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26 Americans Share Why These US Cities Are The Worst In An Honest Online Thread
Interview With Author
Every location has its upsides and downsides, whether you’re just visiting as a tourist or looking for a nice piece of property to put down roots. However, it would be utterly naive to think that every single place in a country is ‘equal’ in terms of the quality of life that it offers. Some areas are objectively worse than others when it comes to the thing that all of us (should) value the most: our safety and that of our loved ones.
Redditor u/jhffmn21 started up a viral thread by asking the Americans using the site to share their opinions about the worst big cities in the United States. What followed was a very open and honest discussion about some of the worst spots in the country and why others might want to consider avoiding them. Scroll down to read what they had to say.
Do we have any US Pandas in the house today? We’d love to hear your personal thoughts about the very best and worst places to live, so swing by the comment section.
We got in touch with the author of the viral thread, redditor u/jhffmn21, from Germany. They told Bored Panda about what inspired them to ask the question in the first place, what they think about the United States, and what the ideal city to live in would look like. Check out our interview below!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Miami.
Year round tropical paradise? Year round hot garbage. Hot, humid garbage. A crime-ridden, bug-infested, trash-strewn, traffic-choked third world s**t hole. The official flower is mildew, the official smell is decomp, the official birds are mosquitos and plametto bugs which is just a cute name for giant cockroaches. Absolutely abysmal education means the native population is as dumb as a box of rocks. "Oh but houses are so cheap!" They sure are, when they're poorly built, slum-adjacent and 20 traffic-clogged miles from any decent services or shopping. Just overlook the property taxes, too. Better hope your condo building was properly maintained. Uninsured driver, slip-and-fall scam central. And goooooooood luck finding anyone who speaks English.
What's really hilarious is the handful of companies relocating there citing crime in the cities they're leaving. Had they read the news they'd know Miami is not Singapore or Geneva. "Crypto hub"? Yeah, good luck with that.
Rising sea level can't come soon enough.
"I‘m from Germany and planning to study in the United States next year and I‘ve somehow always been interested in geographic and cultural insides of the USA," redditor u/jhffmn21, the author of the popular r/AskReddit thread, shared with Bored Panda.
"Here in Germany, we have like 4-5 big cities and I guess almost every citizen has been to at least 3 of them," they said. "The thought that there are so many huge cities in the USA and so many Americans have never seen most of them is absolutely crazy to me."
#2
I passed Camden NJ on a way to a concert - and we stopped at a light and a cop drove up and literally told us “just run the reds and go do not stop” and as we turned you would just see groups of ppl on corners waiting for a stopped car. It was wild.
Celestino Madeiros 2 years ago
The photograph is a picture of the Camden Lock shopping area in the Camden Town district of London, England in the UK.
#3
My city, Stockton California. Finally got another serial killer captured a few weeks ago. Don't get me started on the speed freak killers. City has a real population of around 420k, 60k are homeless. The last 3 mayor's have been arrested during or after their term. City council is a farce. PD, holy s**t of s**t shows. I will admit there are good officers, yet there's been 2 Sergeants arrested for SA and rape in the past year. When I 1st moved here there was a bank robbery with hostages, police put 27 rounds in the hostage. Police chief admitted his guys needed more firing range time on an open mic. Every amusement or nice attraction gets shutdown. Golfland gone, Incredible John's gone, and so on. We're considered the little Chicago, I believe our crime rate is on par with them. School District, holy s**t what show. Every year we get a new Superintendent that either gets fired or steps down. The district apparently is close to insolvency with the state getting ready to take over. I believe a few tens of millions in the hole. Yet most of their employees don't get benefits. Yeah health insurance around $800 a month that's mandatory. Have to say the Fire department is awesome asf, they put out a s**t ton of fires.
According to the author of the thread, the idea of the vastness of the United States made them want to see what other people's opinons were. They "wanted to get insides and information about the urban life in the US."
For a moment, the OP considered asking a different variation of the question on r/AskReddit. However, they changed their mind when they considered what would appeal to more readers.
"I guess the question, 'What’s the best big city and why?' wouldn’t have gone viral because it’s not that controversial and emotional as the opposite one," they told us.
#4
Newark NJ. I will say this until I die, there is a reason they use it to portray Gotham city in Batman.
#6
Los Angeles. Holy hell that city is the worst designed city I have ever been to. It’s like someone built a bunch of single family houses with a bunch of freeways and then called it a city. Then they complain about the homeless problem.
