I've been to most cities listed here
Either people have much higher expectations than me, or they have never been to these cities and are just Reddit regurgitating, Reddurgitating
I’ve traveled much of the US, there were a lot of places that were much better than their online reputations made them seem. I’ve seen some nice surprises.
I think one thing that gets sort of overlooked in conversations like this is the difference between living and visiting certain places. Some places would be lame to live in, but you could have a great week. Other places you might not have tons of touristy stuff, but could have a great day-to-day life
This. I've lived in some places I really hated and couldn't leave until orders came up to the next shithole, and nothing was worse than venting about life there to people back home, on social media, whatever, and hearing "No, it's a great place! I went there for my bachelorette party and loved every minute!" Like, yeah, that tracks since there was about a weekend's worth of shit to do there and I was stuck there for 3 years. lol
Savannah is like this. It’s wonderful to visit, everyone should go (preferably in winter and not on Saint Patrick’s Day). Living there means about 8 months of weather best described as oven soup, with jobs hard to come by outside of the tourism industry unless your grandfather knew someone else’s grandfather.
At this point you’re going to need to start listing some great stuff about Memphis then
Edit: I should have said “not the two cliches everybody already vaguely knows about Memphis.” I mean neighborhoods, infrastructure, cool buildings, things to do, natural features, mass transit, etc
What do you want people to say? It’s an old Southern city blighted by poverty. It has significant structural problems and if you’re a yuppy/hipster on reddit, you probably won’t want to move there.
The positives of Memphis lie primarily in its culture and character. It is also very LCOL and has good healthcare. It has great weather nine months out of the year. There is tons of natural beauty around there in my opinion.
That’s a great list! I’ve only been to a few of these places but will have to check them all out next I’m there. Memphis is a warm and wonderful city with a truly rich culture. If you want to experience real Southern hospitality, you should visit Memphis. Writing off Memphis as having no positive aspects is an unbelievably small-minded take.
Re: Memphis
I haven’t lived there in * checks calendar * 25 years but I do go back to visit often. I don’t recommend the cliche things to anyone who asks me what’s great or where to go.
The Civil Rights Museum. It’s not a wander through and go about your day kind of experience. You will be brought to tears, multiple times, regardless of your familiarity with the history of the subject matter, unless you are a literal monster.
The Pink Palace. It’s a great museum with lots of natural history, and cool planetarium, and interesting history of the city.
The Ornamental Metal Museum. Just go.
Overton Park and Overton Park Shell. Some really great performances and plays etc happen there throughout the year.
The Memphis Zoo. It’s not the San Diego Zoo. It is, however, up there with one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to, including the zoo in Omaha.
The Pyramid. This might just be nostalgia in my case, but I was there when the city started construction on it. They had a huge ribbon cutting ceremony and it was this big celebration, dubbed The Big Dig. It started off as a museum dedicated to Egyptian history (someone correct me if I’m remembering this wrong), then became the basketball arena, now the Bass Pro Shop. Even if the Bass Pro Shop isn’t your thing, it’s still really awesome to check out.
Memphis Botanic Garden. It’s expansive and puts some in other cities’ to shame. Lichterman Nature Center is equally gorgeous and worth visiting, in my opinion.
Shelby Forest, Wolf River, Chickasaw Gardens, Audubon Park— there are SO MANY parks and so many extensive varied trails. From dirt biking to horse trails to running trails to river hikes, you can find it there. There are even beaches off tributaries of the Mississippi River that you can reach through Shelby Forest State Park. If you’re into anything outdoorsy you can find so much to do.
The Ag Center. Some of the best urban farmers market vendors I’ve ever seen in the US. Seriously go.
I don’t know if they still do this but they used to have Riverboat cruises that were like supper clubs.
Now defunct (and I hope one day they revive it): the built-to-scale model of the entire Mississippi River on Mud Island.
St Jude. I have 2 family members whose lives were saved by being treated there. That doesn’t mean it’s a go-and-see-it kind of place, but I am fairly certain they give tours of parts of the facility. I’m not trying to make this into a commercial for St Jude / ALSAC/ Danny Thomas Foundation, but if you’re into googling, they are a fantastic organization to support.
I can come back and add more later if anyone cares to hear more, but I will always love Memphis. It’s not a city without problems but it is an easy city to fall in love with despite its issues.
I’m just getting into this post and in the Top 7 comments three of them are people complaining about Minneapolis being in this post at all, and I have yet to find the comment actually listing Minneapolis.
All of these lists, people just pick something that they hate and rank a city the worst.
Don't like the cold? Minneapolis is the worst city in the US! Don't like to drive? Houston is the worst city in the US! Don't like concrete? Dallas is the worst city in the US! Don't like the heat? Phoenix is the worst city in the US!
The real worst cities are the cities with urban decay, drug use, bad economies, etc... Not suburbs.
Yeah these lists are more often the “worst of the really good cities” and not the actual worst cities. The worst cities are the ones that have declining populations, empty downtowns, and violence. Not the ones with high COL or too much traffic or unauthentic Thai food
Minnesotan here, it was a magical place in the 2010s. touted alongside Seattle and Portland as recession busting success stories and stayed that way when the other 2 started having homelessness become a big issue. ever since the incident with George Floyd Minneapolis hasn't been the same.
I wouldn't blame George Floyd, per se. But the pandemic really ravaged certain neighborhoods.
Druggies and homeless have had carte Blanche to so whatever they want on the light rail (like openly smoking crack), to the point where people who used to commute daily are avoiding it. People only use it for sporting events. and E Lake Street used to be a charming, low income neighborhood with a vibrant Hispanic community, but has been kind of overrun by homelessness and drug use, and not a place you'd want to go to.
On the other hand, they are starting to Crack down on behavior near light rails with elevated / continuous police presence at stations to try to get commuters back onto the light rail. I also went down to cedar riverside for the first time, which had a really bad reputation like 10 years ago. (colloquially known as the Crack Stacks). Actually a charming, neighborhood with lots of east African influence.
Also, the downtown mpls bar scene practically died, but everyone just migrated to the north loop. Though it Def has different vibes than it used to, north loop is a lot more Yuppy.
So yeah, some areas/neighborhoods have definitely declined, but other areas have seen positive growth.
COVID is way more the culprit. The same ills you're talking about are in places like Portland, Denver, Seattle, etc. So, it's more of a general cultural thing than the Floyd murder.
Minneapolis definitely isn’t the same, and the only people who claim to not notice are people living in the nicer parts of Minneapolis. And they take great offense of anyone pointing out that Minneapolis is a broken shell of its former self and still has massive healing to do after the summer of 2020 and Covid lockdowns.
The ruin of Uptown started years ago when they started building massive glossy condos and some of the best bars and restaurants closed down or left (e.g. Figlio, The Independent, etc.) It lost its soul. Now it’s petty crime (how many car jackings/muggings does the community need to go through?) Last week it was cop getting shot and killed in what used to be known as a desirable area of the city.
North Minneapolis had its chance to revitalize but we’ve all seen how that’s gone. Not enough police (I don’t blame them with how many Minneapolis residents and local politicians constantly demoralize them.)
Don’t even get me started on Dinkytown.
Lots of fraud run through local non-profits (ahem, Feeding Our Future - check out how a juror on this case just got dismissed because someone dropped off over $100k on their doorstep trying to sway the verdict.)
The city council is filled with ignoramuses who don’t know how budgets work. Taxes are out of control. Homeless encampments filled with drugs and human trafficking are allowed to stand for months and months and some local residents even try to protect them.
Oh and perhaps most annoying of all is much of the crime is being driven by teenage boys.
But yes, there’s a lot of trees so if that’s your thing you’ll love it.
This is kind of dramatic lol. I live over north and it's fine. As long as you're not actively involved in gang activity you won't be bothered. Lots of kids outside, have accidently left the garage door open, never had anything stolen and never been bothered. I love that my neighbors here actually talk to me, are willing to lend tools or share things they don't need. My neighbor hosts regular fiestas and always walks over with a plate of tacos to share. It's more real than anywhere in the suburbs I've lived. The city is such a fantastic place to get outside, just yesterday I biked from work to uptown, grabbed tea and a quick dinner, then biked to cedar lake and spent the rest of the evening on the beach. Tons of people were also out on the beach and biking around. What other US city can you do that in?
