In this story, I covered the “worst cities” in America that people hated for one reason or another. It ended up resonating with readers who found the answers ridiculous, agreeable, and even added their own takes. Again, I haven’t been to any of these places, so I apologize in advance. Here’s what even more people had to say:
1. “Allentown, Pennsylvania. That place almost broke me. The people there are in a time warp. Every chain restaurant, store, and big box is overly represented. I got the hell out of there.”
2. “Detroit. I spent eight weeks total over a six-month period in 2001 working on a project at a steel door factory for an engineering company. The decades of pollution by the Big 3 are everywhere. I was told by the locals there to never drink anything that wasn’t bottled. There were neighborhoods of cookie-cutter housing built in the 1950s that were abandoned and rotting away.”
3. “The weirdest experience I ever had was in Boca Raton, Florida. I went there for a weekend job interview and brought my wife and teenage daughter with me. The interview never happened. They sent a realtor to show us houses. There were too many lizards running around for my wife to be comfortable. We left, and I’ve never returned to Florida. And I won’t.”
4. “Midland, Texas. I would have chewed an arm off to get out of there. Driving through it looks like something from a dystopian movie. The flaring and smell from the rigs is indescribable, and heaven forbid your politics are not hard right. I literally won’t even fly through there now.”
5. “Surprised there was no mention of Saginaw, Michigan, or Flint, Michigan. I was born in Saginaw. My family moved to California when I was 8. My parents went back in 1975 to visit relatives. My mother told me that there were parts of Saginaw that you wouldn’t want to drive through even during the day. If anyone lives there, can you inform me if it’s still like this?”
6. “Rochester, New York. It smells like old potatoes and bong water, and it is extremely unsafe. Don’t try walking anywhere ever or being outside because of the stabbing risk. People are visibly unhappy; everyone is miserable and unpleasant. It’s cold, windy, and it snows every day, but not enough to be fun or pretty. Just enough so that you have to clean off your car daily. I never found one decent restaurant after living there for five years.”
7. “I don’t know how Syracuse is not topping the list! It has dismal roads, no culture, mediocrity in ways I have never seen anywhere else in the world, hypocrisy, and a parochial attitude with a chip on the shoulder of the cliquey, diluted, born-locally fanatics that makes no sense, and an absolutely horrendous educational system. If you don’t have money here to send your kids to a private school, and bear in mind it’ll be a private school that reflects the general mediocrity, your kids will not get a proper education. In general, there seems to be an incredible amount of petty, small corruption, especially if you’re not in the in-crowd or if you don’t fake your way through certain institutions here. It’s a cautionary tale in unmet potential.”
8. “Modesto, California. That place is basically a sweltering, broken concrete, with trash in the streets. The broken dreams of corporations that tried to settle there in the ’90s and never updated their peeling, plastic buildings. Oh yeah, and it smells like sh— there.”
9. “Greensboro, North Carolina. It was the worst city I ever lived in — particularly, southeast Greensboro. I lived in a mobile home park, and one evening I heard gunshots and my cat freaked out. It scared me too, and I moved out of the area. It is not a good place to live.”
10. “Needles, California, is pretty terrible. It’s been 25 years since I was there, and maybe it has been built up since then, but when I was there, it was a 100-mile stretch of nothing. No gas stations, no restaurants, no anything. I drove through there in July 2001 when my car overheated. Not fun.”
11. “Tulsa, Oklahoma. I spent the weirdest 24 hours there and not in a good way. Wide and EMPTY streets, so seeking help if you need it is impossible. The only place you can sit is a park bench, and when you’re minding your own business, you can end up on the lam from the mafia by the end of the day. (True story, unfortunately).”
12. “Colorado Springs, Colorado. It’s a military town, and it seems the city’s government always considers the military first while the majority of the population goes unnoticed. The county has the worst roads and drivers with the highest accident fatalities in the state. Selling a home can be an anxiety-inducing endeavor as VA loans can make it difficult to secure another home buy or rental lease. They have a terrible restaurant scene. It’s a very conservative city with very blatant bigotry and racism.”
13. “Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. For being the capital city of Pennsylvania, it’s probably the most depressing capital I’ve ever been to. There was nothing I saw that made me interested in being there, and the whole city was a sad shade of brown, beige, and gray.”
14. “Akron and Youngstown, Ohio are dumpy. Driving through those two cities was depressing.”
15. “My least favorite place is hands down Terre Haute, Indiana. There was construction everywhere all the time. It’s dirty and dumpy and filled with creepy, unhappy, unfriendly people. There was a carnival in town when I passed through, and it added to the evil, scary vibe. I only spent a few hours resting in the creepiest overpriced motel I’d ever been in. I felt like I was in an episode of Supernatural.”
16. “Springfield, Missouri. It was dirty, rundown, and full of unfriendly Missourians. Their claim to fame is the birthplace of Route 66. The whole city is a literal culinary wasteland.”
17. “Shreveport, Louisiana. It’s like what major depression would look like if it was a city.”
18. “Decatur, Illinois. The smell there is intolerable. The atmosphere in that place is dreadful. The skies are always gray. There is not a single redeeming quality about that town.”
19. “Dayton, Ohio. A dead rust belt city kept on life support by the universities and the Air Force base. It’s surrounded by rural meth lands. Rent was cheap as hell because you had to live there. Never again.”
20. “Albuquerque, New Mexico. Desert wasteland with unhappy locals everywhere. Bad, bad vibes.”
21. “Louisville, Kentucky. There was garbage all over city streets and public locations. A lot of the public places felt eerie and sketchy.”
22. “Des Moines, Iowa. Unless you’re a fan of staring at cornfields, there’s nothing there.”
23. And lastly, “Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It’s like Myrtle Beach without the beach and that is not a compliment. T-shirt and cheesy souvenir shops everywhere.”
Apologies again if you live in any of these cities. But do you agree or disagree? What cities would you like to add? Let us know in the comments! Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can fill out the form below!
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