zizou

The list is bunk, anyway, due to two glaring omissions: New Orleans (nothing says miserable like living in a trailer because your home was washed away with the rest of the city) and Houston (wealthy, yes, but people live in isolation, take three hours to get to work, and I don't know if anyone notices the weather reports, but instead of seasons, it's three months of summer and nine months of Hell).

thephotoman

MYarms

Then BAM! everything pops and people are loosing houses left and right, people stop spending money which puts more people out of work, ect.

Plus we have tons of easy access to gambling and that's a surefire way to make people poor and miserable. The CAT transit system is wholly unreliable and esspecially in the extreme heat of summer waiting 45minutes to an hour and a half for a bus can be brutal.

Our city is ugly too, only a handful of green places. Mostly all concrete, dirt, and steel.

I do find the inclusion of Stockton and Modesto hillarious. I spent a lot of time in my 20s in central/northern California and can attest to those being pretty miserable places to call home. Modesto does have a really awesome taco place on highway 120w which I can't recall the name of to save my life. But if you're ever driving through Modesto and see a taco stand on the highway stop in.

PSN: kingpsyz

quieterhue

Hambriq

joellevand

frankblevins

RubyAnn

Juneau is part of the North American continent, but because of all the mountains and ice fields we're landlocked. Only way out is by a ferry boat down to Prince Rupert, BC or Bellingham, WA. Or to fly out of here. The winters are cold, dark and harsh and the spring/summer/fall it just rains 95% of the time. I've been pinching my pennies to save up to escape this land locked prison.

lostalaska

And our new city councilman is neither corrupt nor old!

juliekaffe

greggdetroit

pauliee

synergy

And the fans in Philly revel in the "Broad Street Bullies" and players like Chuck Bednarik, who tackled Frank Gifford so hard it took him out of football for over a year. I've worked with guys who've bragged about how many murders have occurred in their neighborhood.

Yes, Philadelphia has a lot going for it too, and I personally love working there, but it really is as bad as people say.
Philadelphia is a rough town in general and the fans deserve the reputation they've earned.

MauriceReeves

"Did somebody say 'boston'!? no? well let me talk about boston"

braindesign

banmojo

chicagojim

HOP

jeff303

shades_of_blue

LucyInTheSky

I have spent weeks in each of those cities and given the option of spending the rest of my life in one of them or death, I would need to think about it.

These people clearly didn't do enough travelling. They were right on the money with Flint, Detroit and Philly though.

Most of the big Philly apologists I have met moved out of their beloved city years ago. I always make sure I have at least a half tank of gas when driving through Philly so I will not need to get out of the car.

bdgbill

dudinski

We have THE most painted murals in the country, but no one else knows about it. Philadelphia has a FANTASTIC music scene, no one knows about it. We also have some VERY good restaurants in town. All people know Philadelphia for is cheesesteaks, crime and the Liberty Bell.

BookbagNinja

Newsflash: Street hasn't been mayor since 2007.

friendlynerd

Witera33it

Sarcasmic

Typical economic thinking...key in on high taxes and the amount of time someone spends sitting in their car. Here's a tip: make the taxes work for the area, and find a new way to commute! I don't mind a half an hour commute if I get to read or get exercise while doing it. But if the 40 GB HD in the Escalade is full of boring MP3's, then yes, that's miserable. But that's not the city's fault.

Flynn

coold8

Also, Philadelphia is the home of the Eagles. And in the word of The Dude: "I fuckin' hate the Eagles, man."

Hambriq

Hate on Boston all you like, but let's face it. There are far worse cities. Like Springfield. I'll take small roads and impossible driving conditions over feeling like a little slice of Detroit got planted in the middle of New England.

Also, Boston has the Red Sox. And by the way, when did everyone suddenly start hating New England sports?

Hambriq

Eat: Primanti Bros sandwiches, Mad Mex, India Garden, Lulu's Noodles, Abay
See: Carnegie Museums, Andy Warhol, Mattress Factory, Wood Street Gallery, Cathedral of Learning, Mount Washington, PNC Park

There were the things I missed when I moved to New York City.

ChrisGriswold

Sinflux

rdldr1

spinachdip

spinachdip

KogeLiz

GOKOR

deadlizard

biledemon

Philadelphia's not for pussies. You're better off staying away.

friendlynerd

doctor_cos

In the world of southeast Michigan, higher taxes are simply a sign that more of your money is going outside of your town to prop up the City of Detroit and its corrupt leadership.

Caswell

SaraAB87

nidolke

San Fran has such friendly and helpful bums, too.

The only part of LA I liked was the beach communities.

TechnoDestructo

What really turned me against the whole idea was when I decided to go outdoors at night. It was about 8 pm. Before I'd walked 50 feet, I heard gunshots, coming from a block or two away. I'd been in some of San Francisco's worst neighborhoods in the middle of the night before. Once, there was a shooting a couple blocks from where I was. People started coming out of their homes to gawk. In Philly, everyone who was on the street immediately ran inside.

Clearly anything I thought might have prepared me, didn't.