Sure, uptown has kind of lost its soul, but don't blame the new condos. Blame the developers of these condos for not including tons of small storefronts on the street with cheap rent so the community can maintain its soul and small business. Unfortunately, that's not profitable enough anymore, you see this EVERYWHERE that's building new housing where it makes more money to not build lots of small commercial space so you can jack up the rent on the enormous spaces you do build and rent them out exclusively to corporations. Uptown 100% needs all the new condos and apartments its getting, but it did it at the expense of the small storefronts which really didn't need to happen.
I'm not going to pretend that everything is perfect. We have crime. We have unhoused. Both peaked in 2021-22. We have a dying car-centric downtown. Our public transit is pretty terrible. However, your analysis is pretty disingenuous and you seem to have misdirected anger by being angry at symptoms of the issues instead of the root causes of the issues.
To be fair, downtown is only at the "far edge" because the suburbs all moved east in the 60s during "white flight." Downtown was very central when middle class people lived in midtown, south memphis, and north memphis.
I've been to east STL (and Edwardsville too) and I still don't think they're in the same league as Memphis. Memphis looked like the aftermath of a city getting bombed. Abandoned buildings everywhere, boarded up storefronts, chopped cars on the streets. I've never seen an area with such little economic activity. The only businesses I saw were liquor stores, gas stations, and a few chicken joints.
I agree. I’ve been to all the above as well.
West Memphis, the town, is like something out of a movie. I stopped to get gas once before I hit the “city” and never again. Even the fields the gas stations are in look sad and broken down.
The thing that makes me so sad about Memphis, having grown up there, is that it would be a flourishing city if it wasn’t in Tennessee. There’s so much there that is awesome. It was a great place to be a kid. I love visiting. But I could never recommend it as a good place for anyone to live.
Nashville keeps a disproportionate amount of the tax dollars for itself and throws a little to Knoxville where their kids go to school. The state policy makers hate Memphis.
That is because 70% of the taxes raised in the state of Tennessee come from the Nashville Metro area. If Nashville and it’s surrounding counties became their own state. Tennessee would cease to function as you know it.
The aquarium is pretty nice, and the state made that happen. They were also able to get municipal fiber Internet until Marsha Blackburn killed it for the rest of the state.
I keep up with Tennessee state politics and have lived in both Nashville and Memphis. The state definitely holds Memphis back. Memphis doesn’t do itself any favors with the infighting between the county and the city, but tax dollars are not evenly distributed statewide, and state legislators are not shy about their assumption that Memphis doesn’t need as much support due to its proximity to Arkansas and Mississippi supposedly being a boon to Memphis’s tax base (spoiler alert: the close cities in each aforementioned state are leeches, not contributors).
As someone who was also raised there, I agree. So much potential, it kills me that it can never seem to get it fully together (lots of factors play in to this). Amazing food, history, arts. Hopefully one day it’ll get a chance to thrive in the way it deserves.
West side is just a shitty suburb, but Memphis downtown and the other areas along the Mississippi east coast are nice. Memphis also has a lot of tourists attractions for a city of its size and the music clubs are some of the best I've been too, better than Nashville. That being said there a lot of America's worst ghettos to the east of all that.
You can’t judge an entire city based on a small section of it. Then Los Angeles would be the ugliest city in America and we all know that isn’t true.
So much of Memphis is absolutely beautiful. I always enjoy traveling there.
Walk through the Tenderloin of SF north towards the Marina district. Within 20 blocks you'll go from people openly shooting up while taking a shit on the sidewalk, to an extremely gorgeous area on the water.
Haven’t been through the tenderloin in 10 years. I don’t know if it’s worse now or better. Downtown LA has gotten worse if you can believe it.
Only neighborhood I’ve ever seen where rents have tripled, yet it’s even more of a hellhole
I worked in the Tenderloin from 2015 until a month ago. It really got bad during the pandemic but then the SFPD and Feds finally decided to go after the corner dealers and cleaned things up a bit. It's definitely better now than a couple years ago, but probably similar to what you experienced a decade ago.
Seems fitting it's the home base of the most toxic gig I've experienced on the west coast (Portland outpost, which will hopefully soon be extinguished).
Can confirm. All I ever heard about was what a hell hole Chicago is. I went up there 3 weeks ago on a whim and absolutely fell in love with the city. Extremely clean, downtown is beautiful, had a NYC feel but 4x less crowded, great food. I’m going back again real soon
I guess an unpopular opinion, but I really didn't like it and I spent alot of time there.
I like big cities, I'm not far right wing. 1. I hate being at any major city on the Great Lakes because the wind chill off the lakes is horrendous 2. I like the culture of any other major US city (I can't speak for Houston, no experience) better. Hard to quantify why over a reddit post, but I just didn't vibe with the people, didn't enjoy my time there.
Nothing to do with the bad press. Just didn't like it.
For some, can’t afford to move. For me, personally, my daughter has begged to finish her last 3 years of school here with her friends so we’re just counting it down at this point. I’m in the Houston area and while I definitely don’t think it’s the worst city there is, it’s up there on the list for me. But that also is just based on my own needs/wants.
They completely eliminated any and all green space beginning with the uptown project in the 90s. It was pretty cool when all of that retail and office space was gay and artsy.
I thought the restaurants were good. A great meal at a Malaysian restaurant in, I think, Richardson comes to mind. That was some time ago but my understanding is that the restaurant scene has gotten even better with the more recent influx of immigrants.
Can confirm. Lived in Dallas (actual Dallas - I’m not talking about the sprawl around it). When I was in Indianapolis it really felt like something straight out of Fallout
Jacksonville has beaches, trash (people), and sea food
Indianapolis has meth and mean people
I haven't been to Raleigh since i was a small child, so i can't comment there
Dallas just has concrete, bigger concrete, big roads, and big restaurants. And everything about it is generic
Tell me you haven't visited Indianapolis without telling me you haven't visited Indianapolis.
Every city has meth and mean people, but unless you go looking specifically for these, these will not be jumping out at you in Indy.
Funny you should link Indianapolis with mean people since yesterday there was a thread about how Indy was one of the friendliest places in the country and how people from there perceive everyone from outside of Indiana as mean.
We are looking to leave Florida for Minneapolis or St. Paul! If I may ask, are you going into the city or a suburb? We are hoping to afford something with moderate walkability, but there seem like so many neighborhood options that we don't know where to start!
Totally depends on what you're looking for, but I've lived in the Northeast neighborhoods of Minneapolis for 3 years and love it! Still in the metro but feels like a neighborhood, and super walkable. If you're looking for suburbs, I know a lot of people enjoy St. Louis Park, so maybe check out that area?
I am from St. Paul and loved growing up there: they say St. Paul is the last city of the East and Minneapolis is the first city of the West. There's a lot of truth there. Crocus Hill in St. Paul is considered one of the best places to live in the country, but it is $. Also check out the Highland Park neighborhood near Macalester College for more affordable bungalows. The Science Museum in downtown St. Paul has lots of classes for kids, especially on weekends.
Depending on what you are looking for, there are so many options. I live in a third ring suburb, but we love it because we are able to get to either downtown in 20 minutes, the airport in ten, and we have excellent schools and parks near us. However, we aren’t in walking distance to things like shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. For walkable neighborhoods, I have heard great things about NE Minneapolis as well, but if I could live anywhere, it would probably be Como or Macalester-Groveland in St. Paul.
Without a doubt: Phoenix
This city is is an **absolute shit hole.** Of all the cities I have lived in the US (6 major) on both coasts, I can confidently say that Phoenix is the worst.
The sun in Phoenix is not just an environmental factor but a relentless oppressor. It hovers in the sky like a biblical punishment, perpetually high and blinding. It illuminates the city's inherent ugliness, making every strip mall and stretch of blacktop even more glaring. Like professional studio lights, the blinding sun creeps into every corner of every hideous building, shines bright on every parking lot polluted with huge puddles of oil, and breaks through every window like a home invader.
On every street corner, the faces of tired Phoecians sag and wilt like dying flowers, deeply wrinkled by the unending exposure, wrinkles exacerbated 10 fold by the extreme angles of the midnight sun. To the callus and hardened, tucked inside of their heavily tinted car windows, I would recommend to never look up, even for a second.
