.

Then in September, Mycroft got another big win by being named one of 10 companies to receive a $50,000 grant as part of the LaunchKC technology competition.

Mycroft, as we have reported, is the latest venture for Lawrence entrepreneurs Josh Montgomery and Kris Adair, who also is a member of the Lawrence school board. The couple also are well known for their Wicked Broadband service — formerly Lawrence Freenet — that operates in Lawrence.

The new Mycroft startup company is developing a device similar to Amazon Echo, which can be used to complete a number of Internet-based tasks. For example, the device can be programmed to remotely turn off or on lights in your home, lock doors, start the coffee maker or provide answers to any number of questions. The device, like Apple’s Siri, uses voice recognition technology.

Obviously, there are some big players already in this market, but it appears Mycroft is getting good interest from investors. I’m not smart enough to know what is differentiating Mycroft front the bigger players, but several technology sites note that company is using an open source software philosophy that allows developers from around the world to modify and distribute the platform.

The company is based in Lawrence — Montgomery and Adair also operate a Lawrence technology incubator near Ninth and Iowa streets — but the LaunchKC grant does give the company a greater Kansas City presence. In addition to the $50,000 grant, the company receives a year of free office space in the Crossroads Arts District of downtown Kansas City.