Every location has its upsides and downsides, whether you’re just visiting as a tourist or looking for a nice piece of property to put down roots. However, it would be utterly naive to think that every single place is ‘equal’ in terms of the quality of life that it offers. Some areas are objectively worse than others when it comes to the thing that all of us (should) value the most: our safety and that of our loved ones.
Redditor u/jhffmn21 started up a viral thread by asking the Americans using the site to share their opinions about the worst big cities in the United States. What followed was a very open and honest discussion about some of the worst spots in the country and why others might want to consider avoiding them. Scroll down to read what they had to say.
Do we have any US Pandas in the house today? We’d love to hear your personal thoughts about the very best and worst places to live, so swing by the comment section.
We got in touch with the author of the viral thread, redditor u/jhffmn21, from Germany. They told Bored Panda about what inspired them to ask the question in the first place, what they think about the United States, and what the ideal city to live in would look like. Check out our interview below!
#1
Jackson, Mississippi. Very high murder rate, low education, failing infrastructure. 
Image credits: Cute-King5456
“I‘m from Germany and planning to study in the United States next year and I‘ve somehow always been interested in geographic and cultural insides of the USA,” redditor u/jhffmn21, the author of the popular r/AskReddit thread, shared with Bored Panda.
“Here in Germany, we have like 4-5 big cities and I guess almost every citizen has been to at least 3 of them,” they said. “The thought that there are so many huge cities in the USA and so many Americans have never seen most of them is absolutely crazy to me.”
#2
Bakersfield California. Nothing but meth and stripmalls
Image credits: teejaysaz
#3
Houston is one big spread out strip mall
Image credits: Ztrianta
According to the author of the thread, the idea of the vastness of the United States made them want to see what other people’s opinons were. They “wanted to get insides and information about the urban life in the US.”
For a moment, the OP considered asking a different variation of the question on r/AskReddit. However, they changed their mind when they considered what would appeal to more readers.
“I guess the question, ‘What’s the best big city and why?’ wouldn’t have gone viral because it’s not that controversial and emotional as the opposite one,” they told us.
#4
The worst cities are the most boring cities- the most devoid of personality. So I’m going to say Jacksonville, Florida.
Image credits: seanofkelley
#5
Bakersfield or Fresno pretty sure the devil has part time vacation homes in both of them
Image credits: Ok-Trash-798
#6
Miami.
Year round tropical paradise? Year round hot garbage. Hot, humid garbage. A crime-ridden, bug-infested, trash-strewn, traffic-choked third world s**t hole. The official flower is mildew, the official smell is decomp, the official birds are mosquitos and plametto bugs which is just a cute name for giant cockroaches. Absolutely abysmal education means the native population is as dumb as a box of rocks. “Oh but houses are so cheap!” They sure are, when they’re poorly built, slum-adjacent and 20 traffic-clogged miles from any decent services or shopping. Just overlook the property taxes, too. Better hope your condo building was properly maintained. Uninsured driver, slip-and-fall scam central. And goooooooood luck finding anyone who speaks English.
What’s really hilarious is the handful of companies relocating there citing crime in the cities they’re leaving. Had they read the news they’d know Miami is not Singapore or Geneva. “Crypto hub”? Yeah, good luck with that.
Rising sea level can’t come soon enough.
Image credits: W-S_Wannabe
“I was very happy to see that so many people replied and this brought me to watch videos from Nick Johnson on YouTube, for example, about the worst American ghettos. These replies also helped me in terms of finding a perfect university and knowing which cities I probably shouldn’t visit.”
As for what their ideal city might look like, here’s what u/jhffmn21 had to say: “In my opinion, a great city should be safe (for the most part), have lots of bars and restaurants, a good nightlife, sights, diversity and a solid economy with enough jobs for their inhabitants. I‘m really looking forward to coming to the States and hopefully see as many big cities as possible.”
#7
I passed Camden NJ on a way to a concert – and we stopped at a light and a cop drove up and literally told us “just run the reds and go do not stop” and as we turned you would just see groups of ppl on corners waiting for a stopped car. It was wild.
