Cleveland Nabs "Most Miserable" Honors

By: Daniel Carty
Topics: In The News

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

It has unemployment problems and bad weather, high taxes and corrupt public officials, painful commute times and, for the most part, pretty bad sports teams. All of those factors (and more) combine to make Cleveland, Ohio the most miserable city in America.

Forbes release its annual rankings of metropolitan misery Thursday, with Cleveland taking the top – or maybe bottom – spot out of the largest 200 metro areas in the U.S. The magazine takes a number of factors into consideration when compiling their list: unemployment rates, taxes (sales and income), commutes, violent crime, weather, pollution, public corruption and the performances of professional sports teams.

Cleveland's performance was bad across the board, as it was the only city to rank in the bottom half of every category.

By contrast, Boulder, Colo., ranks as the happiest place in the country, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. The survey was based on interviews with more than 353,000 Americans, with questions on jobs, finances, physical and emotional health and communities.

Second on the happy list was Holland-Grand Haven, Mich., followed by (no surprise) Honolulu. View the complete list at USA Today's Website.

San Jose ranked 7th overall but was the highest ranked city with a population greater than 1 million.

Back to the misery list: A lot of smaller Midwest cities get slammed in the rankings, but they're also joined by the likes of Miami, New York and Chicago.

Here's the complete list:

1. Cleveland, OH
2. Stockton, CA
3. Memphis, TN
4. Detroit, MI
5. Flint, MI
6. Miami, FL
7. St. Louis, MO
8. Buffalo, NY
9. Canton, OH
10. Chicago, IL
11. Modesto, CA
12. Akron, OH
13. Kansas City, MO
14. Rockford, IL
15. Toledo, OH
16. New York, NY
17. Sacramento, CA
18. Youngstown, OH
19. Gary, IN
20. Philadelphia, PA

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by prsevi79 February 20, 2010 5:10 PM EST: Any decent human being with a heart should be offended by Forbes magazine and its pretentious list. How does their ******** list of "America's Most Miserable Cities" help anybody? It doesn't help at all. All it does is give the privilege elite more reason to laugh and thumb their noses at those living in struggling cities. There are good and hard-working people living in Stockton and Cleveland as well. For Forbes to label their town "miserable" is a slap in their faces. Down with Forbes and its miserable and snobby writers! The people at Forbes should do something to help the cities they put on their foolish list, instead of judging them from their ivory perch.; Reply to this comment


by elvissugar February 20, 2010 12:49 PM EST: Polls are stupid. I live in Chicago and I wish Clevelanders stop putting Chicago on a pedestal, its nice here on the North side especially when your only visiting, but thats it, you live hee and its unaffordable. the south side and west side of chicago are gang infested and it is expensive! I took a few Chicagoans to Cleveland and they enjoyed it alot, they were surprised how affordable it is and alot to do, all they heard was the bad jokes until now, two of my friends are actually looking at homes, in Cleveland to retire, yes retires because buying a home on the lake is not affordable here, you get a lot more home for the money, actually there isnt a single family house within Chicago city limits nor heading south on Lake michigan, its all high rise buildings!; Reply to this comment


by proudmilvet February 20, 2010 2:24 AM EST: Miami, FL. came in at #6. Miami is miserable?; Reply to this comment


by retm-w February 19, 2010 8:27 PM EST: Corrupt public officials, the story doesn't mention they're all Democrats. Doesn't mention cheap sports team owners(Browns and Indians)who trade good players so they don't have to pay them what they're worth. Commute time from where, I live 30 miles from downtown Cleveland and in rush hour it takes me 40 min other then if we have a big snow then maybe an hour. At least when we get a foot or two of snow the only thing that closes are the schools, not the whole city.
About 15 min from downtown to the airport via rapid transit. Crime is no worse then La, DC, Ny, Det, or any other major city.; Reply to this comment


by JavMD February 18, 2010 4:13 PM EST: WAKE UP AMERICA ! there is a reason for Cleveland being like this !

For example the populace, the voters are 'uneducated', the school system has a 50% dropout rate.

So.. voters have no idea who they are electing, for example, in your story you mention Cleveland 'defaulting', well, the Mayor was Kucinich (sp). And the voters continue to vote him in. Example, he even ran for President and long after the democratic party elected someone else, he continued to fly across the country 'campaigning' all while his constituats love him and reelected him again.

The Browns fans are uneducated also... acting like they have won..ahhh..say.. 6 Super Bowls, and have the brains to bad mouth Pittsburgh ! lol

It is a mistake by the lake. They use to have the 'flats' but it is nothing now.. maybe a grave yard for the people killed down there. The water mains break terribly each winter... .. on and on I could go.

Don't believe me? how many people continue to leave the area?; Reply to this comment


by bmirarck2 February 18, 2010 11:38 AM EST: I left Clevesburg 34 years ago and live in the mountains above Boulder. Best move I ever could have made. Everytime I go home I read about the same public officials cited for corruption. This goes on year after year. What is wrong with everyone in Clevesburg? These officials need to be hanged as an example to others!; Reply to this comment

by ajvw February 18, 2010 10:37 AM EST

"It has unemployment problems and bad weather, high taxes and corrupt public officials, painful commute times and, for the most part, pretty bad sports teams."

if this is the criteria Washington DC would get my vote.

Reply to this comment


by JavMD February 18, 2010 4:37 PM EST: hey, we don't have pretty bad sports teams" !, well just in 1997 the Indians were in the world series ! what year is this again?