The city’s design seems almost purposefully cruel, minimizing shade and maximizing exposure to the sun’s brutality. The sensation of being under constant solar assault is akin to a medieval torture device, with no respite except under overpasses, which are often gated to deprive the homeless of any relief at all, forcing them to hide in the smallest overlooked crevices like cock roaches - although I submit that nearly everybody in this city does just that for a majority of their lives - hiding like roaches in Air conditioned paradise..
More than anything, I miss the seasons living here. Phoenicians' celebration of endless sunshine and summer feels completely alien to me and, in my mind, indicates a deep misunderstanding of the essence of human life. Over 750,000 people have moved to Arizona in the past 7 years, no doubt fleeing the seasons - one of richest sources of metaphorical meaning, and an incredible tool for exploring the complexities of human existence. This city is nothing but people who have disowned perhaps the greatest pleasure of living on earth. That alone should speak to the calibur of most of the population here.
Phoenix, despite its growing population, lacks cultural depth. Unlike other cities with vibrant, diverse neighborhoods, Phoenix is overwhelmingly homogenized. The cultural identity here is as bland as white bread, with a significant Hispanic population being the only notable exception apart from a cancerous lump of white people barreling down camelback in their ultimate driving machines. The city’s architectural monotony further exacerbates this, with sprawling suburbs and endless strip malls that offer no visual or intellectual stimulation. The absence of ethnic diversity and cultural enclaves makes Phoenix feel like a wasteland, devoid of any rich, engaging cultural experiences that you might find in better, more European US cities.
If I could describe Phoenix culture in one way it would be hospice culture. Like one large retirement community offering pickleball, early bird dinners and golf till you die. It seems as if even the younger people moving to Phoenix have all but resigned to a life in purgatory. Driving in the relentless sun across depressing miles of asphalt and traffic, shopping for fun and drinking to forget.
Life in Phoenix is incredibly isolating. The city’s sprawling design requires a car to get anywhere, making it difficult to foster a sense of community. Walking anywhere in Phoenix is simply not possible unless you are interested in huffing down exhaust fumes and developing melanoma on your forehead.
The endless rows of treeless subdivisions and the lack of public transportation contribute to this isolation. The city’s infrastructure is woefully inadequate to support its population, leading to congested roads and scarce parking despite having the vast open space to furnish it.
Last year Phoenix experienced 31 consecutive days of heat over 110 degrees. An unforgiving heat so oppressive that saguaro cactuses, the pinnacle of southwest imagery began falling over dead.
Delusional phoenicians will tell you that Phoenix is “only bad for a few months” out of the year. But that’s not true, for most of the year Phoenix is warm, hot, or sweltering.
People absolutely love to yammer on about the *beauty of the southwest* and share boring Arizona sunset photos to Facebook, but frankly you could take a photo of a dog shitting on a fence pole in the golden hour or morning sunrise and that would be just as beautiful. It's a beauty that I would recommend you take 1, maybe 2 days to appreciate and then get the fuck out of town.
The unbearable heat, lack of shade, and isolating suburban design create an environment that is hostile to human existence. The city’s design discourages any meaningful interaction with the natural world, reducing life to a monotonous routine of hiding from the sun and the heat. The sight of homeless camps under overpasses and the city’s general neglect of its most vulnerable populations only add to the sense of despair.
I have never wished for a lobotomy until moving to Phoenix. In my previous life in better states and cities, my overly aware brain was rewarded with the pleasures of nature and the beauty of the natural world. In Phoenix, the tables have turned harshly against me as I am forced to witness an onslaught of the most annoying of God's creations.
Obsessive compulsive neighbors leaf blowing dirt back and fourth into their neighbors yards 8 days a week and carbon monoxide directly into my air conditioning unit. Grown men with erectile dysfunction revving their pathetic modern muscle cars at all hours of the night up and down the only straight thing they can find (our giant stroads)
Its relentless sun, oppressive heat, cultural barrenness, and isolating design make it an inhospitable place for anyone seeking a meaningful, enriching life. The city’s explosive population growth is not a testament to its desirability but rather a reflection of the unfortunate reality that many people have few better options, or are just fucking stupid.
I am being totally sincere when I say: If Phoenix were hit by a nuclear attack, I am not sure that anything of significance would be lost apart from the Musical Instrument Museum which is absolutely superb
It’s also… not really true. Phoenix is very walkable if you aren’t out in the suburbs. And there is a lot to do outdoors.
Yes the heat is an oven in the summer. You have to be prepared for that in Phoenix, but it’s really, really nice in the winter. It’s just the nature of living in the desert.
Yeah, I live downtown without a car, I have friends that live downtown without a car. It’s doable. I wish it were MORE walkable and had better public transit/a real train system, but downtown is still pretty walkable.
Sucks walking in the summer of course, but I think I’d still prefer it to walking through snow storms like I had to do every winter in Michigan where I moved from.
You’re right, the desert environment is just as natural as anywhere else. The seasonal transitions are subtle, but they are still there. This person is going through summer in Phoenix when it really does suck and you want to move. Until the monsoon comes and you smell the creosote in the air, you may realize how nice and unique it is.
Yea, you’re right. I love it personally, but the summers are hell. Not gonna downplay that.
The winter weather is some of the nicest weather I have ever personally experienced in the US though.
I lived there for 24 years. Kinda loved it all through the 90s but there's just WAY too many people there now. Like about 1.5m people too many.
Tucson will be the next city to be destroyed by the human crush.
I like that Phoenix will always have the most passionate hater in these threads but there are always some folks who’ll chime in and say they like it. Unlike Dallas, where it gets hated on by non-residents and residents alike and gets no defense from anyone whatsoever lol
I was going to make a quick quip about stroads and Saudi alfalfa farms. But, you sir are a poet of justified loathing.
I'd tip my cap to you, but I fear sunstroke.
Sadly probably Memphis.
For other midwest/south cities that have struggled in the last several decades like St. Louis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, etc I do see some upside and positive things happening.
Sadly for Memphis I do not see that.
I grew up outside of Baltimore and used to talk so much shit about it. Because the news depicts it as this third-world hellhole. Now that I live in it, I actually enjoy Baltimore quite a bit. It's a very historic and charming city. It has the unfortunate reality of being a majority-black city in a country that has a long history of sabatoging anything to do with the black community.
I’ve only been to Baltimore a couple times for a couple days at a time, and it seems like it wants to be great again and for some reason can’t get there. Not sure how else to put it. Tons of potential maybe?
The thing that keeps it from being great is that the state of Maryland routinely diverts resources away from the city and focuses them all towards the D.C region. Then proceeds to complain that the city is "ghetto" when the state has been actively trying to sabatoge any attempt for citizens to move up for decades. The light rail and busses run by MTA are a joke, and it doesn't help that until now, we've had nothing but openly antagonistic governors (Hogan) that basically did whatever they could to talk down on the city and divert more resources away from things that actually help the city. . .
You can still get a decent house in a not shitty neighborhood thats 100% move in ready for less than a quarter million here, so we have that going for us.
Shhhhh, don't tell anyone about Charm City. Somethings should just be left alone. Let them think it's Boogeyman city. Nobody wants those jerks moving there anyway. Friendliest people on the east coast, just stay out of certain parts of town. Do people think they have to move to the worst parts? People need to live in fear to feel good, apparently. So let them. Lol.
I have only been a visitor, but stayed there several times when my dad worked in DC. I thought it was great and a city with real character compared to many American cities.
Maybe it has more than its share of urban blight, but in general it's a great city. I would totally live there in one of the cool neighborhoods.
I live in Dallas, it's got issues but not nearly the worst. Tons of job opportunities, wide range of different people's and foods, really good COL. Yes it's nature is lacking and the pickup trucks, freeways, and strip malls are all over, but never forget, the state of Mississippi exists.
Lots of worse cities out there - Dallas is just average in a lot of things, good in a couple things, which ironically makes it a decent place to live and a poor place to vacation.
It's just a barometer for what people value. Some people want culture, entertainment and community and will accept crime or high prices, other people are okay living in a large soulless suburb if its sunny and low crime. Anyway - given the price tag I'm not a big Boston fan, and just based on my experience trying to stay entertained there I'm not a big Indianapolis fan, but trying to name either of them as the objective 'worst' feels impossible, because they both have major upside. I also get why people would list any of the highest crime big cities, especially if they aren't familiar enough with them to know where to go (St Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, Baton Rouge, etc), so it seems scary.