Image credits: MarsReject
#8
I think every city has great parts. But imo worst parts of Baltimore is pretty… out there.
Image credits: StewofPuppies
#9
East St.Louis, stopped once for gas. Didn’t think I was going to make it back on 55
Image credits: Nature_Goulet
Very recently, Bored Panda wrote about the red flags that indicate a bad neighborhood. Some of them include dirty roads, old cars, run-down infrastructure, a very noticeable homeless population, as well as lots of check-cashing stores.
Meanwhile, good neighborhoods tend to have clean streets and well-manicured lawns, good schools, high-end stores, and a general sense of beauty in terms of architecture.
#10
My city, Stockton California. Finally got another serial killer captured a few weeks ago. Don’t get me started on the speed freak killers. City has a real population of around 420k, 60k are homeless. The last 3 mayor’s have been arrested during or after their term. City council is a farce. PD, holy s**t of s**t shows. I will admit there are good officers, yet there’s been 2 Sergeants arrested for SA and rape in the past year. When I 1st moved here there was a bank robbery with hostages, police put 27 rounds in the hostage. Police chief admitted his guys needed more firing range time on an open mic. Every amusement or nice attraction gets shutdown. Golfland gone, Incredible John’s gone, and so on. We’re considered the little Chicago, I believe our crime rate is on par with them. School District, holy s**t what show. Every year we get a new Superintendent that either gets fired or steps down. The district apparently is close to insolvency with the state getting ready to take over. I believe a few tens of millions in the hole. Yet most of their employees don’t get benefits. Yeah health insurance around $800 a month that’s mandatory. Have to say the Fire department is awesome asf, they put out a s**t ton of fires.
Image credits: Technical-Report-507
#11
GARY. F*****G. INDIANA. all my homies hate Gary Indiana
Image credits: AtLeast3Breadsticks
#12
Boston is amazing, very historical and with great cuisine. So much to do.
But God almighty getting around in the city is a nightmare. It’s like they haven’t modernized their infrastructure for anything more than 1950 levels of traffic. It’s crazy.
Image credits: hezelm
At the time of writing, the OP’s thread on r/AskReddit had 28.3k upvotes. Their question really got American redditors thinking. And though there are plenty of wonderful places to live in the US, it doesn’t mean that crime is non-existent. Some parts of the country are very dangerous. Forbes notes that crime is getting worse in the US. Homicides increased by 7% in 2021. Meanwhile, gun violence is on the rise, with deadly shootings 80% more common in large cities.
Earlier in 2022, Forbes published a list of the most dangerous cities in the United States, in terms of the cost of crime, based on MoneyGeek’s research. Here’s the top 10:
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Detroit, Michigan
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Shreveport, Louisiana
#13
Los Angeles. Holy hell that city is the worst designed city I have ever been to. It’s like someone built a bunch of single family houses with a bunch of freeways and then called it a city. Then they complain about the homeless problem.
Image credits: AlfrondronDinglo
#14
San Francisco. Needles, human poop, and homeless problem.
Image credits: Questionable_Ballot
#15
Newark NJ. I will say this until I die, there is a reason they use it to portray Gotham city in Batman.
Image credits: SpatialSpy
However, it really isn’t all doom and gloom. According to Forbes, here are the 20 safest cities to live in:
20 Safest Cities in the US (with a population over 100,000)
- Naperville, Illinois
- Cary, North Carolina
- Murrieta, California
- Carmel, Indiana
- Frisco, Texas
- Amherst Town, New York
- Cape Coral, Florida
- Irvine, California
- Thousand Oaks, California
- McKinney, Texas
- Allen, Texas
- Lee’s Summit, Missouri
- Coral Springs, Florida
- Bend, Oregon
- Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
- Temecula, California
- Santa Clarita, California
- Daly City, California
- Meridian, Idaho
- Centennial, Colorado
#16
Has no one said Camden? It’s definitely Camden, NJ.
