10 Saddest Cities in America - discuss
 

MSN has a feature today BusinessWeek where they've ranked the 10 unhappiest cities in America, criteria they used are depression, suicide, crime, divorce rate, number of cloudy days per year, unemployment rate

Editor's Note: BusinessWeek.com ranked 50 of the largest metros based on a variety of factors including depression rates, suicide rates, divorce rates, crime, unemployment, population loss, job loss, weather and green space. The most heavily weighted factors were the depression, suicide, jobs (unemployment and job loss) and crime rates. The depression rate is based on survey and aggregated insurance reporting information at time of discharge, doctor's office visits and insurance process filings. The suicide rate is for 2004 and comes from The 2007 Big Cities Health Inventory compiled by the National Assembly of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO). The crime risk indexes for property and crime used for the scoring were based on FBI crime reporting for the seven most-recent available years. Divorce rates and 2009 population change come from the U.S. Census. The number of cloudy days came from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow....35000&ucpg=2#1

1. Portland, Ore.

2. St. Louis

3. New Orleans

4. Detroit

5. Cleveland

6. Jacksonville, Fla

7. Las Vegas

8. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn

9. Cincinnati

10. Atlanta

Saddest cities I've seen - some parts of Bronx NY, Paterson NJ, Trenton NJ

Cities built around the strip club industry and no one is tossing dollars these days

1. Portland, Or -PASS

2. St. Louis -PASS

3. New Orleans - Gimmie

4. Detroit - Gimmie

5. Cleveland - Cuyahoga County water anyone?

6. Jacksonville, Fl - REALLY SUCKS!

7. Las Vegas - Either you Win or Lose....too bad the LOSERS outnumber the winners

8. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn -PASS

9. Cincinnati - Jerry, Jerry, Jerry...he was the check bouncin whore mayor there.

10. Atlanta - Spend some time at the airport and you will know!

Cleveland always felt like a cold, sad place to me.

surprised by Portland being #1 and St Louis being #2 - never hear much of anything about St Louis, good or bad. you expect Detroit, Cleveland to always be on these type of lists - same with New Orleans. Vegas seems to be getting a worse and worse reputation as a place to live and the housing bust sure isn't helping.

the number of cloudy days is a stupid criteria(um?) to include - why didn't they include number of freezing cold days, or scorching hot days, or brutally humid days. lots of people find those type of days worse than a cloudy day where the temperature is moderate.

I've been to Portland. A beautiful city. Oregon's an awesome state. Still a lot of unspoiled forests and it boasts an awesome coast line.

I thought Detroit would be number one.

I demand a recount, NO has to be #1. I bet if they did it by per capita it would be.

I know too many people left NO for Portland and say its way better.

why I can't live here forever, too many miserable people.

sweet t isnt going to be happy his city is on list.

ha - if more people in Atlanta had sweet t's life it wouldn't be on the list.

No mention of Gary, IN or Buffalo? Fucking horrible in both.

Buffalo is different - the people who have remained there are fiercely loyal to the place. There was a similar type study to this one I read awhile back and Buffalo ranked near the top of American cities for people who are happy with the place they live. They wear the reputation they have as a downtrodden shrinking gritty rust belt city with heart with pride.

Detroit with 13k houses and no industry should be no. 1

Buffalo is certainly not a vacation destination but its far from horrible. Its a good place to raise a family, the cost of living is decent, people are close and friendly, the local sports following is fanatic even if a team is playing bad (*cough* Bills), spring and summer are amazingly comfortable, winter is great for winter sports (snowmobile and skier dreams), night life is surprisingly better then many think.

Not to mention the house I purchased in 2002 is actually worth more now :winkwink:

When I do want a change I hop on a plan and get the hell out for a while.

Damn i'm supposed to be going to Detroit for a few weeks in the Summer... :1orglaugh

I grew up in Portland and lived there for 24 years. Beautiful in June, July, August and first half of Sept. Dismal the rest of the year. Not just rain or cold but constant overcast and drizzle. By Jan/Feb it gets depressing and you have three more months of it. But a great place for a second summer home.