I kept walking and I was accosted by three drunk teenagers. Maybe 12-14 years old. (First of all, they're like 14 and they're stumbling drunk on the street. Second...it's fucking 8 pm and they're already stumbling drunk.) They start trying to pick a fight with me. As they get closer, two of them think better of it, and start trying to talk down/hold back their stupid friend.

I'm big, and they were small. And drunk. I was in no danger, and they were in great danger. But that's one of those fights that even if you win, you lose. I doubt it would have been particularly healthy to be the 200 pound white guy who beat up 3 scrawny black teenagers in a 90+ percent black neighborhood.

I left the next morning. Law school can wait.

@yetiwisdom:

Seemed like a lot of things were improving...though I have to wonder how the sub-prime meltdown is affecting their urban renewal programs. And sure, maybe things will be great 20 years from now. But it isn't NOW.

Oh, and if there's one thing they're doing right in North Philadelphia, it's that they're not going whole hog on the gentrification. The only way in which yuppie condo neighborhoods do not suck as badly as stabby druggy neighborhoods is that you're less likely to die there. But you probably want to die just as badly.

TechnoDestructo

Heck, our Ikea won't even be completed until 2009, we only have 2 Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods still hasn't finished their store yet.

Nope, nothing to see here, move along.

TangDrinker

Benstein

Greasy Thumb Guzik

Let's say you have a decent 4 bedroom house that you bought for 63K in South Bend, Indiana. The same house (on the same lot) within 10 miles of Manhattan is 500K+.

missdona

HOP

HOP

HOP

And as crooked as the politicians are... we keep electing them and are happy to do so.

dfellars

And before someone jumps all over it, yes there is a reason for the final "h" in Pittsburgh.

MrWashy

I'm not clear on how the unemployment rate makes an employed person miserable, either.

noquarter

Terrible winter weather is one of the most powerful networking tools I've ever seen. The only thing that trumps it is smoking.

Youthier

Besides, the misery index is another crappy indicator that economists use to make themselves seem important. Unemployment rate + inflation rate = misery? That's all? Come on.

appetite

gyroball

Forbes Should know better then this.

majortom1981

El_RapeO

Boston...just curious, why do people who have no affiliation with MIT or Harvard say it makes it great for living here? The people of MIT and Harvard look at you as ignorant townies. Does the intellectualism seep accross the river and make people in Boston, Back Bay or South B smarter? I do not think it does though the residents of those areas seem to believe so.

New Orleans should be on the list but I don't think you can say bad things about the city yet.

After reviewing the article and the criteria, wow, stupid. I could just as easily argue Boston on to the list. Also, there should have been areas to earn back points. Providence - great food. New York - 24/7. Detroit - Red Wings. Seems to me that the magazine needed to fill some pages.

Javert

It's 75 & breezy where I'm at. Also I guess you don't eat any citrus fruits or vegetables?

Jaysyn was banned for: http://consumerist.com/5032912/the-subprime-meltdown-will-be-nothing-compared-to-the-prime-meltdown#c7042646

Pop Socket

LA has traffic, a high cost of living, and pollution. But where else can you surf, golf, and ski all in the same day?

ceejeemcbeegee

privatejoker75

@VeritasNoir:
Pollyanna, if I didn't have something to kvetch about, I wouldn't have a life!

Greasy Thumb Guzik

phalex

IconoclasticFlow

Wimpkins

sleze69

I moved back to Pittsburgh in August (was here for grad school 2003-05). I primarily moved back becasue I love the city, medium sized, lots of stuff to do. My one big gripe is that everyone claims it is CHEAP, which is a huge fallacy. It may be cheap to purchase a home in the suburbs, but the commute stinks and it is costly to park downtown. I would think most young professionals want to live in Shadyside or the Southside and both of those areas are extremely expense for renters and don't even think about trying to buy. People from Manhattan will probably laugh at this, but I moved here from Hartford, and I don't see the cost of living savings.

mgermano

No, that's not the only thing; we can work to change the government!! I'm really excited about the 3 new city councilfolk that just took office.

Pittsburgh is great!! Low cost of living, there ARE jobs here despite the common wisdom, and there's a lot of cultural activity for our size. And Bears fans are welcome-- it's Browns fans that aren't greeted with open arms ;)

clnclarinet

quail

VeritasNoir

Don't cheesesteaks, soft pretzels and Wawas count for anything? Truth be told the hideous public transport situation has been improving. And the Belgian Beer bars are freakin' awesome! See you @ Monk's, Bishop's Collar, Eulogy, Abbaye ...

yetiwisdom

But, to pay insurance, property taxes, while trying to find a contractor that isn't related to Satan makes it hard to live here.

jmuskratt

VeritasNoir

A Seattle native who moved to California 'cause the traffic is better here. Really.

clickertrainer

K-Bo

deadlizard

As far as transit, yes the CTA is probably mismanaged and so forth but the real problem is a lack of funding and patronage. Judging by the state of congestion on the roads (even in SPITE of the potholes you alluded to), people have yet to wake up and start embracing alternatives to driving. When they do, transit will improve. Until people are ready to support change then nothing ever will.

jeff303

It's still a great place to visit though, really, we need your money....badly.

xanadu1979

deadlizard

smoothtom

smoothtom

STrRedWolf

mycroft2000

There are downsides that the "BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN AMERICA!" hype misses, however. Government is hopelessly corrupt and broke, for example: the only thing to do it pretend it doesn't exist, and don't plan on starting a business there.

