Worst Places
America's Most Miserable Cities
Kurt Badenhausen 01.30.08, 6:00 AM ET
Imagine living in a city with the country's highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate. As an added kicker you need more Superfund dollars allocated to your city to clean up contaminated toxic waste sites than just about any other metro.
Unfortunately, this nightmare is a reality for the residents of Detroit. The Motor City grabs the top spot on Forbes' inaugural list of America's Most Miserable Cities.
Misery is defined as a state of great unhappiness and emotional distress. The economic indicator most often used to measure misery is the Misery Index. The index, created by economist Arthur Okun, adds the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It has been in the narrow 7-to-9 range for most of the past decade, but was over 20 during the late 1970s.
There also exists a Misery Score, which is the sum of corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes in different countries. France took the top spot (or perhaps bottom is more appropriate) with a score of 166.8, thanks to a top rate of 51% on personal incomes and 45% for employer Social Security.
But aren't there other things that cause Americans misery? Of course. So we decided to expand on the Misery Index and the Misery Score to create our very own Forbes Misery Measure. We're sticking with unemployment and personal tax rates, but we are adding four more factors that can make people miserable: commute times, weather, crime and that toxic waste dump in your backyard.
We looked at only the 150 largest metropolitan areas, which meant a minimum population of 371,000. We ranked the cities on the six criteria above and added their ranks together to establish what we call the Misery Measure. The data used in the rankings came from Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling, who last year published the second edition of Cities Ranked & Rated along with Peter Sander. Economic research firm Economy.com, which is owned by Moody's, also supplied some data.
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America's Most Miserable Cities - Forbes.com
They are:
No. 1
Detroit, Mich.
Commute times 80
Income tax rates 87
Superfund sites 135
Unemployment 149
Violent crimes 150
Weather 95
Misery Measure 696
Motown is the worst in the country when it comes to violent crime, with an annual rate of 1,251 crimes for every 100,000 residents. Unemployment in the area is below the double-digit rates it hit in the early 1990s, but at 8.5% over the past three years, it is still the second-highest in the country among the 150 largest metro areas.
No. 2
Stockton, Calif.
Commute times 135
Income tax rates 130
Superfund sites 116
Unemployment 144
Violent crimes 146
Weather 18
Misery Measure 689
The population of the Stockton metro area soared 28% over the past 10 years as people looked for affordable options to the pricey Bay Area. The population flow helped home prices jump 158% between 2000 and 2005, but they have fallen the past two years, as Stockton has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.
No. 3
Flint, Mich.
Commute times 83
Income tax rates 64
Superfund sites 116
Unemployment 146
Violent crimes 143
Weather 123
Misery Measure 675
Flint's decline has corresponded with the downturn in the U.S. auto industry. The Flint metro area has experienced a net migration out of Flint every year but one since 1990. One upshot of living in Flint is cheap housing. The median home price was only $104,000 last year, according to Moody's Economy.com.
No. 4
New York, N.Y.
Commute times 150
Income tax rates 150
Superfund sites 78
Unemployment 99
Violent crimes 105
Weather 86
Misery Measure 668
The Big Apple is the nation's center for financial services, publishing, advertising and countless other industries, making job opportunities plentiful. But the costs can make all but the super-wealthy miserable. Housing costs are through the roof, and income tax rates are 10.5%, more than twice the U.S. average. Commuting times are also the worst, at an average of 36 minutes each way.
No. 5
Philadelphia, Pa.
Commute times 132
Income tax rates 102
Superfund sites 135
Unemployment 81
Violent crimes 134
Weather 64
Misery Measure 648
How miserable is Philly? The residents of the City of Brotherly Love once booed Santa Claus and pelted him with snowballs at an Eagles game. Maybe it's the long commutes, violent crime and plethora of toxic waste sites that has people grumpy. Philadelphia scored in the top 20 in all three areas.
No. 6
Chicago, Ill.
Commute times 144
Income tax rates 35
Superfund sites 107
Unemployment 108
Violent crimes 118
Weather 122
Misery Measure 634
Residents of the country's third-largest metro face long commutes (31 minutes on average) and high violent crime rates (619 crimes per 100,000 residents). Another chief complaint: the bitter-cold winters. And as for misery, nothing tops being a Cubs fan. The team has not won a World Series since 1908, the longest winless streak in baseball.
No. 7
Los Angeles, Calif.
Commute times 132
Income tax rates 130
Superfund sites 135
Unemployment 102
Violent crimes 126
Weather 7
Misery Measure 632
In sunny L.A., the weather is almost perfect. Everything else, not so perfect. If you are not stuck in traffic or forking over your earnings to put a dent in the state's massive budget deficit, chances are, you are choking on the city's polluted air.
No. 8
Modesto, Calif.
Commute times 112
Income tax rates 130
Superfund sites 109
Unemployment 147
Violent crimes 116
Weather 17
Misery Measure 631
George Lucas of Star Wars fame was born in Modesto, and one of his first movies, American Graffiti, was about teenagers cruising the streets of Modesto at night. Modesto could use some of Lucas' $3.9 billion fortune, as unemployment was an unseemly 8.7% in 2007. Of course, that is down from the early 1990s, when it topped 15%.
No. 9
Charlotte, N.C.
Commute times 96
Income tax rates 107
Superfund sites 97
Unemployment 97
Violent crimes 140
Weather 88
Misery Measure 625
Charlotte ranked in the bottom 50% of all six categories that we examined. Its worst showing was in violent crimes (838 crimes per 100,000 residents). As home to banking giants Bank of America and Wachovia, Charlotte could see an uptick in unemployment, thanks to the problems at those banks.
No. 10
Providence, R.I.</h4>
Commute times 69
Income tax rates 149
Superfund sites 111
Unemployment 121
Violent crimes 51
Weather 110
Misery Measure 611
Only New York City fares worst than Providence when it comes to income tax rates. The top rate for all of Rhode Island is 9.9%. Residents are fleeing the area, with a net migration of 20,000 out of the area over the past four years.
Ranks are based on the 150 largest metro areas.
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Question: Do you call one of these cities home? If yes, is the assessment true?
America's Most Miserable Cities
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