I live in Vegas now and its a great place to live if you have $$. If you dont have money I can see how it would be depressing. Job market has tanked, housing is brutal and being so close to fun, but not being able to enjoy it would be depressing. My only major complaint about Vegas is the fucking wind. At least once or twice a week it rips through the Valley and it sounds like my patio furniture is going to end up through my windows. If you dont gamble and have savings its a pretty stress free city to live in which is very nice.

One thing I noticed on this list is the majority of the top spots are filled by cold weather cities. Only 2 humid southern cities made the list and Las Vegas (gambling depression and housing bust). I've always felt this was obvious. Who the hell would want to live in a place thats cold all the damn time. Weather makes a HUGE difference to a persons state of mind. I've never seen Hawaii or Newport Beach on one of these lists.

Detroit should be number 1 on that list, 18.6% unemployment, cold weather, ultra-high crime, vast brownfields. The only reason Portland made number one is that where all the emo kids go to kill themselves. Detroit has a much tougher breed of people than Portland, St Louis and New Orleans thats probably why the depression and suicide rates are so low in Detroit.

Lincoln, NE should be #1

Having lived in three of the top ten, I can understand why most of them are on the list, but Vegas isn't that bad. I actually think it's a comparatively cheap place to live, particularly right now. The worst part about Vegas as far as I'm concerned, are the rubbernecking drivers who cause accidents left and right. The crime is purportedly bad, but I've never felt remotely unsafe in Vegas (except on the roads) compared to the other places.

swap Portland / Detroit and you have a great list there

Portland at the top spot is a mistake. It's a really nice and clean city. Crazy friendly people there as well. Plus, it's illegal to pump your own gas. Every gas station is full service. Gotta love that.

Plus they're smack dab in the middle of two world famous cities. Both just a couple hours drive in either direction. Toronto and NYC. Ever watched a Buffalo vs Maple Leaf hockey game? Off the hook everytime even if both our teams suck. Funny though. Last time I was in Buffalo it was a Saturday afternoon and I was right down town and I was looking for the convention center and I asked the only other human that I ran into where it was and he was from Toronto and just as lost as I was.. This was a Saturday afternoon right down town Buffalo.lol.

#4 FUCK YA baby

I live in Portland (and have most of my life) some of the stuff on the list I can understand. Yes, it rains and is gray hear much of the year, but a lot of people like it. I am one of those I would rather have it rain 6 months out of the year than be 100 degrees every day for 6 months out of the year. It is a pretty clean city and pretty cool place to live. I think the reason it ranks so high is its proximity to Vancouver, WA and other WA cities. Oregon has something called The Oregon Health Plan. Basically it is free health insurance if you are poor, disabled or a pregnant woman. The city is also a very liberal city so we have a lot programs for welfare and disability and stuff like that. So people that live anywhere near here end up moving here so they can take advantage of these services. We end up with many of Vancouver and the surrounding area's trouble people. These people, I think, help cause there to be a above average rate of depression.

Add in that we are the lesbian capitol of North America (and I have yet to see to hot lesbians making out - real lesbians are nothing like porn lesbians) and that we are one of the biggest cities in the nation (if not the world ) for transgender issues and sexual reassignment surgeries and you can start to see this is a city that attracts the non-mainstream people.

We are also getting hammered with the economy right now which doesn't help.

south florida strip clubs still going strong. I did scarletts last night with some peeps from out of town and it was all business:winkwink:

surprised about Portland. I've always read positive things about the city and anyone I know who's been there liked it.

Been to Cincinnatti a few times. Downtown Cincy became a ghost town after 5pm. was shocked, in the day it was bustling, cool little city at night, dead and eerily depressing. Locals told me it has not been the same since the riots. Not sure how it is these days.

No wonder AaronM wanted out of Portland so bad :1orglaugh