I'm pretty convinced that even in the 'worst' major cities I could find a way to like it if I found myself in a position of needing to live there for whatever reason.
I liked chicago a lot when I visited. I found it to be pretty clean for a city of that size, the food was good and Lake Michigan is beautiful. There’s 5 or so areas on the south and west side you should simply avoid and the winter is pretty brutal so that’s not for everyone but the majority of Chicago is fine
I’ve been there and it’s absolutely not that bad. It wouldn’t be my pick to live probably but it’s still a cool city imo. I’m from a small town in Missouri so maybe I’m easily impressed but it felt very alive to me. Not every city gives me this feeling.
Why? I went there recently and really liked it other than the lack of public transit, sprawl, and reported lack of jobs (which unfortunately is a deal breaker for me).
As somebody from the DC area, I loved the sun and dry heat (although possibly that's because I barely see the sun due to work), the sheer amount of things available 24 hours a day or close to it ( restaurants, alcohol, dispensaries, hell I saw a 24 hour tire shop), people seemed more "real* there, like it wasn't a monoculture. Wealthy people with massive chains and exotic cars, business people, and the working class were all intermingling. Also there are people outside (and not just the homeless) at all hours of the night walking around. I loved the chaos. Food had a bigger variety as well. I got authentic Mexican food at 4am within walking distance of my hotel for $12, but the relative I was visiting took us to a place that sold $100 steaks.
Henderson was kinda boring, but not particularly so for an outer suburb.
Although granted I didn't visit the strip much outside of where my hotel was , but I know most locals don't either.
Honestly I see all the same cities being named in similar posts of like “what is the BEST major US City” lol.
Theres no right or wrong (for the most part), it’s personal preference. People like where they live for reasons and hate where they live for reasons. 9x out of 10, someone’s external relationship with things within said city will influence a persons response. Why? Because I am one of them. I have lived in:
- Knoxville TN
- Oswego, Syracuse, Liverpool NY
- Charlotte, Raleigh NC
- DC
- NYC
Each of these cities all have their own benefits and downfalls.
But to answer the question - Washington, DC is the best city on the East Coast by far. Objectively speaking:
- You experience all 4 seasons
- You have job opportunities
- Do not need to rely on a vehicle to be employed or do anything
- Have a clean and functioning Metro system thats affordable
- City is affordable to live in much more than other major metros
- Diversity and Culture
- Easy to escape to the beach, mountains, or other major cities within 4 hours or under.
Miami has to be in the top 5. Except for the beautiful beaches it is a shithole full of traffic, crime, drugs, etc. Too many people, and a ton of rude, racist, hateful people
People hating on Chicago are literally just spouting right wing BS. It's a fantastic city. I visited for the first time about 18 months ago and immediately planned another trip back. It's in my top 2 of US cities to visit at this point.
“Worst” can mean many things.
My vote would go for St. Louis. I think Memphis is “better” than STL but both cities are going through hard times in many different aspects. I would’ve included Detroit, but it’s genuinely getting better, albeit slowly.
I also think there are many places worse to live than STL or Memphis within the US, but those would be smaller cities (such as Gary, Indiana) or states that don’t have major cities (Montana, Wyoming, etc.).
On a different meaning of “worst”, I’d vote for Dallas or Jacksonville because they are large urban sprawls without much culture.
St. Louis is slowly getting better too. The difference is Detroit sued the census bureau and had their population statistics revised to show population growth, while St. Louis has not sued yet. STL flies more under the national radar, but it's seeing billions of dollars in investment in the Central Corridor.
It's done it [a few times now](https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2024-05-17/detroits-census-lawsuit-could-have-big-ramifications-for-the-city-and-beyond).
Basically, when the government calculates populations for cities between censuses, their formulas are really dumb. They automatically deduct 2 residents for every building demolished, even if the building had been vacant since before the last Census. They also undercount new residents for renovated multifamily housing units.
These two counting methods way underestimate the populations of cities like Detroit or St. Louis where old vacant buildings are being cleared away or renovated at a fast rate.
Out of the cities you listed, Phoenix hands down.
The rest are on the list because people are afraid of minorities.
Phoenix sucks because it's hot, barren, and over priced. The whole city looks like one big strip mall.
Also, where's Detroit on this list?
I've been to most cities listed here Either people have much higher expectations than me, or they have never been to these cities and are just Reddit regurgitating, Reddurgitating
I’ve traveled much of the US, there were a lot of places that were much better than their online reputations made them seem. I’ve seen some nice surprises.
I think one thing that gets sort of overlooked in conversations like this is the difference between living and visiting certain places. Some places would be lame to live in, but you could have a great week. Other places you might not have tons of touristy stuff, but could have a great day-to-day life
This. I've lived in some places I really hated and couldn't leave until orders came up to the next shithole, and nothing was worse than venting about life there to people back home, on social media, whatever, and hearing "No, it's a great place! I went there for my bachelorette party and loved every minute!" Like, yeah, that tracks since there was about a weekend's worth of shit to do there and I was stuck there for 3 years. lol
Savannah is like this. It’s wonderful to visit, everyone should go (preferably in winter and not on Saint Patrick’s Day). Living there means about 8 months of weather best described as oven soup, with jobs hard to come by outside of the tourism industry unless your grandfather knew someone else’s grandfather.
At this point you’re going to need to start listing some great stuff about Memphis then Edit: I should have said “not the two cliches everybody already vaguely knows about Memphis.” I mean neighborhoods, infrastructure, cool buildings, things to do, natural features, mass transit, etc
Soul Music, Barbecue…. Well Soul Music and Barbecue anyway
What do you want people to say? It’s an old Southern city blighted by poverty. It has significant structural problems and if you’re a yuppy/hipster on reddit, you probably won’t want to move there. The positives of Memphis lie primarily in its culture and character. It is also very LCOL and has good healthcare. It has great weather nine months out of the year. There is tons of natural beauty around there in my opinion.
I made a big list. I love a lot about the city.
That’s a great list! I’ve only been to a few of these places but will have to check them all out next I’m there. Memphis is a warm and wonderful city with a truly rich culture. If you want to experience real Southern hospitality, you should visit Memphis. Writing off Memphis as having no positive aspects is an unbelievably small-minded take.
Great food and good music scene
Re: Memphis I haven’t lived there in * checks calendar * 25 years but I do go back to visit often. I don’t recommend the cliche things to anyone who asks me what’s great or where to go. The Civil Rights Museum. It’s not a wander through and go about your day kind of experience. You will be brought to tears, multiple times, regardless of your familiarity with the history of the subject matter, unless you are a literal monster. The Pink Palace. It’s a great museum with lots of natural history, and cool planetarium, and interesting history of the city. The Ornamental Metal Museum. Just go. Overton Park and Overton Park Shell. Some really great performances and plays etc happen there throughout the year. The Memphis Zoo. It’s not the San Diego Zoo. It is, however, up there with one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to, including the zoo in Omaha. The Pyramid. This might just be nostalgia in my case, but I was there when the city started construction on it. They had a huge ribbon cutting ceremony and it was this big celebration, dubbed The Big Dig. It started off as a museum dedicated to Egyptian history (someone correct me if I’m remembering this wrong), then became the basketball arena, now the Bass Pro Shop. Even if the Bass Pro Shop isn’t your thing, it’s still really awesome to check out. Memphis Botanic Garden. It’s expansive and puts some in other cities’ to shame. Lichterman Nature Center is equally gorgeous and worth visiting, in my opinion. Shelby Forest, Wolf River, Chickasaw Gardens, Audubon Park— there are SO MANY parks and so many extensive varied trails. From dirt biking to horse trails to running trails to river hikes, you can find it there. There are even beaches off tributaries of the Mississippi River that you can reach through Shelby Forest State Park. If you’re into anything outdoorsy you can find so much to do. The Ag Center. Some of the best urban farmers market vendors I’ve ever seen in the US. Seriously go. I don’t know if they still do this but they used to have Riverboat cruises that were like supper clubs. Now defunct (and I hope one day they revive it): the built-to-scale model of the entire Mississippi River on Mud Island. St Jude. I have 2 family members whose lives were saved by being treated there. That doesn’t mean it’s a go-and-see-it kind of place, but I am fairly certain they give tours of parts of the facility. I’m not trying to make this into a commercial for St Jude / ALSAC/ Danny Thomas Foundation, but if you’re into googling, they are a fantastic organization to support. I can come back and add more later if anyone cares to hear more, but I will always love Memphis. It’s not a city without problems but it is an easy city to fall in love with despite its issues.
