These Dangerous US Cities Have Fallen the Most in Recent Years

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Unfortunately, the declining economy and unstable employment market over the last few years have caused some US cities to decline. These cities, once safe or at least passable, are now hotbeds for poverty, crime, and other unfavorable living conditions.

When asked, “What American city has fallen the furthest in the last 5 years?” the internet didn’t hold back.

Here are the US cities that no longer hold their appeal:

1. Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson’s murder rate is so high that the governor of Mississippi labeled it as the “murder capital of the world” in a February 2023 news conference. According to city officials, in 2022, Jackson’s murder rate was 87.8 people out of 100,000—more than 12 times that of the United States as a whole.

Wrote one individual of the city, “Easily the worst place I’ve ever been in my entire life. It is crazy to me that that is the capital of the state, and all of the politicians have to drive through there and witness it.

“The entire area around the Capitol building is completely dead, and there are homeless people everywhere. Everything is dilapidated and dirty.”

2. New Orleans, Louisiana

2022 was not a good year for New Orleans. When speaking on The Big Easy, data analyst Jeff Asher described that the city is on track to have the highest murder rate in the country.

Wrote one disgruntled resident, “Our current mayor is blatantly corrupt and open about it. She’s been caught misusing public funds and having a personal relationship with one of her security officers on city time and dime.

“Our infrastructure is crumbling. Our public transportation system is becoming more scarce, with fewer streetcar routes, fewer bus routes, and longer wait times for public transit. Average police response time is anywhere from 4 to 9 hours if there are no reported injuries and 35 to 50 minutes for violent crime or reported injuries.

“The housing market is outrageous despite the properties falling apart. The job market is abysmal, and no reputable companies want to operate in the city.

“New Orleans is ACTUALLY what people picture when they think of Detroit.”

See also: Top 10 Restaurants in New Orleans

3. Davenport, Iowa

Said one person who grew up in the city, “I used to visit family every summer in the 90s, and it was bad then. I always explained it as, ‘You know how a big city has a tough part of town with crime, homelessness, drugs, and whatnot? That’s Davenport in the Quad Cities. But Davenport isn’t a big city, just a small town with a big city problem.'”

Though it may not have been great for the last few decades, people agree that the city has fallen even further in recent years, writing, “Allowing buildings to deteriorate to the point of random collapsing in that town didn’t help either. It shows what little concern the elected officials show for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens.”

See also: Cheap Places to Travel: Get Your Bang for Your Buck

4. Oakland, California

“Oakland looked like it was on the path to bigger and better things before the pandemic. A few tech companies moved headquarters there, and more were looking to move. Urban renewal looked like a real possibility.

“Then, the pandemic hit and undid all the progress and then some. Parts of Oakland feel lawless. 911 does not respond, and criminals walk from car to car, breaking windows in broad daylight,” said one Oakland resident.

5. Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is no stranger to being called one of the most dangerous cities in the USA. According to a report from WalletHub, Memphis had the highest homicide rate per capita of any US city in the first part of 2023.

A frustrated resident stated, “A few years ago, for the first time in generations, Memphis was doing good. Now? Where to start?

“About a year ago, the I-40 Bridge had a giant crack in one of the sides because the inspector was afraid of heights. This bridge goes over the Mississippi and has hundreds of thousands of people going over daily. Some people flying a drone are the only reason we found out about it.

“Just last month, over 500,000 people lost power multiple times for multiple days in a row. Why? It rained. It wasn’t a tornado, it wasn’t a flood, it was just consecutive heavy rain.

“(You) can’t drink the water because the pipes keep bursting during the winter, and it causes sewage to back up into it. The diesel generators running the pumping stations have been overused and started to leak into the groundwater, meaning gasoline is now in our drinking water.”

6. San Francisco

San Francisco is a contrast of wealth and poverty between the tech executives driving up the city’s housing market and the unsafe Tenderloin neighborhood where homelessness and crime are rampant.

Said one SF-born resident of the city’s decline in recent years, “I’ve never seen it like this. People are leaving notes in the windows begging thieves not to break their windows. A coworker took the tint off his windows so they could see he didn’t have anything. (Thieves) busted his windows and took his 49er bobblehead that was on his dashboard.”

Another longtime local agreed, explaining, “I grew up in the Bay Area and watched San Francisco’s gradual decline into a dystopian city of inequality. The change is insane.”

See also: The Best Airbnbs in San Francisco

7. Portland, Oregon

What happened to Portland? Oregon’s flagship city is nearly unrecognizable these days, according to locals.

Said one, “(Drug use) festers in Portland. The government decided to enable addicts, letting people smoke hard drugs on buses and on public sidewalks.

“Small businesses were repeatedly vandalized, and windows were smashed. This caused a lot of cool places to close and made it less appealing to go to the current ones.

“Neighborhoods have random, busted RVs roll in and set up camp with their (stuff) spilling into the road, creating dangerous situations. These people are defecating in bushes and littering everywhere.

“Car and bicycle theft and vandalism have significantly increased. The police hardly do anything.

“Roads have been redesigned to take away car lanes and add bike lanes. But bike chop shops are common and allowed to accumulate in plain sight. I’m not going to ride somewhere and risk being stranded so an addict can get his next hit.”

See also: 6 Day Trips from Portland

8. Asheville, North Carolina

Though Asheville is not nearly as dangerous as many of the other cities on this list (and definitely isn’t one of the most dangerous in the country), according to Asheville’s police chief, David Zack, between 2021 and 2022, the city saw historically high violent crime rates. Violent crime rose by 17.4% on the whole, while aggravated assault alone skyrocketed by 21.8%.

One Asheville resident was truly disappointed with the change their city has gone through, sharing, “It went from one of the most vibrant, artistic towns in the South to a bloated, gentrified wasteland after real estate developers came in and priced out all the artists.

“There was a district of abandoned buildings there in the early 2000s that all these artists and musicians fixed up and used for studios, turning it into the ‘River Arts District.’ But after it gained popularity, the whole place got bought up by investors who raised rents and prices until all the artists simply left.

“All our friends were leaving because they couldn’t afford it anymore. Nowadays, the only thing the town is known for is its breweries. There’s very little artistry anymore. Everyone’s just drunk and sad and broke, no matter how hard they work. I’m glad I left. But it breaks my heart to think of what the place used to be and what it could’ve been.”

See also: Top 10 Cities in North Carolina To Visit

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