Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Los Angeles are among the top 10 “neediest” cities in the country, according to an analysis by personal finance website WalletHub.
The report assessed 182 cities across 28 economic indicators, including child poverty, food insecurity and inadequate kitchens.
Detroit was ranked as the neediest metropolis. According to a Detroit News report, one in five renters in Detroit faced eviction this year.
Brownsville, Texas, took second place. According to a recent report in 24/7 Wall St, a quarter of the city’s population lives in poverty, twice the national average.
Cleveland is in third place. According to a report from WEWS-TV, Cleveland’s poverty rate is 29 percent, making it the second poorest major city in the country after Detroit.
Fourth through sixth places were Gulfport, Miss.; Fresno, California; and Laredo, Texas.
Philadelphia placed seventh. According to WTXF-TV, the City of Brotherly Love recorded 500 murders in 2022.
New Orleans finished in eighth place. The city may have the highest murder rate in the country, with more than 250 murders this year, according to a report from nola.com.
Despite its wealth, Los Angeles came in ninth place on the list of needy cities. According to a recent report in The Nation, more than 40,000 Angelenos live on the streets.
The least needy city in the country, according to WalletHub’s calculation, is the D.C. suburb of Columbia, Maryland, a tony bedroom community in Howard County.
Other cities at the desirable bottom of the list include Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota; Overland Park, the Kansas City suburb; Pearl City, part of the greater Honolulu metropolitan area; South Burlington, Vt., home of Ben & Jerry’s; and Irvine, California, beyond LA’s Orange Curtain
The WalletHub analysis singled out cities with high rates on certain measures of need. Rochester, NY had the highest child poverty rate, followed by Detroit and Cleveland. Huntington, W.Va., had the highest rate of adult poverty, again followed by Detroit and Cleveland.
Five cities share the top spot for homelessness: Fresno and San Francisco in California, New York, DC and Honolulu. Over the years of the pandemic, homeless camps have sprung up around the nation’s capital. San Francisco officials faced legal challenges over the eviction of their homeless population.
Gulfport, Miss., was at the top of the list for food insecurity. More than a quarter of Gulfport residents live in poverty.
San Francisco had the highest rate of homes with inadequate plumbing.
Lewiston, Maine, topped the list of cities with inadequate kitchens, presumably a measure of available water and electricity rather than counter space and cabinets.
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