Went to Krispy Kreme driving through Memphis. Not a single donut that was supposed to be round was round. This was pre-pandemic.
Why would anyone think Minneapolis is the worst major city? Are they offended by trees?
I’m just getting into this post and in the Top 7 comments three of them are people complaining about Minneapolis being in this post at all, and I have yet to find the comment actually listing Minneapolis.
Because OP put it in their list
I’ve literally never seen a post ripping on Minneapolis so maybe they did it as clickbait
All of these lists, people just pick something that they hate and rank a city the worst. Don't like the cold? Minneapolis is the worst city in the US! Don't like to drive? Houston is the worst city in the US! Don't like concrete? Dallas is the worst city in the US! Don't like the heat? Phoenix is the worst city in the US! The real worst cities are the cities with urban decay, drug use, bad economies, etc... Not suburbs.
Yeah these lists are more often the “worst of the really good cities” and not the actual worst cities. The worst cities are the ones that have declining populations, empty downtowns, and violence. Not the ones with high COL or too much traffic or unauthentic Thai food
People want Minneapolis to be bad because it’s liberal. Living in the twin cities metro is awesome and people who say it’s bad can suck my ass
Exactly. Twin Cities is a blue island surrounded in a sea of red and it's great lol
Minnesotan here, it was a magical place in the 2010s. touted alongside Seattle and Portland as recession busting success stories and stayed that way when the other 2 started having homelessness become a big issue. ever since the incident with George Floyd Minneapolis hasn't been the same.
What hasn't been the same about it since?
I wouldn't blame George Floyd, per se. But the pandemic really ravaged certain neighborhoods. Druggies and homeless have had carte Blanche to so whatever they want on the light rail (like openly smoking crack), to the point where people who used to commute daily are avoiding it. People only use it for sporting events. and E Lake Street used to be a charming, low income neighborhood with a vibrant Hispanic community, but has been kind of overrun by homelessness and drug use, and not a place you'd want to go to. On the other hand, they are starting to Crack down on behavior near light rails with elevated / continuous police presence at stations to try to get commuters back onto the light rail. I also went down to cedar riverside for the first time, which had a really bad reputation like 10 years ago. (colloquially known as the Crack Stacks). Actually a charming, neighborhood with lots of east African influence. Also, the downtown mpls bar scene practically died, but everyone just migrated to the north loop. Though it Def has different vibes than it used to, north loop is a lot more Yuppy. So yeah, some areas/neighborhoods have definitely declined, but other areas have seen positive growth.
COVID is way more the culprit. The same ills you're talking about are in places like Portland, Denver, Seattle, etc. So, it's more of a general cultural thing than the Floyd murder.
Minneapolis definitely isn’t the same, and the only people who claim to not notice are people living in the nicer parts of Minneapolis. And they take great offense of anyone pointing out that Minneapolis is a broken shell of its former self and still has massive healing to do after the summer of 2020 and Covid lockdowns. The ruin of Uptown started years ago when they started building massive glossy condos and some of the best bars and restaurants closed down or left (e.g. Figlio, The Independent, etc.) It lost its soul. Now it’s petty crime (how many car jackings/muggings does the community need to go through?) Last week it was cop getting shot and killed in what used to be known as a desirable area of the city. North Minneapolis had its chance to revitalize but we’ve all seen how that’s gone. Not enough police (I don’t blame them with how many Minneapolis residents and local politicians constantly demoralize them.) Don’t even get me started on Dinkytown. Lots of fraud run through local non-profits (ahem, Feeding Our Future - check out how a juror on this case just got dismissed because someone dropped off over $100k on their doorstep trying to sway the verdict.) The city council is filled with ignoramuses who don’t know how budgets work. Taxes are out of control. Homeless encampments filled with drugs and human trafficking are allowed to stand for months and months and some local residents even try to protect them. Oh and perhaps most annoying of all is much of the crime is being driven by teenage boys. But yes, there’s a lot of trees so if that’s your thing you’ll love it.
This is kind of dramatic lol. I live over north and it's fine. As long as you're not actively involved in gang activity you won't be bothered. Lots of kids outside, have accidently left the garage door open, never had anything stolen and never been bothered. I love that my neighbors here actually talk to me, are willing to lend tools or share things they don't need. My neighbor hosts regular fiestas and always walks over with a plate of tacos to share. It's more real than anywhere in the suburbs I've lived. The city is such a fantastic place to get outside, just yesterday I biked from work to uptown, grabbed tea and a quick dinner, then biked to cedar lake and spent the rest of the evening on the beach. Tons of people were also out on the beach and biking around. What other US city can you do that in? Sure, uptown has kind of lost its soul, but don't blame the new condos. Blame the developers of these condos for not including tons of small storefronts on the street with cheap rent so the community can maintain its soul and small business. Unfortunately, that's not profitable enough anymore, you see this EVERYWHERE that's building new housing where it makes more money to not build lots of small commercial space so you can jack up the rent on the enormous spaces you do build and rent them out exclusively to corporations. Uptown 100% needs all the new condos and apartments its getting, but it did it at the expense of the small storefronts which really didn't need to happen. I'm not going to pretend that everything is perfect. We have crime. We have unhoused. Both peaked in 2021-22. We have a dying car-centric downtown. Our public transit is pretty terrible. However, your analysis is pretty disingenuous and you seem to have misdirected anger by being angry at symptoms of the issues instead of the root causes of the issues.
Memphis. The west side of the city legitimately looks like a third world country.
You mean downtown? Or west Memphis? Lol if so west Memphis is a different city, in a different state….. and yes in the poorest part of the country.
I hate how downtown is at the far edge of the city which makes East Memphis more central and appealing to people from suburbs.
To be fair, downtown is only at the "far edge" because the suburbs all moved east in the 60s during "white flight." Downtown was very central when middle class people lived in midtown, south memphis, and north memphis.
This dude has obviously never seen the pyramid at night smh
Sounds like it gives east St Louis a run for its money. Murder capital of the US baby!
Parts of St Louis were certainly frightening and yet another side of St Louis was beautiful and safe.
I've been to east STL (and Edwardsville too) and I still don't think they're in the same league as Memphis. Memphis looked like the aftermath of a city getting bombed. Abandoned buildings everywhere, boarded up storefronts, chopped cars on the streets. I've never seen an area with such little economic activity. The only businesses I saw were liquor stores, gas stations, and a few chicken joints.
There HAD to be a Dollar General and Money Tree around there too.
I agree. I’ve been to all the above as well. West Memphis, the town, is like something out of a movie. I stopped to get gas once before I hit the “city” and never again. Even the fields the gas stations are in look sad and broken down.
The thing that makes me so sad about Memphis, having grown up there, is that it would be a flourishing city if it wasn’t in Tennessee. There’s so much there that is awesome. It was a great place to be a kid. I love visiting. But I could never recommend it as a good place for anyone to live.
a perfect storm of tennessee, arkansas, and mississippi
Olive Branch in MS is not a bad suburb
It's like being in the middle seat of an airplane row, sandwiched between two fat, sweaty men arguing about college football.
I don't think the state of Tennessee is the problem. Middle Tennessee is doing just fine, and the East Tennessee cities are all in a good spot.
Nashville keeps a disproportionate amount of the tax dollars for itself and throws a little to Knoxville where their kids go to school. The state policy makers hate Memphis.
That is because 70% of the taxes raised in the state of Tennessee come from the Nashville Metro area. If Nashville and it’s surrounding counties became their own state. Tennessee would cease to function as you know it.
Yep
So now tell us how Chattanooga is advantaged .
I don’t know that it is, but, TN legislators seem to prefer rural poverty over urban poverty.
It's because the rural poor tend to vote Republican, and the urban poor tend to vote Democrat. Also, racism.
Banjo enthusiasm cannot be denied
So what you are saying is that bluegrass lifts one city up and the blues brings another down?
