Pittsburgh has been ranked the nation's worst city for singles for two years running. Other studies say we're too old and too few; not only are we aging but also disappearing.

Another ranking puts us near the bottom in full-time pay for women. Even the sports teams are neck and neck with those from Cleveland for the title of Worst Three-Sport Towns in America.

But good news has arrived. A new study released yesterday ranks Pittsburgh's public charities as the country's best.

And while that won't fit easily on T-shirts or likely lead to Market Square rallies, it is nice to be No. 1 in something besides having the highest police salaries in the country.

Charity Navigator, a 3-year-old New Jersey nonprofit, compared the financial health of 27 of the largest public charities in 25 top metropolitan markets utilizing everything from the charities' Internal Revenue Service tax returns to their average annual growth of programs and services.

The Pittsburgh charities ranged from the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation with $1.17 million in assets to The Pittsburgh Foundation, with assets of $444.7 million.

Public charities are those that accept donations from individuals, as opposed to private ones such as the Richard King Mellon Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, which do not.

Last year, the first year of the study, Pittsburgh was ranked 10th overall by Charity Navigator. In the study released yesterday, the 27 Pittsburgh charities reviewed earned 59.01 median overall points out of a possible 70 points. Cleveland finished second with 58.50 points with Atlanta third with 57.94. The national median is 54.39.

"As far as the variation, it's very small margins that are changing the rankings," said Tim Gamory, Charity Navigator's chief information officer. "But [Pittsburgh's] ranking does show improvement."

What's the city's secret?

Part of it could be blamed on dogs ... and cats. In the survey, Pittsburgh ranked first in one category: the highest concentration of animal charities of any metropolitan market.

It ranked ninth in total revenue and 16th in total contributions. Additionally, Pittsburgh's charities ranked sixth in expanding their rate of primary revenue and growing their programs.

Gamory said Charity Navigator's evaluations encompassed all 50 states plus Puerto Rico, in addition to hundreds of charities operating internationally.

Charities were broadly separated into nine different categories, ranging from education and environment to animals and arts. Each of those categories was further defined into between two and six "causes," such as medical research and animal shelters.

To assess an organization's fund-raising efficiency, its fund-raising, program and administrative expenses were examined. To judge a charity's capacity to sustain its programs over time, the average annual growth of operating revenue, programs, and services and working capital ratio were analyzed.

Based upon how a charity fared in each area, it was a assigned a zero- to four-star rating. Twelve of the Pittsburgh charities -- Animal Friends, Brother's Brother Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, Coalition for Christian Outreach, Extra Mile Education Foundation, Grant Foundation, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the Pittsburgh Foundation, Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation, United Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society -- earned four stars.

"Pittsburgh is an older community and because it's older there's a sense of community, and that helps people think more about helping others," said Luke L. Hingson, president of Brother's Brother Foundation. "People in Pittsburgh are better connected.

"But the important thing is that we beat Cleveland."