Image credits: NorrisOnAShark
#17
Phoenix, Arizona. Kinda glad the drought will wipe that city out by the end of the decade
Image credits: F-FreshlyMealService
#18
Biloxi, MS. No redeeming qualities unless you like sweating your balls off at 7am and waffle houses on every corner.
Image credits: ranger398
#19
Memphis is just…. So bad.
Image credits: LHW95
#20
I know I said Philly earlier, but I rescind that it’s Albuquerque. I stayed there for a few months, and holy s**t was it a dump. I was working there and can’t believe how shitty people were to me. I worked all around the country at the time as a subcontractor for power companies, not a super popular job. But as a city that feels like they want to take pride in being nice. They were really shitty/weird for no reason. I worked in middle of nowhere red states, and downtown blue states. And Albuquerque had the worst of both of them jammed into one city.
Image credits: VegetableGrape4857
#21
St. Louis. Nobody lives downtown, violent crime is off the scale, and unlike Detroit the suburbs are no refuge. I have relatives in the St. Louis burbs and dread visiting. They’re excited to take us to the city center and there’s virtually nothing there.
Image credits: AnotherPint
#22
Charleston WV, used to be so vibrant and bustling was supposed to become NYC in the mountains is now a dead zone with a struggling infrastructure and an economy that can’t keep itself afloat add on the homeless problem which makes all of downtown look like a giant skid row.
Image credits: _elbon_22
#23
I hated growing up by Orlando. For one, brick roads f*****g suck, but also there’s just too many damn tourists all the time. Entire city’s one giant tourist trap.
Image credits: GreenGuardianssbu
#24
Midland/Odessa, TX. Its two missirable cities close to each other in the middle of the Permian Oil Field. Your hours away from any other real city in west Texas. The population is basically all transitory-meaning it doubles in size during a oil boom and empties during a bust. When oil booms, it jacks the prices on everything, traffic sucks cause everyone can only live or stay in Midland or Odessa. Traffic fatalities there are the worst in Texas. I almost get in a wreck every time i drive down the parking lot rows at walmart. When it rains, I get the crude oil stench in my neighborhood. The meth is pretty top notch tho
Money is why i stay
Image credits: d_wank
#25
I’m currently living in Phoenix right now and they do this thing where everyone puts their garbage outside and then the city has it all picked up. Like, not in the cans, but just in huge piles. But they don’t pick it up for months unless you live in a nice neighborhood. So in my shitty neighborhood there have been massive piles of garbage in front of everyone’s houses for like two whole months, with rain leeching who knows what out of it all, and wind blowing garbage all over the neighborhood. It’s so f*****g stupid that I can’t help but laugh.
That’s not even the worst of it, but that’s one petty shitty thing about this place.
Image credits: Islanduniverse
#26
Not the biggest city but the worst I’ve been to:
Youngstown, OH
It was major Steel producer in the 1940’s, but after the mills shut down the Mafia basically had their way with it. Now there’s really no reason for it to exist besides a small university, YSU, which the locals all refer to as “you screwed up”
If you take the sketchiest parts of any major city you’ve been to… that’s basically all of Youngstown.
Image credits: snoandsk88
#27
Every city I go to I ask myself if I could live there.
The answer was no for Dallas.
Granted, I was there in July but it really felt a lot like Denver to me without the good views and far shittier weather.
Image credits: introvertical303
#28
I love Portland, OR but damn the pandemic really buttfucked an awesome city there. I visited when I was 12, loved it. Roughly half a year before the pandemic (summer 2019), I visited again and it was still great. Come back in March 2021 and it was an absolute shell of what it was. There were still some cool things around (food trucks, cafes, rose garden, etc.) but it wasn’t the same. I was telling my gf how much I loved the city but seeing it felt like a kid learning that Santa isn’t real. Going to one of the parks and some creep followed us and I made a wrong turn and this street outlet was full of trash and had a sizable homeless encampment. It has changed a lot in a short amount of time.
Image credits: radpandaparty
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