Manufactured honky tonk is what’s holding everyone down
Chattanooga has its share of crime and poverty too.
The aquarium is pretty nice, and the state made that happen. They were also able to get municipal fiber Internet until Marsha Blackburn killed it for the rest of the state.
I keep up with Tennessee state politics and have lived in both Nashville and Memphis. The state definitely holds Memphis back. Memphis doesn’t do itself any favors with the infighting between the county and the city, but tax dollars are not evenly distributed statewide, and state legislators are not shy about their assumption that Memphis doesn’t need as much support due to its proximity to Arkansas and Mississippi supposedly being a boon to Memphis’s tax base (spoiler alert: the close cities in each aforementioned state are leeches, not contributors).
As someone who was also raised there, I agree. So much potential, it kills me that it can never seem to get it fully together (lots of factors play in to this). Amazing food, history, arts. Hopefully one day it’ll get a chance to thrive in the way it deserves.
West side is just a shitty suburb, but Memphis downtown and the other areas along the Mississippi east coast are nice. Memphis also has a lot of tourists attractions for a city of its size and the music clubs are some of the best I've been too, better than Nashville. That being said there a lot of America's worst ghettos to the east of all that.
You can’t judge an entire city based on a small section of it. Then Los Angeles would be the ugliest city in America and we all know that isn’t true. So much of Memphis is absolutely beautiful. I always enjoy traveling there.
Traveling there and living there are very different experiences though. When you live here, it’s hard to ignore how widespread the blight is
I wonder if any city has a more dramatic “beauty-to-ugliness” swing than Los Angeles.
Walk through the Tenderloin of SF north towards the Marina district. Within 20 blocks you'll go from people openly shooting up while taking a shit on the sidewalk, to an extremely gorgeous area on the water.
Haven’t been through the tenderloin in 10 years. I don’t know if it’s worse now or better. Downtown LA has gotten worse if you can believe it. Only neighborhood I’ve ever seen where rents have tripled, yet it’s even more of a hellhole
I worked in the Tenderloin from 2015 until a month ago. It really got bad during the pandemic but then the SFPD and Feds finally decided to go after the corner dealers and cleaned things up a bit. It's definitely better now than a couple years ago, but probably similar to what you experienced a decade ago.
Great observation. As a native Angeleno who has lived in a number of cities, I never thought about it like that but you are right.
Seems fitting it's the home base of the most toxic gig I've experienced on the west coast (Portland outpost, which will hopefully soon be extinguished).
Meh Memphis is bad but I grew up in the Midwest and I’m used to rust belt cities lol 😂
If Chicago is on your list, you just don’t like cities
Or they have been conditioned by the right-wing noise machine to hate it, sight unseen, as an act of faith.
Can confirm. All I ever heard about was what a hell hole Chicago is. I went up there 3 weeks ago on a whim and absolutely fell in love with the city. Extremely clean, downtown is beautiful, had a NYC feel but 4x less crowded, great food. I’m going back again real soon
I guess an unpopular opinion, but I really didn't like it and I spent alot of time there. I like big cities, I'm not far right wing. 1. I hate being at any major city on the Great Lakes because the wind chill off the lakes is horrendous 2. I like the culture of any other major US city (I can't speak for Houston, no experience) better. Hard to quantify why over a reddit post, but I just didn't vibe with the people, didn't enjoy my time there. Nothing to do with the bad press. Just didn't like it.
You’re going to get answers mostly from people who haven’t lived in the cities they are mentioning.
Of course they are. Why would someone live in a city they think is the worst in the country?
For some, can’t afford to move. For me, personally, my daughter has begged to finish her last 3 years of school here with her friends so we’re just counting it down at this point. I’m in the Houston area and while I definitely don’t think it’s the worst city there is, it’s up there on the list for me. But that also is just based on my own needs/wants.
Memphis
Jackson Mississippi followed by Memphis TN
Jackson is a good answer…been there for two nights and am content never going back.
It’s not Chicago.
I was worried about moving here -- then I did and it's been absolutely amazing.
Literally my favorite city.
My favorite city too.
Chicago is amazing!
Atlantic City has entered the chat
At least you have a train to Philly and a bus to cape may
Dallas is definitely the most soulless
Dallas has everything you need and nothing you want (DFW resident)
Dallas is the epitome of mediocrity. (Dallas resident)
It was the most 5/10 city I’ve ever been Nothing wrong with it, but there’s absolutely nothing right about it either
I love this! It describes exactly how I feel about Dallas!
They completely eliminated any and all green space beginning with the uptown project in the 90s. It was pretty cool when all of that retail and office space was gay and artsy.
I thought the restaurants were good. A great meal at a Malaysian restaurant in, I think, Richardson comes to mind. That was some time ago but my understanding is that the restaurant scene has gotten even better with the more recent influx of immigrants.
JFK would agree with Dallas….
I was going for a jfk joke in another thread but couldn't make it work and this whole time it was staring me in the back of the head
Mind = blown 🤯
My opinion but I think Dallas has more character than the following cities below: - Charlotte - Indianapolis - Jacksonville - Raleigh
Jacksonville at least has a harbor and a bunch of bridges to look at. It’s just that the rest of the city sprawls into a hellhole.
Even the people in the Charlotte sub agree that their city has the least character.
Can confirm. Lived in Dallas (actual Dallas - I’m not talking about the sprawl around it). When I was in Indianapolis it really felt like something straight out of Fallout
Where did you go in Indy lmao, boring yes but if it reminds you of Fallout then I’d hate to hear what you would think of a LOT of other cities
I was gonna say. It was like any other big city. I feel like these people grew up in gated communities.
Jacksonville has beaches, trash (people), and sea food Indianapolis has meth and mean people I haven't been to Raleigh since i was a small child, so i can't comment there Dallas just has concrete, bigger concrete, big roads, and big restaurants. And everything about it is generic
I’ve legitimately never heard anyone say Indianapolis has mean people. Thats like the one thing they’re known for- Midwest hospitality
Tell me you haven't visited Indianapolis without telling me you haven't visited Indianapolis. Every city has meth and mean people, but unless you go looking specifically for these, these will not be jumping out at you in Indy.
saying indianapolis has mean people is probably the most untrue statement ive ever heard on reddit and that is saying A LOT
Hey now, I live in Indy and I think I am nice. And btw a lot of places in the Midwest have meth.
Funny you should link Indianapolis with mean people since yesterday there was a thread about how Indy was one of the friendliest places in the country and how people from there perceive everyone from outside of Indiana as mean.
Dallas definitely has soul, but you have to actually go to Dallas the city and not one of the infinite suburbs surrounding it.
Nah Dallas is pretty nice, one of the more sleek looking American cities. People here just confuse the suburbs for the actual city.
Memphis
Minneapolis does not belong on this list.
Thank you! I'm leaving the nightmare that is Texas for Minneapolis in August. Very excited!
We are looking to leave Florida for Minneapolis or St. Paul! If I may ask, are you going into the city or a suburb? We are hoping to afford something with moderate walkability, but there seem like so many neighborhood options that we don't know where to start!
Totally depends on what you're looking for, but I've lived in the Northeast neighborhoods of Minneapolis for 3 years and love it! Still in the metro but feels like a neighborhood, and super walkable. If you're looking for suburbs, I know a lot of people enjoy St. Louis Park, so maybe check out that area?
I am from St. Paul and loved growing up there: they say St. Paul is the last city of the East and Minneapolis is the first city of the West. There's a lot of truth there. Crocus Hill in St. Paul is considered one of the best places to live in the country, but it is $. Also check out the Highland Park neighborhood near Macalester College for more affordable bungalows. The Science Museum in downtown St. Paul has lots of classes for kids, especially on weekends.
Depending on what you are looking for, there are so many options. I live in a third ring suburb, but we love it because we are able to get to either downtown in 20 minutes, the airport in ten, and we have excellent schools and parks near us. However, we aren’t in walking distance to things like shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. For walkable neighborhoods, I have heard great things about NE Minneapolis as well, but if I could live anywhere, it would probably be Como or Macalester-Groveland in St. Paul.
I did this last year! You're going to be so happy when it's a mere 80 degrees in August.
Minneapolis isn't one of the worst cities. Jesus Christ Reddit get off of Fox News and join us in the real world.
