The worst run cities in America

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The Hill

 

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The current state of many of America’s large cities is poor and rapidly declining, leading to the greatest rates of emigration since the bad old days in the 1970s of bankruptcy, runaway crime, and disorder. Eight cities stand out as the worst-run in the nation, when ranked on critical quality-of-life markers including cost of living, education, crime, and homelessness: New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, and Oakland. Despite funneling billions into city government annually, each faces a multi-generational challenge brought on by long standing mismanagement.

Breakdowns in quality of life are typically not rooted in a lack of funding. The largest spenders per capita are some of the worst-run metros. Consider that DC spends $15,624 per citizen each year — more than 12 times that of cities like Miami and Indianapolis. New York faces a Fiscal Year 2021 budget hole of $543 million, followed by an average of nearly $4 billion per year the next three. Debt in the worst-run cities is driven largely by pensions and public payrolls, with New York ranking first with an astonishing $64,100 in debt per resident, Chicago second with $36,000, Philadelphia third with $27,900, San Francisco fifth with $22,600, and Oakland seventh with $21,100.