"I was very happy to see that so many people replied and this brought me to watch videos from Nick Johnson on YouTube, for example, about the worst American ghettos. These replies also helped me in terms of finding a perfect university and knowing which cities I probably shouldn’t visit."
As for what their ideal city might look like, here's what u/jhffmn21 had to say: "In my opinion, a great city should be safe (for the most part), have lots of bars and restaurants, a good nightlife, sights, diversity and a solid economy with enough jobs for their inhabitants. I‘m really looking forward to coming to the States and hopefully see as many big cities as possible."
#7
Jackson, Mississippi. Very high murder rate, low education, failing infrastructure.
#8
Bakersfield or Fresno pretty sure the devil has part time vacation homes in both of them
#9
Houston is one big spread out strip mall
Viktor 2 years ago
Houston had major planning/zoning issues, which lead to horrific floods every time it rains heavily, hurricane or not. On top of that you have the usual issues of a city made for cars: everything is so spread out that it’s impossible to do anything without driving 20mins. There are plenty of nice things to do but the city planning is nonsense and it’s nearly impossible to fix now.
Very recently, Bored Panda wrote about the red flags that indicate a bad neighborhood. Some of them include dirty roads, old cars, run-down infrastructure, a very noticeable homeless population, as well as lots of check-cashing stores.
Meanwhile, good neighborhoods tend to have clean streets and well-manicured lawns, good schools, high-end stores, and a general sense of beauty in terms of architecture.
#10
East St.Louis, stopped once for gas. Didn’t think I was going to make it back on 55
#12
I hated growing up by Orlando. For one, brick roads f*****g suck, but also there's just too many damn tourists all the time. Entire city's one giant tourist trap.
At the time of writing, the OP’s thread on r/AskReddit had 28.3k upvotes. Their question really got American redditors thinking. And though there are plenty of wonderful places to live in the US, it doesn’t mean that crime is non-existent. Some parts of the country are very dangerous. Forbes notes that crime is getting worse in the US. Homicides increased by 7% in 2021. Meanwhile, gun violence is on the rise, with deadly shootings 80% more common in large cities.
Earlier in 2022, Forbes published a list of the most dangerous cities in the United States, in terms of the cost of crime, based on MoneyGeek’s research. Here’s the top 10:
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Detroit, Michigan
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Shreveport, Louisiana
#13
The worst cities are the most boring cities- the most devoid of personality. So I'm going to say Jacksonville, Florida.
#14
I’m currently living in Phoenix right now and they do this thing where everyone puts their garbage outside and then the city has it all picked up. Like, not in the cans, but just in huge piles. But they don’t pick it up for months unless you live in a nice neighborhood. So in my s***ty neighborhood there have been massive piles of garbage in front of everyone’s houses for like two whole months, with rain leeching who knows what out of it all, and wind blowing garbage all over the neighborhood. It’s so f*****g stupid that I can’t help but laugh.
That’s not even the worst of it, but that’s one petty s***ty thing about this place.
Skara Brae 2 years ago
I've lived in Phoenix for 17 years and never saw this. Now, if you want to talk about the state governmet, that's a different issue. Republicans have been doing everything they can to defund the public schools in favor of religious-based "charter" schools. Public schools have been the 49th lowest-funded in the nation for years. The wealthier parts of the Phoenix have passed local "budget override" initiatives to boost the funding of the local districts, and they are approved in every single election. The Republicans have tried to cancel these initiatives, but have not succeeded, yet. I'm so glad Keri Lake lost the election for governor. She would have been the final nail in the coffin.
#15
San Francisco. Needles, human poop, and homeless problem.
Luna Crow 2 years ago
That's every big city in the US, unfortunately. I still really like SF though. It's actually easier to drive than a lot of others, and it has a lot to offer (though maybe not safe places to park). There's good food and art and interesting sites to see. I'll definitely visit again
However, it really isn’t all doom and gloom. According to Forbes, here are the 20 safest cities to live in:
20 Safest Cities in the US (with a population over 100,000)
- Naperville, Illinois
- Cary, North Carolina
- Murrieta, California
- Carmel, Indiana
- Frisco, Texas
- Amherst Town, New York
- Cape Coral, Florida
- Irvine, California
- Thousand Oaks, California
- McKinney, Texas
- Allen, Texas
- Lee’s Summit, Missouri
- Coral Springs, Florida
- Bend, Oregon
- Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
- Temecula, California
- Santa Clarita, California
- Daly City, California
- Meridian, Idaho
- Centennial, Colorado
#16
Memphis is just…. So bad.
