...Biden is done, stick a fork in him.
Shades of Obama's economic incompetence. Flash forward to Joe
Biden in 2022. The stench of Obama is everywhere.
The most miserable city in the US is Gary, Indiana.
The state with the most miserable cities is California, with 10.
New Jersey is close behind, with nine, and Florida comes in
third, with six.
These cities have things in common few opportunities,
devastation from natural disasters, high crime and addiction
rates, and often many abandoned houses.
Not the worst, just the most miserable.
We've identified the 50 most miserable cities in the US, using
census data from 1,000 cities, taking into consideration
population change (because if people are leaving it's usually
for a good reason), the percentage of people working, median
household incomes, the percentage of people without healthcare,
median commute times, and the number of people living in
poverty. (See the data and how we weighted it here.)
Often, these cities have been devastated by natural disasters.
They've had to deal with blight and with high crime rates.
Economies have struggled after industry has collapsed. These
cities also tend to have high rates of addiction.
The state with the most miserable cities was California, with 10
in the top 50. New Jersey was second, with nine, and Florida had
six.
Here are the 50 most miserable cities in the US, based on US
census data.
Editor's Note: We have updated the story headline to make clear
that the ranking was based on US census data, and included a
link to the data in the story.
50. Lancaster, California
Lancaster, a desert town, has almost 160,000 people, 51% of whom
work, and 23% of whom live in poverty. It's had crime problems,
both with meth addiction and neo-Nazis. But Mayor R. Rex Parris
is doing what he can to kickstart the city, including looking to
China for investment.
49. St Louis
St. Louis has almost 303,000 people, but it lost 5% from 2010 to
2018. Sixty-five percent of people work, and one quarter are
living in poverty.
The city has struggled with crime and gun violence. In 2015,
killings rose 33% from the year before to 159 deaths. The city
has relatively relaxed gun laws, including allowing people to
carry loaded guns in cars without permits. Then-Mayor Francis
Slay said in early 2015 that crime was the No. 1 priority for
the city.
48. Pasadena, Texas
Pasadena has 153,000 people, 65% of whom are working, and one-
fifth live in poverty. While the median income is $50,207,
nearly 29% of people don't have health insurance.
Mostly working-class, the city is based near petrochemical
plants and is known for its race issues. It used to be home to
the Texas headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, it's divided.
In the north it's primarily made up of Latino people and to the
south it's mostly white people.
47. Macon-Bibb County, Georgia
Macon-Bibb County has 153,000 people, but it lost 1.7% of its
population from 2010 to 2018. Fifty-six percent are working, and
26% live in poverty.
One of Macon-Bibb County's biggest problems is blight. Across
the city there are about 3,700 unoccupied buildings, including
dilapidated homes and overgrown yards.
1. Gary, Indiana
Gary has 75,000 residents but lost 6% from 2010 to 2018. Just
over half of the population works, and 36% live in poverty. The
most miserable city in the US was once a manufacturing mecca,
but those days are over.
A drug-enforcement agent who grew up in the area told The
Guardian in 2017: "We used to be the murder capital of the US,
but there is hardly anybody left to kill. We used to be the drug
capital of the US, but for that you need money, and there aren't
jobs or things to steal here."
When the jobs dried up, most white people left, and now 84% of
people living in Gary are African American. The city is
experimenting with plans to try to revitalize the area,
including selling abandoned homes for $1.
Run by Democrats.
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-miserable-cities-in-the-
united-states-based-on-data-2019-9#46-danville-virginia-5