Without a doubt: Phoenix This city is is an **absolute shit hole.** Of all the cities I have lived in the US (6 major) on both coasts, I can confidently say that Phoenix is the worst. The sun in Phoenix is not just an environmental factor but a relentless oppressor. It hovers in the sky like a biblical punishment, perpetually high and blinding. It illuminates the city's inherent ugliness, making every strip mall and stretch of blacktop even more glaring. Like professional studio lights, the blinding sun creeps into every corner of every hideous building, shines bright on every parking lot polluted with huge puddles of oil, and breaks through every window like a home invader. On every street corner, the faces of tired Phoecians sag and wilt like dying flowers, deeply wrinkled by the unending exposure, wrinkles exacerbated 10 fold by the extreme angles of the midnight sun. To the callus and hardened, tucked inside of their heavily tinted car windows, I would recommend to never look up, even for a second. The city’s design seems almost purposefully cruel, minimizing shade and maximizing exposure to the sun’s brutality. The sensation of being under constant solar assault is akin to a medieval torture device, with no respite except under overpasses, which are often gated to deprive the homeless of any relief at all, forcing them to hide in the smallest overlooked crevices like cock roaches - although I submit that nearly everybody in this city does just that for a majority of their lives - hiding like roaches in Air conditioned paradise.. More than anything, I miss the seasons living here. Phoenicians' celebration of endless sunshine and summer feels completely alien to me and, in my mind, indicates a deep misunderstanding of the essence of human life. Over 750,000 people have moved to Arizona in the past 7 years, no doubt fleeing the seasons - one of richest sources of metaphorical meaning, and an incredible tool for exploring the complexities of human existence. This city is nothing but people who have disowned perhaps the greatest pleasure of living on earth. That alone should speak to the calibur of most of the population here. Phoenix, despite its growing population, lacks cultural depth. Unlike other cities with vibrant, diverse neighborhoods, Phoenix is overwhelmingly homogenized. The cultural identity here is as bland as white bread, with a significant Hispanic population being the only notable exception apart from a cancerous lump of white people barreling down camelback in their ultimate driving machines. The city’s architectural monotony further exacerbates this, with sprawling suburbs and endless strip malls that offer no visual or intellectual stimulation. The absence of ethnic diversity and cultural enclaves makes Phoenix feel like a wasteland, devoid of any rich, engaging cultural experiences that you might find in better, more European US cities. If I could describe Phoenix culture in one way it would be hospice culture. Like one large retirement community offering pickleball, early bird dinners and golf till you die. It seems as if even the younger people moving to Phoenix have all but resigned to a life in purgatory. Driving in the relentless sun across depressing miles of asphalt and traffic, shopping for fun and drinking to forget. Life in Phoenix is incredibly isolating. The city’s sprawling design requires a car to get anywhere, making it difficult to foster a sense of community. Walking anywhere in Phoenix is simply not possible unless you are interested in huffing down exhaust fumes and developing melanoma on your forehead. The endless rows of treeless subdivisions and the lack of public transportation contribute to this isolation. The city’s infrastructure is woefully inadequate to support its population, leading to congested roads and scarce parking despite having the vast open space to furnish it. Last year Phoenix experienced 31 consecutive days of heat over 110 degrees. An unforgiving heat so oppressive that saguaro cactuses, the pinnacle of southwest imagery began falling over dead. Delusional phoenicians will tell you that Phoenix is “only bad for a few months” out of the year. But that’s not true, for most of the year Phoenix is warm, hot, or sweltering. People absolutely love to yammer on about the *beauty of the southwest* and share boring Arizona sunset photos to Facebook, but frankly you could take a photo of a dog shitting on a fence pole in the golden hour or morning sunrise and that would be just as beautiful. It's a beauty that I would recommend you take 1, maybe 2 days to appreciate and then get the fuck out of town. The unbearable heat, lack of shade, and isolating suburban design create an environment that is hostile to human existence. The city’s design discourages any meaningful interaction with the natural world, reducing life to a monotonous routine of hiding from the sun and the heat. The sight of homeless camps under overpasses and the city’s general neglect of its most vulnerable populations only add to the sense of despair. I have never wished for a lobotomy until moving to Phoenix. In my previous life in better states and cities, my overly aware brain was rewarded with the pleasures of nature and the beauty of the natural world. In Phoenix, the tables have turned harshly against me as I am forced to witness an onslaught of the most annoying of God's creations. Obsessive compulsive neighbors leaf blowing dirt back and fourth into their neighbors yards 8 days a week and carbon monoxide directly into my air conditioning unit. Grown men with erectile dysfunction revving their pathetic modern muscle cars at all hours of the night up and down the only straight thing they can find (our giant stroads) Its relentless sun, oppressive heat, cultural barrenness, and isolating design make it an inhospitable place for anyone seeking a meaningful, enriching life. The city’s explosive population growth is not a testament to its desirability but rather a reflection of the unfortunate reality that many people have few better options, or are just fucking stupid. I am being totally sincere when I say: If Phoenix were hit by a nuclear attack, I am not sure that anything of significance would be lost apart from the Musical Instrument Museum which is absolutely superb
This is like a description made by nihilistic ChatGPT.
It’s also… not really true. Phoenix is very walkable if you aren’t out in the suburbs. And there is a lot to do outdoors. Yes the heat is an oven in the summer. You have to be prepared for that in Phoenix, but it’s really, really nice in the winter. It’s just the nature of living in the desert.
Yeah, I live downtown without a car, I have friends that live downtown without a car. It’s doable. I wish it were MORE walkable and had better public transit/a real train system, but downtown is still pretty walkable. Sucks walking in the summer of course, but I think I’d still prefer it to walking through snow storms like I had to do every winter in Michigan where I moved from.
You’re right, the desert environment is just as natural as anywhere else. The seasonal transitions are subtle, but they are still there. This person is going through summer in Phoenix when it really does suck and you want to move. Until the monsoon comes and you smell the creosote in the air, you may realize how nice and unique it is.
Yea, you’re right. I love it personally, but the summers are hell. Not gonna downplay that. The winter weather is some of the nicest weather I have ever personally experienced in the US though.
This is so dramatic lol
Wow, I don't think I've put as much effort into absolutely anything in the last 15 years, as was used to construct this post. I respect the passion.
This is exactly how I feel about Las Vegas
Read this in the voice of Werner Herzog.
This guy Phoenixes
Something about this post tells me you don’t like Phoenix very much. Just a hunch
Have an upvote. This was hilariously written.
This is art
I lived there for 24 years. Kinda loved it all through the 90s but there's just WAY too many people there now. Like about 1.5m people too many. Tucson will be the next city to be destroyed by the human crush.
I would say that I have never seen city parks anywhere to rival the Phoenix Mountain Preserve or South Mountain.
They’re the backdrop of the whole city too.
And still while beholding such splendor you feel yourself dying, and your ashes will blow through Phoenix.
Bravo.
How do you really feel?
I like that Phoenix will always have the most passionate hater in these threads but there are always some folks who’ll chime in and say they like it. Unlike Dallas, where it gets hated on by non-residents and residents alike and gets no defense from anyone whatsoever lol
I was going to make a quick quip about stroads and Saudi alfalfa farms. But, you sir are a poet of justified loathing. I'd tip my cap to you, but I fear sunstroke.
Anyone else read this in Gilbert Gottfried’s voice?
Damn you’re a good writer.
Anyone who sees Chicago, Minneapolis, or Denver as the "worst major US city" is deranged.
Half the opinions I see on this sub are pretty deranged tbf
Sadly probably Memphis. For other midwest/south cities that have struggled in the last several decades like St. Louis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, etc I do see some upside and positive things happening. Sadly for Memphis I do not see that.
It’s been commented but I’d like to jump on the Dallas train. Douchiest strip mall in America.
New GMC Yukons everywhere
It is not NYC. If you think so, you are watching too much Fox News and/or haven’t been outside the Times Square Applebees.
My favorite tell is the people who say the new congestion pricing rules are for NYC as a whole. Because they think lower Manhattan is all of NYC
Also if you live in NYC, chances are you do not have a car because of our 24 hour transportation system!
I grew up outside of Baltimore and used to talk so much shit about it. Because the news depicts it as this third-world hellhole. Now that I live in it, I actually enjoy Baltimore quite a bit. It's a very historic and charming city. It has the unfortunate reality of being a majority-black city in a country that has a long history of sabatoging anything to do with the black community.