Rabbit Of ill Portent 2 years ago
Can confirm. I live here unfortunately and every other headline is shot, shot, shot, break in, five car accident, pedestrian killed.. I could go on.
#17
St. Louis. Nobody lives downtown, violent crime is off the scale, and unlike Detroit the suburbs are no refuge. I have relatives in the St. Louis burbs and dread visiting. They’re excited to take us to the city center and there’s virtually nothing there.
Bernd Herbert 2 years ago
Looking at all these pictures I noticed that all of the bigger "Downtowns" look basically the same. Huge streets, parking lots, and some skyscrapers. There's nothing appealing there. Here in Europe, downtown means a place full of life, where people want to go and want to live. How can you f**k up a city so massively?
#18
I think every city has great parts. But imo worst parts of Baltimore is pretty... out there.
Happy Ostrich 2 years ago
I visited Baltimore once and I have to say that the people there were the nicest, friendliest and kind people I have met anywhere in the world.
#19
Midland/Odessa, TX. Its two missirable cities close to each other in the middle of the Permian Oil Field. Your hours away from any other real city in west Texas. The population is basically all transitory-meaning it doubles in size during a oil boom and empties during a bust. When oil booms, it jacks the prices on everything, traffic sucks cause everyone can only live or stay in Midland or Odessa. Traffic fatalities there are the worst in Texas. I almost get in a wreck every time i drive down the parking lot rows at walmart. When it rains, I get the crude oil stench in my neighborhood. The meth is pretty top notch tho
Money is why i stay
OhnoI’vebeencensored 2 years ago
I went storm chasing near Midland once.. 1929785_52...6672fd.jpg 
#20
I love Portland, OR but damn the pandemic really buttfucked an awesome city there. I visited when I was 12, loved it. Roughly half a year before the pandemic (summer 2019), I visited again and it was still great. Come back in March 2021 and it was an absolute shell of what it was. There were still some cool things around (food trucks, cafes, rose garden, etc.) but it wasn't the same. I was telling my gf how much I loved the city but seeing it felt like a kid learning that Santa isn't real. Going to one of the parks and some creep followed us and I made a wrong turn and this street outlet was full of trash and had a sizable homeless encampment. It has changed a lot in a short amount of time.
#21
Phoenix, Arizona. Kinda glad the drought will wipe that city out by the end of the decade
Skara Brae 2 years ago (edited)
Ok, so the water problem is because 70% of the water in the state is used by farmers for flood irrigation. You have no idea how fast water evaporates in the desert. In the spring and summer, the humidity is OFTEN below 5%. It's occasionally reached 1%. How, you ask, can it be that farmers aren't required to use drip line irrigation? Because Republicans control the water commision, and their biggest donors are businesses and very wealthy people. Want to guess why solar power isn't heavily subsidized by the state?
#22
Every city I go to I ask myself if I could live there.
The answer was no for Dallas.
Granted, I was there in July but it really felt a lot like Denver to me without the good views and far shittier weather.
#23
It's Albuquerque. I stayed there for a few months, and holy s**t was it a dump. I was working there and can't believe how s***ty people were to me. I worked all around the country at the time as a subcontractor for power companies, not a super popular job. But as a city that feels like they want to take pride in being nice. They were really s***ty/weird for no reason. I worked in middle of nowhere red states, and downtown blue states. And Albuquerque had the worst of both of them jammed into one city.
Max Fox 2 years ago (edited)
I lived in ABQ, and it's great. However, if you are a Type A, go getter, let's-get-this-done sort of person, you're not going to have a good time. Take one part Navajo/Pueblo focus of harmony/balance, add one part "let's explode things at an atomic level" and two parts Hispanic "mañana" philosophy. Put it into a clay oven for three hours, and then in a particle accelerator, and then leave it out in the desert sun for a few weeks. Top it with fire-roasted Hatch chiles, and season heavily with a disdain for anything from Texas. Serve hot, and then finally get around to eating it after you've discussed family, your life, and local politics. I personally love it, and I would be happy to move back, except for the lack of good sushi.
#24
Biloxi, MS. No redeeming qualities unless you like sweating your balls off at 7am and waffle houses on every corner.
