The 6 Worst Cities In The United States

The United States may be the richest country ever (well...
until recently), but it has more than its share of cities that make
you wish you were dead. Here are six of the worst ones, in no
particular order. The criteria for inclusion in the list is bad
economies, crime, traffic, annoying people, crappy schools...
and the whims of the editor. So here we go...



Detroit, MI
Population: 916,952

Of course you knew this list would start with fucking Detroit.
This city used to be THE premier industrial city of the United
States during the first half of the 20th century. These days,
it's more like the crime and general fucked-upness capital
of the nation. The auto industry's deterioration in recent
decades led to stubbornly high unemployment, and with time it
has turned the city's downtown into a semi-ghost town. The
city's last mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick (the "hip-hop" mayor),
went to jail for perjury and misconduct (it's a long story
that has to do with text messages, adultery, a stripper
getting murdered, etc.). A mayoral candidate joked about there
being "no one left to kill" in Detroit. Someday soon, that
may literally be true, as the collapse of the auto industry
is sure to plunge the city into even more intense misery
and desolation.












Prime Detroit real estate.




Camden, NJ
Population: 79,3188

While Camden may have been making some improvements in
recent years, it's still safe to say that the city is a squalid
shithole. Camden used to be an important industrial hub up
until the middle of the 20th century. But as heavy industry
started leaving the city, the city became known less for
making phonographs, airplanes and soup and better known for
being a good place to get raped, shot, robbed, beaten to
death, or a combination of all of the above. The murder rate
is about 5 times the national average (and it used to be worse!).
Not surprisingly, unemployment is high--usually above 10%--
and about a third of the population lives under the poverty line.



East St. Louis, IL
Population: 31,542

Another formerly prosperous city which relied on heavy industry
for its economy, East St. Louis' main industry in modern times
is to serve as a punchline for jokes. Its population has more
than halved since the 1950s, and on most years the city is a
top contender for the title of "America's Most Dangerous City".
Entire blocks full of empty buildings dot East St. Louis. The
city actually looks so much like a post-apocalyptic dystopia,
that back in the late 1970s, it was used to film the movie
Escape from New York. So if you're looking to shoot a film
about a city in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion or a war,
East St. Louis is your town. Also a good place to check out
if you're into high levels of industrial pollution. Or if you
have a thing for despair, desolation and hopelessness.

















Well, it doesn't look that bad. I mean, there's no dead
bodies on the street or anything.




Modesto, CA
Population: 210,096

Good lord. Where to begin? Hard hit by the mortgage crisis. Meth
capital of the world. Bad air quality. Rampant crime. Unemployment.
Recently, Forbes Magazine ranked it the worst metro area in the
U.S. with more than 500,000 people. It also has the honor of
almost always being at the top of national auto-theft statistics.
Well, at least it's cheap to live in right? Well, no. It's in
California, so the cost of living is automatically going to be
absurdly high. There's apparently also nothing to do, so it seems
to be a notoriously boring city. Well, except for the crime.
BUT HEY IT'S IN CALIFORNIA RIGHT? California's pretty.




Orlando, FL
Population: 227,907

Orlando doesn't usually make any "Worst Cities" lists (that I'm
aware of), so feel free to disagree with me here. This one is
kind of personal. I lived in Orlando and learned to hate it. And
there was more than enough to hate. For what it is (and it sure as
fuck ain't NYC or San Francisco) the cost of living is high. There
are tourists everywhere, thanks to Disney World and all the other
tacky, annoying, tourist-trap bullshit which covers this town.
There's no real sense of community, as practically everyone who
lives in Orlando is from somewhere else, so the city feels
rootless and transitory. Wages are low and quality jobs are rare.
People drive like maniacs (and these are the residents, not
just the tourists). The schools are beyond awful and crime is
frighteningly high, especially for a city that's supposed to be
a world-class destination.The population is a mixture of criminals,
non-English speaking immigrants, stupid rednecks and ghetto thugs.
So fuck you, Orlando. Just fuck you.











Fuck this place.



Washington, D.C.
Population: 591,833

Our nation's capital is in many ways a total embarassment to the
United States. Among the things that make D.C. a horrible place
to live are out-of-control traffic, a disproportionately high cost
of living, expensive yet crappy housing, an AIDS rate comparable
to any African country and a decades-long crime and poverty problem.
The rich minority live in opulent neighborhoods, while the poor
live in horrifying slums, Third World-style. In recent years, close
to 20% of the population has found itself living under the poverty
line. About a third of children live in poverty. The public schools
are such a mess they probably make the ones in the South Bronx look
okay in comparison. This is also the city that elected crack-smoking
whoremonger Marion Barry mayor. And then elected him to the city
council.

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