What is the WORST TOWN in America?

Question

What do you think is the worst town in America? Taking into account things like SPRAWL, CRIME, DOWNTOWN VITALITY, THINGS TO SEE OR DO, TRAFFIC, WEATHER etc.?

Answer 1

Having been a legal resident in 18 States, here are my top 10 worst cities with the worst last.
10. Compton, California
9. Detroit, Michigan
8. Newark, New Jersey
7. Erie, Pennsylvania
6. Flint, Michigan
5. Oakland, California
4. East St. Louis, Illinois
3. Gary, Indiana
2. Patterson, New Jersey
....and the # 1 all time worst city in America.....New Orleans

Answer 2

Patterson NJ. a town with only one worthy thing, a stunning waterfall, which the town fathers long ago messed up with industry. It is uglier than any town I have ever seen, lots of crime, dead downtown, outside of the falls, which are kept messy, there is heavy traffic and tons of smog, its so bad no one ever notices the weather. This town has no redeeming social value whatsoever.

Answer 3

Well, this is of course my opinion. But, I have lived here my whole life, and I am 45. And moving to another state, Nevada, in the summer with my husband.
But Ogden, Utah is one of the worst places to live.
Reasons:
First of all it is beautiful because of the mountains. When you can see them. (Lots of Inversion produced pollution). But that is deceiving. Once, you get past the beauty of the mountains, there is a dark societal interior.
It's getting more and more crowded all the time.
Lots of gang activity. And it used to be contained to one small area. Now it's everywhere. Even in the quote, exclusive neighborhoods. So bad that an entire mall closed and was torn down because of the gang activity that occured daily in their parking garage, as well as inside the mall. Muggings, and even a shooting. Employees had to be walked to their cars by security at night because they were getting mugged constantly and their cars were being vandalized every night. Even rapes.
Almost all of main street has died off. The businesses just couldn't stay open with all the nightly street violence and the economy.
The economy is a joke here. Even if you are a licensed or degreed professional, opportunity is sparce at best. And when you do find a job, be prepared to work long hours, even overtime without being paid for it (called COMP TIME by employers here), and usually doing the work of 2 or 3 people and not getting paid for it.
For instance, my husband is a licensed General Contractor with over 25 years experience, and he should be getting at least 50K a year. Between the two of us working this year we barely made 30K. And that's gross. I myself am a liscensed professional and have not been able to find work with good pay and security.
There is nothing to do here but go to the other mall at the other end of town, or go camping. Now we like the camping, but, unless you are rich, you can't afford to go to most of the events around, and they are pretty much all in Salt Lake City, as there is never anything going on in Ogden.
Also, it's difficult to progress in a job here if you aren't "in the club". What I mean by that is that if you don't belong to right church, you will get snubbed when it comes to raise, promotions, or bonuses, especially if you are not in the church (mormon) and you are a woman.
Winter is really bad. It's cold and wet and there is nothing to do. Unless you ski or ride snowmobiles. And even though Utah is known in other places of the country for having great snow. It's not always true. Most times, we get a snow storm here and there. And in between it just blows and it's cold. Then the wind will stop but then the inversions start. This means that the pollution starts to build up and after a few days, you can't even see the mountains. And the stench is horrible, you can't breathe and you cough up black stuff. This winter the news was saying that our inversions have created such bad pollution, that we were 3 times higher than LA. It's the worst.
Summers are better as far as temp. But, there is so much humidity, that you sweat alot. Even right out the shower with the AC going.
Sometimes, it gets upwards of 100 degrees with 95% humidity. All you can do it just pull back your hair and go sit in the shade and squirt yourself with the hose.
I'd rather be in 120% weather with low or no humidity. At least you can stay a little dryer.
Traffic is getting really bad, the state hasn't kept the freeways and main roads up with the grownth. The religion here requires the people to multiply and replenish the earth. But, they don't want to keep up with the growth for traffic. So it's a nightmare everyday if you commute to work. My husband only drives about 8 miles to work, but it takes him 1 1/2 hours to get home. That is rediculous.
I know this all sounds negative, but, that's how it is here.
So don't come to live in Ogden, Utah. Unless you want to work extra hard, get paid very little,
be treated horribly by employers, be bored, hate the weather, and worry all the time, then come on down. Misery loves company.

Answer 4

I don't remember but I do know that Flint, Michigan is the #2 city in America for murder rates. And Shiawassee County, also in Michigan, leads the country in sex crimes and in a very close second for that honor is Lake County, Florida.

Answer 5

although I agree with justagrandma about Paterson, NJ, I have heard many many times that Camden, NJ is just all f'ed up. The only thing that it's good for is a nice aquarium. Other than that it should be levelled to the ground. I've also heard that the nickname of Newark, NJ is "the armpit of america" (or is that just NJ....).

Answer 6

Washington DC. Traffic, crime, GOP, DEMS, ummm weather, only thing there is office buildings and lotsa complaining

Answer 7

Worst big city? Detroit Gary Indiana is pretty bad also.

Answer 8

El Paso

Answer 9

Los Angeles.

Answer 10

It's a toss up between Oakland, in Northern California, and Compton, in Southern California.