America's 20 Most Miserable Cities

[lafemme]

As I was reading forbes.com, I came across this article that listed America's 20 most miserable cities.

“Forbes.com's Misery Measure takes into account unemployment, taxes (both sales and income), commute times, violent crime and how a city's pro sports teams have fared over the past two years. It also factors in two indexes put together by Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling that gauges weather and Superfund pollution sites. Lastly, it considers corruption based on convictions of public officials in each area as tracked by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

And the winners are:

1. Cleveland, Ohio
2. Stockton, California
3. Memphis, Tennessee
4. Detroit, Michigan
5. Flint, Michigan
6. Miami, Florida
7. St. Louis, Missouri
8. Buffalo, New York
9. Canton, Ohio
10.Chicago, Illinois
11.Modesto, California
12.Akron, Ohio
13.Kansas City, Missouri
14.Rockford, Illinois
15.Toledo, Ohio
16.New York , New York
17.Sacramento, California
18.Youngstown, Ohio
19.Gary, Indiana
20.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

It seems that Ohio had the worst as it has 5 out of 20. Do you guys agree to this list? Are there any other cities that should be listed in here?

[fredgarvin]

Yes, Ohio is THE worst!

Of course I still haven't gotten over the great toledo war!

[Jess]

My evil landlord who stole my security lives in Ohio... :coolsmirk:

[coach]

It looks like they did not really take into account anything that actually matters about quality of life, as usual.

[kmrotterdam]

I was just going to post about this very topic. Miami is ranked #6:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/11/ame...s_slide_7.html


"No. 6 Miami, Fla.The weather and no personal state income tax are nice, but the city rates in the bottom 10% of areas when it comes to commute times, violent crime and corruption. Foreclosures hit 7.2% of homes in 2009, 10th worst in the U.S."


I think this would not include Miami Beach ... we know we are fabulous!!

Kenneth

[Matt Meltzer]

I was waiting for this to come up on the site...

I think it includes the entire Miami Metro area. If you look at what they took into account here, though, things like crime, unemployment, forclosures, weather, traffic, corruption and sports team performance, it seems like a pretty good metric. Miami's brtual commutes, unemployment and forclosure rate seem to be what landed it so high. Makes sense.

In addition to Ohio, I'd also like to point out that the big three cities in the northern San Juaquin Valley made the list. Raise up, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto! You are the only Metro area to bost three of the twenty most miserable cities in America! (I am originally from Sac, for the unaware).

[sungal]

This year, out of the entire US, Miami was the only place that experienced a gain in property values/price increases. It was only 2% but hey, with the rest of the nation on the decline or staying flat it's pretty impressive. My guess is lots of people looking for a vacation home took advantage of the low prices.

[kmrotterdam]

There is indeed national and international interst in looking for cheap vacation and retirement homes in Florida. There was an article in the New York Times recently about a company that offers tours of South Florida foreclosure areas, especially Fort Lauderdale.

This year, out of the entire US, Miami was the only place that experienced a gain in property values/price increases. It was only 2% but hey, with the rest of the nation on the decline or staying flat it's pretty impressive. My guess is lots of people looking for a vacation home took advantage of the low prices.

[lafemme]

It looks like they did not really take into account anything that actually matters about quality of life, as usual.

I agree with you Coach. Miami might be #6, but I know a whole bunch of people thst will be live happily there, me included!

[coach]

And these people are morons if they think the commutes in Miami are bad compared to other major metropolitan areas. I actually find the traffic in Miami fairly mild compared to other major cities I have driven in.

[lafemme]

New York traffic's got to be the worst out there. IMO, Miami has nothing on NY when it comes to awful traffic!

[Blackford Oakes]

What's really going to happen to Oh when Lebron leaves ?

[Doug]

It seems like Houston should be on there. It may be booming, I don't know, but it's a cultural cesspool.

[coach]

New York traffic's got to be the worst out there. IMO, Miami has nothing on NY when it comes to awful traffic!

LA, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta. All cities with WAY worse traffic than Miami.

[kmrotterdam]

... and the DC metro area was deemed one of the top five grid-lock areas in the USA by a national agency.

New York traffic's got to be the worst out there. IMO, Miami has nothing on NY when it comes to awful traffic!

LA, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta. All cities with WAY worse traffic than Miami.

[Matt Meltzer]

You have to take into account things other than if the weather is nice and there's lots to do. Sure, I like all that stuff. but if people are losing their homes left and right, and there's no jobs, and traffic is miserable (not as bad as some places, but still pretty awful) you land yourself in the top ten. There's more to having a great city than nice outdoor malls. See Angeles, Los for proof of that.

And I don't think property values going up is good at all. Means less people can afford stuff. The one silver lining in all of this is that because property is now cheaper, people don't have to go into as much debt to afford it. And it accessible to more than just the rich.

I still think a lot of cities that ranked behind Miami here are more miserable, but you gotta see how it ranked so high.

[Doug]

Well, it's nice to know that if Miami is so horrible, you can go up the road 20 miles and hang out in Fort Lauderdale, which isn't on the list at all!

[sungal]

Doug,

If you take a trip to Ft. Lauderdale, what's there to do? My friend invited me to go to the Hard Rock Casino once but that's all I've heard. A taxi driver told me Las Olas is nice..

[rk]

If you take a trip to Ft. Lauderdale, what's there to do? My friend invited me to go to the Hard Rock Casino once but that's all I've heard. A taxi driver told me Las Olas is nice..

Actually, Ft. Lauderdale seems like a very happening place. Perhaps you missed this other thread with great postings by MoreWillie and Maria:

http://forums.miamibeach411.com/inde...ewthread/6600/

[NewMiamiRoach]

I can vouch for these cities being the worst in California

2. Stockton, California
11.Modesto, California
17.Sacramento, California

Very little going for those cities. They're close in proximity.. about 50/100 miles apart. The whole area is foreclosure ground zero.