Worst city to live? Miami tops new list

24/7 Wall St. list cites crime, poverty rate among determining factors

MIAMI – Move over, Detroit: Miami ranks No. 1 in a new list of the worst cities in which to live.

The list, published by financial news and opinion website 24/7 Wall St., ranks Miami ahead of Detroit; Paterson, New Jersey; Hawthorne, California; and Fall River, Massachusetts.

"No city in the United States is worse to live in than Miami," the website said. "The city's median home value of $245,000 is well above the national median of $181,200. However, with a median household income of only $31,917 a year, well below the national median of $53,657, most of these homes are either out of reach or a financial burden on most Miami residents."

To determine the ranking, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on the 550 U.S. cities with populations of 65,000 or more as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau. The list considers crime rates, employment growth, access to restaurants and attractions, educational attainment and housing affordability, among other factors.

"Like most of the worst cities to live in, more than one in every four people in Miami live in poverty," the website said.

It also cites research from the Economic Policy Institute that the top 1 percent of earners in the Miami area make about $2 million annually, which is 45 times greater than the average income of the other 99 percent of earners.

"This earnings gap makes the metro area nearly the most unequal of any U.S. city," the website said.

It also cites the city's poverty rate (26.2 percent) and percentage of the population with at least a bachelor's degree (23.6 percent).

Rounding out the top 10 are Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Flint, Michigan; Cleveland; and Gary, Indiana.


About the Author:

Peter Burke returned for a second stint of duty at Local 10 News in February 2014.