#25
Not the biggest city but the worst I’ve been to:
Youngstown, OH
It was major Steel producer in the 1940’s, but after the mills shut down the Mafia basically had their way with it. Now there’s really no reason for it to exist besides a small university, YSU, which the locals all refer to as “you screwed up”
If you take the sketchiest parts of any major city you’ve been to… that’s basically all of Youngstown.
#26
Boston is amazing, very historical and with great cuisine. So much to do.
But God almighty getting around in the city is a nightmare. It's like they haven't modernized their infrastructure for anything more than 1950 levels of traffic. It's crazy.
What do you think ?
ί𝔫ＣίŦᵃт𝐔𝐬 2 years ago
I know it's unpopular, but now let's get a list of surprisingly nice, affordable cities to move to.
Fembot 2 years ago
Aside from bad urban planning and the fallout from economic decline, I’m reading social injustice: crime, illiteracy, decay happens when communities are neglected - sometimes for decades.
Katrin Krueger 2 years ago
both Camden pics are wrong! They are from London. someone just googled "Camden" and assumed the first pic they found would be from the US???
Alex Martin 2 years ago
All the money/tax base went to the suburbs and the big cities have been neglected. Homelessness is a huge problem and a tremendous drain on city governments, police and medical services, and non-profit organizations. Having said all that, there are some nice cities in the United States. You just have to drop down a tier in size. Salt Lake, Austin, Denver, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose are all nice cities. Traffic sucks in all of them, but that's big cities. I haven't been to the east coast or mid west enough to have knowledge of their cities.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Phoenix is on here TWICE but no one mentioned Las Vegas? If I never have to go to Vegas again it'll still be too soon. Also Utah. The entire state.
Mohammad Ammar 2 years ago
It's fascinating how many options Americans have to move. In Pakistan we have like 5 big cities to choose from and 3 are c**p.
KSir 2 years ago
I am surprised that no one mentioned Chicago because it is always on these lists. I always cringe when I see it because it is a super cool city with a lot of life and culture. We definitely have shootings and crime but most of it is very centralized to certain neighborhoods and it is predominantly gang on gang violence. I am a Chicago native and it cracks me up when people are so scared to go there. As with any city, there is always the crime ridden areas, but for the most part, the people in Chicago won't put up with it. I'll never forget hearing stories about a Chicago mayor getting chased out of office because we had a super deep snow and the plows weren't dispatched fast enough for morning traffic to move. People had a fit and that mayor was gone. We definitely have our corruption and violence but as a female I have never been afraid to walk through the city. I actually love it.
Ovata Acronicta 2 years ago
I honestly tend to skip the actual article content here but I caught the list of best cities and: Naperville can absolutely suck it. Downers Grove was always better. I mean, my city shares a tiny corner with Naperville so they're my neighbors and I can trash them..it's not a terrible place but so pretentious. Also, although some folks like to give Chicago a bad rap on supposed violence, the actual violent city to avoid in IL is Rockford. Then Joliet is not even exciting as "I like the Blues Brothers," it's just boring. Lemont, and the Hindu Temple on the way there in particular, is gorgeous.
Carly Scherer 8 months ago
One of the safest places - It is the Town of Amherst, New York not Amherst Town, New York. Suburb of Buffalo, NY, which is highly underrated.
Josh Whitmore 1 year ago
I'm shocked...yet NOT so shocked....that Nashville didn't make the list. Block after block after block of corny, twangy, dull country music paired evenly with boot-scootin', trash-talkin' amateur drunks, frat parties, bachelorette parties, and nimrods trying WAY too hard to have a good time. OH yeah...and then there's the incredibly terrible fan base for a lame NFL team the Titans, and hockey fans who think icing is what goes into their drinks. Panhandlers, stabbings right there on Broadway downtown, and packed concert venues ripe for a fire hazard. Simply a terrible vacation or destination spot. Don't believe the hype about the "IT" City.
Big Ball McGee 2 years ago
I'm from Chicago and I gotta say, it's weird not to be on the list for once.
Hugh Cookson 2 years ago
In the lists of worst vs best cities to live, it's not exactly a revelation but many, many of the worst seem to be in the southern, Republican led states, whilst many of the best appear to be in mid / northern Democrat led states - is there a correlation here I ask myself ?
T'Mar of Vulcan 2 years ago
Reading this list made me love my home city (Johannesburg) even more. We have a lot of similar problems to cities mentioned above, but the people are very friendly, even compared to other cities in Mzansi. I stay here for the people.
