NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- The personal finance website Wallethub.com is out with a study that points out some of Music City’s growing challenges.

The report compares Nashville to the capital cities of the other 49 states using 54 metrics, including affordability, economic well-being, quality of education and quality of life.

Nashville scored better than most of its neighboring states, but still only ranked 18th in the nation.

Affordability is one of the factors that’s made Nashville so attractive in recent years, but Wallethub analyst Jill Gonzalez says stagnating household income is changing the equation.

“What has been growing are the housing costs. So the affordability factor looks different than it did, say five years ago.”

Gonzalez says Nashville is now falling behind similarly sized state capitols, such as Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; or Columbus, Ohio.

Other problems noted in the report are challenges Nashville has been wrestling with for years, including education and the city's safety net hospital.

“The K through 12 school system could definitely use some work in terms of the public school’s graduation rates. When we’re looking at things like the quality of the public hospital system that too leaves a little to be desired.”

Raleigh, North Carolina was the only capitol of a neighboring state to score higher in the Wallethub study. It ranked third in the nation. Austin, Boise, Madison, and Lincoln rounded out the top five.

Would you like to read the complete Wallethub report?