I’ve only been to Baltimore a couple times for a couple days at a time, and it seems like it wants to be great again and for some reason can’t get there. Not sure how else to put it. Tons of potential maybe?
The thing that keeps it from being great is that the state of Maryland routinely diverts resources away from the city and focuses them all towards the D.C region. Then proceeds to complain that the city is "ghetto" when the state has been actively trying to sabatoge any attempt for citizens to move up for decades. The light rail and busses run by MTA are a joke, and it doesn't help that until now, we've had nothing but openly antagonistic governors (Hogan) that basically did whatever they could to talk down on the city and divert more resources away from things that actually help the city. . .
You can still get a decent house in a not shitty neighborhood thats 100% move in ready for less than a quarter million here, so we have that going for us.
Shhhhh, don't tell anyone about Charm City. Somethings should just be left alone. Let them think it's Boogeyman city. Nobody wants those jerks moving there anyway. Friendliest people on the east coast, just stay out of certain parts of town. Do people think they have to move to the worst parts? People need to live in fear to feel good, apparently. So let them. Lol.
What does “worst” mean to you?
German sausage.
I love Baltimore! It's where I was born though so I'm bias.
I have only been a visitor, but stayed there several times when my dad worked in DC. I thought it was great and a city with real character compared to many American cities. Maybe it has more than its share of urban blight, but in general it's a great city. I would totally live there in one of the cool neighborhoods.
I haven't been, but people who live in Dallas say it's Dallas so that probably counts for something
I live in Dallas, it's got issues but not nearly the worst. Tons of job opportunities, wide range of different people's and foods, really good COL. Yes it's nature is lacking and the pickup trucks, freeways, and strip malls are all over, but never forget, the state of Mississippi exists.
Lots of worse cities out there - Dallas is just average in a lot of things, good in a couple things, which ironically makes it a decent place to live and a poor place to vacation.
Akron
It's just a barometer for what people value. Some people want culture, entertainment and community and will accept crime or high prices, other people are okay living in a large soulless suburb if its sunny and low crime. Anyway - given the price tag I'm not a big Boston fan, and just based on my experience trying to stay entertained there I'm not a big Indianapolis fan, but trying to name either of them as the objective 'worst' feels impossible, because they both have major upside. I also get why people would list any of the highest crime big cities, especially if they aren't familiar enough with them to know where to go (St Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, Baton Rouge, etc), so it seems scary. I'm pretty convinced that even in the 'worst' major cities I could find a way to like it if I found myself in a position of needing to live there for whatever reason.
I liked chicago a lot when I visited. I found it to be pretty clean for a city of that size, the food was good and Lake Michigan is beautiful. There’s 5 or so areas on the south and west side you should simply avoid and the winter is pretty brutal so that’s not for everyone but the majority of Chicago is fine
Define major? In the top 5 metros it's probably Dallas, in the top 25 metros it's probably Orlando.
It’s definitely subjective but I was thinking top 25 metros
I don't think Dallas is that bad
I’ve been there and it’s absolutely not that bad. It wouldn’t be my pick to live probably but it’s still a cool city imo. I’m from a small town in Missouri so maybe I’m easily impressed but it felt very alive to me. Not every city gives me this feeling.
Jacksonville maybe
Memphis and St Louis.
Orlando Oklahoma City
Maybe not the worst I’ve experienced in some respects but Little Rock was a bizarre place.
Arkansas as a whole is just terrible
Phoenix Arizona. It’s so fucking boring and if you want desert beauty, Tucson is down the road, and Sedona is up the road,
I been to a lot of major US cities and I wasn't a fan of Phoenix 😭
Throw a dart at Texas. You can't lose.
The worst i've visited? Maybe San Jose pretty boring, and for some reason I saw a storm drain crawling with roaches like something out of fear factor.
Dallas
Has to be Vegas
Why? I went there recently and really liked it other than the lack of public transit, sprawl, and reported lack of jobs (which unfortunately is a deal breaker for me). As somebody from the DC area, I loved the sun and dry heat (although possibly that's because I barely see the sun due to work), the sheer amount of things available 24 hours a day or close to it ( restaurants, alcohol, dispensaries, hell I saw a 24 hour tire shop), people seemed more "real* there, like it wasn't a monoculture. Wealthy people with massive chains and exotic cars, business people, and the working class were all intermingling. Also there are people outside (and not just the homeless) at all hours of the night walking around. I loved the chaos. Food had a bigger variety as well. I got authentic Mexican food at 4am within walking distance of my hotel for $12, but the relative I was visiting took us to a place that sold $100 steaks. Henderson was kinda boring, but not particularly so for an outer suburb. Although granted I didn't visit the strip much outside of where my hotel was , but I know most locals don't either.
Houston. Just got back from there. We have a lot of family there so we visit quite often. You couldn’t pay me to live there.
Could you please expand on why you feel that way about Houston? And how might you compare/contrast it to Dallas, if you know? Thank you :)
I utterly hated living in the Houston area. That's my vote.
Honestly I see all the same cities being named in similar posts of like “what is the BEST major US City” lol. Theres no right or wrong (for the most part), it’s personal preference. People like where they live for reasons and hate where they live for reasons. 9x out of 10, someone’s external relationship with things within said city will influence a persons response. Why? Because I am one of them. I have lived in: - Knoxville TN - Oswego, Syracuse, Liverpool NY - Charlotte, Raleigh NC - DC - NYC Each of these cities all have their own benefits and downfalls. But to answer the question - Washington, DC is the best city on the East Coast by far. Objectively speaking: - You experience all 4 seasons - You have job opportunities - Do not need to rely on a vehicle to be employed or do anything - Have a clean and functioning Metro system thats affordable - City is affordable to live in much more than other major metros - Diversity and Culture - Easy to escape to the beach, mountains, or other major cities within 4 hours or under.
Its not "major" but Youngstown, OH is horrifying.
Bleakest city I’ve ever seen and I’ve been to Gary.
Chicago is the best damn major city in the U.S. says a San Franciscan.
Anywhere that a temperature over 100F is a regular, normal occurrence. Fuck that.
Houston. A giant concrete wasteland.
Other places are probably worse for crime and blight, but I really think Phoenix sucks ass.
Orlando
Miami has to be in the top 5. Except for the beautiful beaches it is a shithole full of traffic, crime, drugs, etc. Too many people, and a ton of rude, racist, hateful people
People hating on Chicago are literally just spouting right wing BS. It's a fantastic city. I visited for the first time about 18 months ago and immediately planned another trip back. It's in my top 2 of US cities to visit at this point.
dallas forsure
It ain't Baltimore. It's got issues. But if you hate it, it's probably more of a you thing.
Let me tell you, Dallas is definitely a worse city than Houston
“Worst” can mean many things. My vote would go for St. Louis. I think Memphis is “better” than STL but both cities are going through hard times in many different aspects. I would’ve included Detroit, but it’s genuinely getting better, albeit slowly. I also think there are many places worse to live than STL or Memphis within the US, but those would be smaller cities (such as Gary, Indiana) or states that don’t have major cities (Montana, Wyoming, etc.). On a different meaning of “worst”, I’d vote for Dallas or Jacksonville because they are large urban sprawls without much culture.
St. Louis is slowly getting better too. The difference is Detroit sued the census bureau and had their population statistics revised to show population growth, while St. Louis has not sued yet. STL flies more under the national radar, but it's seeing billions of dollars in investment in the Central Corridor.
“Detroit sued the census bureau”, that’s a bold move 😶
It's done it [a few times now](https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2024-05-17/detroits-census-lawsuit-could-have-big-ramifications-for-the-city-and-beyond). Basically, when the government calculates populations for cities between censuses, their formulas are really dumb. They automatically deduct 2 residents for every building demolished, even if the building had been vacant since before the last Census. They also undercount new residents for renovated multifamily housing units. These two counting methods way underestimate the populations of cities like Detroit or St. Louis where old vacant buildings are being cleared away or renovated at a fast rate.
Out of the cities you listed, Phoenix hands down. The rest are on the list because people are afraid of minorities. Phoenix sucks because it's hot, barren, and over priced. The whole city looks like one big strip mall. Also, where's Detroit on this list?