Giving Compass' Take:

• Recent studies show rankings of U.S. cities that are most vulnerable to COVID-19, indicating the financial, social, economic, and health impacts on these cities. 

• Larger cities are deemed more vulnerable in terms of health risks, while other cities like Miami and Detroit are considered more financially sensitive because of things like paid sick leave policy.  What can donors and local governments do to understand the varying needs of different cities? 

• Read more on where the COVID-19 recession will make the most impact.

New York is the most vulnerable city to the financial, economic, health and social effects of COVID-19, according to new research from Clever Real Estate.

San Francisco, Washington, DC, Detroit and Miami round out the top five cities based on their health, financial, economic and social vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Fayetteville, NC; Norman, OK; Amarillo, TX; Gainesville, FL; and Raleigh, NC ranked as the least vulnerable to COVID-19 based on those four combined factors.

The report notes this research is not indicative of how COVID-19 will impact these cities, just of the existing vulnerabilities to COVID-19.

The research ranked cities on their vulnerabilities to the four separate categories of health, financial, social and economic, then combined that into a total average score.

"We were particularly interested in developing a metric that characterized a city's vulnerability based on factors that would impact the rate of spread of the virus throughout the city and people's ability to socially distance and to afford care from a personal finance perspective," Clever Real Estate Research Associate Francesca Ortegren​ told Smart Cities Dive via email.

New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia ranked as the most vulnerable specifically in terms of health risks. Larger cities are more vulnerable in terms of health due to high population density and higher-use of public transportation, according to the report.

The report also weighed financial vulnerabilities based on factors like the availability of paid sick leave, the percentage of people without health insurance and the number of people living in poverty. Miami, Detroit, Laredo, TX, Cleveland and Dayton, OH were ranked as the most financially vulnerable, whereas San Francisco, Seattle and Scottsdale, AZ were ranked as the least financially vulnerable.

Read the full article about cities vulnerable to COVID-19 by Cailin Crowe at Smart Cities Dive.