A Jones 2 years ago
Any city within Hampton Roads: Very polite people face-to-face, but very aggressive drivers (even sober ones). Things are a nightmare when snow hits as the areas as there's not many resources like northern regions. It's just like that Disney special "Goofy - Motor Mania (1950)". It's quite hilariously accurate.
ί𝔫ＣίŦᵃт𝐔𝐬 2 years ago
I know it's unpopular, but now let's get a list of surprisingly nice, affordable cities to move to.
Fembot 2 years ago
Aside from bad urban planning and the fallout from economic decline, I’m reading social injustice: crime, illiteracy, decay happens when communities are neglected - sometimes for decades.
Katrin Krueger 2 years ago
both Camden pics are wrong! They are from London. someone just googled "Camden" and assumed the first pic they found would be from the US???
Alex Martin 2 years ago
All the money/tax base went to the suburbs and the big cities have been neglected. Homelessness is a huge problem and a tremendous drain on city governments, police and medical services, and non-profit organizations. Having said all that, there are some nice cities in the United States. You just have to drop down a tier in size. Salt Lake, Austin, Denver, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose are all nice cities. Traffic sucks in all of them, but that's big cities. I haven't been to the east coast or mid west enough to have knowledge of their cities.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Phoenix is on here TWICE but no one mentioned Las Vegas? If I never have to go to Vegas again it'll still be too soon. Also Utah. The entire state.
Mohammad Ammar 2 years ago
It's fascinating how many options Americans have to move. In Pakistan we have like 5 big cities to choose from and 3 are c**p.
KSir 2 years ago
I am surprised that no one mentioned Chicago because it is always on these lists. I always cringe when I see it because it is a super cool city with a lot of life and culture. We definitely have shootings and crime but most of it is very centralized to certain neighborhoods and it is predominantly gang on gang violence. I am a Chicago native and it cracks me up when people are so scared to go there. As with any city, there is always the crime ridden areas, but for the most part, the people in Chicago won't put up with it. I'll never forget hearing stories about a Chicago mayor getting chased out of office because we had a super deep snow and the plows weren't dispatched fast enough for morning traffic to move. People had a fit and that mayor was gone. We definitely have our corruption and violence but as a female I have never been afraid to walk through the city. I actually love it.
Ovata Acronicta 2 years ago
I honestly tend to skip the actual article content here but I caught the list of best cities and: Naperville can absolutely suck it. Downers Grove was always better. I mean, my city shares a tiny corner with Naperville so they're my neighbors and I can trash them..it's not a terrible place but so pretentious. Also, although some folks like to give Chicago a bad rap on supposed violence, the actual violent city to avoid in IL is Rockford. Then Joliet is not even exciting as "I like the Blues Brothers," it's just boring. Lemont, and the Hindu Temple on the way there in particular, is gorgeous.
Carly Scherer 8 months ago
One of the safest places - It is the Town of Amherst, New York not Amherst Town, New York. Suburb of Buffalo, NY, which is highly underrated.
Josh Whitmore 1 year ago
I'm shocked...yet NOT so shocked....that Nashville didn't make the list. Block after block after block of corny, twangy, dull country music paired evenly with boot-scootin', trash-talkin' amateur drunks, frat parties, bachelorette parties, and nimrods trying WAY too hard to have a good time. OH yeah...and then there's the incredibly terrible fan base for a lame NFL team the Titans, and hockey fans who think icing is what goes into their drinks. Panhandlers, stabbings right there on Broadway downtown, and packed concert venues ripe for a fire hazard. Simply a terrible vacation or destination spot. Don't believe the hype about the "IT" City.
Big Ball McGee 2 years ago
I'm from Chicago and I gotta say, it's weird not to be on the list for once.
Hugh Cookson 2 years ago
In the lists of worst vs best cities to live, it's not exactly a revelation but many, many of the worst seem to be in the southern, Republican led states, whilst many of the best appear to be in mid / northern Democrat led states - is there a correlation here I ask myself ?
T'Mar of Vulcan 2 years ago
Reading this list made me love my home city (Johannesburg) even more. We have a lot of similar problems to cities mentioned above, but the people are very friendly, even compared to other cities in Mzansi. I stay here for the people.
A Jones 2 years ago
Any city within Hampton Roads: Very polite people face-to-face, but very aggressive drivers (even sober ones). Things are a nightmare when snow hits as the areas as there's not many resources like northern regions. It's just like that Disney special "Goofy - Motor Mania (1950)". It's quite hilariously accurate.
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