Beschizza

Having just visited NYC, I'm surprised to see it on the list. I really liked NYC--walking instead of battling traffic--taking a subway (even when crowded) also beats battling traffic. Plus the food, even the food on the street, is delicious.

I have also driven through Modesto a few times. I was surprised by the number of homeless I saw in Modesto--especially cause it's a small town. Yes, you see the homeless in SF and LA, but Modesto?

gingerCE

rodeo40

So sports teams were irrelevant to the list and you had to have more than just bad traffic to make the list.

What I don't understand is why they didn't include poverty or homeless rates.

Rectilinear Propagation

So tack on a few hours drive if you want to travel in or out of Charlotte for a decent fare, as it means flying out of Raleigh/Durham or heading to South Carolina.

Funklord

Rectilinear Propagation

Angryrider

Detroit can't be all that bad or it couldn't have such an amazing hockey team.

bbbici

PotKettleBlack

Wasn't surprised to see my old hometown Philly show up on there. Kinda funny that people STILL bring up that Santa thing, considering it happened what, over twenty years ago?

Gaambit

Prosumerist

WTF? This is rationale? Sure those are the big employers, but there are more than a half-million people working in the Charlotte area, which means a small - albeit well-paid - fraction could *potentially* be affected *if* there are extensive layoffs at *both* banks at the same time. Plus, both tend to target their layoffs in other cities so as not to disturb the rather disgusting love affair they have going on with the city/county government.

Pick better reasons to say Charlotte sucks donkey butt, like the shortage of fine arts and cultural happenings, the extremely poor city/county planning, the way the real estate developers hold the entire area by the cojones, the modernized segregation that has led to an entire corridor of foreclosures along I85, the multitude of drunks that descend on the lake areas for the races in Concord or the boat festivals in Cornelius, the recent debacle with something as simple as appointing a new County Sheriff...There are so many!

Laz

failurate

I drive the IKE daily, and often arrive home hoarse from shouting in vain at the various assholes, some of whom I've seen coming to a complete STOP on a 4-lane just to look at carnage in the adjacent lanes. It's infuriating and- in the context of the social compact to which we all implicitly agree when piloting a vehicle on the public roadway- utterly irresponsible.

VeeKaChu

veraikon

DCGaymer

Shannon

crabbyman6

noquarter

meeroom

nerdsavant

Skiffer

Death

RJM07

Skiffer

ianmac47

noquarter

fett387

DaleM

DaleM

Seriously. The rest of you fuckers stay the hell away.

Jaysyn was banned for: http://consumerist.com/5032912/the-subprime-meltdown-will-be-nothing-compared-to-the-prime-meltdown#c7042646

The most positive thing to happen in Michigan is that the Democrats were pissed about the primary move and we only had half the amount of stupid political fighting this year.

Youthier

I have no personal reason to feel bad for Detroit, but I do. Same reason I feel bad for central New York (Syracuse, etc). It's obvious that until fairly recently, fifty years or so, they were doing really well economically and were viable destination cities for people looking to relocate. Troubled cities make me sad. I want to fix all of them.

etinterrapax

Just avoid certain areas after dark and take the back roads instead of the expressways and you're fine.

Randy

You can pretty much like any NFC team you want and no one will bother you. In fact you'll probably get a good deal of respect since the Bears are one of the few teams that Steeler fans find respectable (Bears, Packers... that might be it).

All are welcome... All are welcome (excpet for anyone who likes anything to do with: Cleveland, Cincinatti, Philladelphia, Baltimore and anyone who likes the Seahawks at the moment).

Aaahh..nothing like basking in the glow of providing an extensive answer to a rhetorical question.

notblaine

The buses & trains barely work.
It's impossible to walk anywhere now because of all the unshoveled snow on the sidewalks 10 days after a big snow & now it's all turned to 3 inches of solid ice.
The streets are potholes filled with more potholes because of all the salt dumped every snow. Even when the snow has melted, the streets are still white from the salt, so everything rusts, everything!
Every single politician in Chicago, Cook County & Illinois is a crook!
Who constantly raise taxes.
On top of that, the governor is a mentally ill whack job!
Local TV news is either going on panic watch & screaming that a huge rain/snow/thunder storm is coming or some useless sweeps crap.

Greasy Thumb Guzik

Nissan288

aphex242

The lack of Newark on the list is a huge black eye though. That place is a dump.

Caswell

Bladefist

jmuskratt

I'm a Boston driver, and *I* have trouble navigating Providence. Yeah.

redhelix

@Bladefist: On top of that, a lack of eye candy because a) no beaches and b) why bother burning hours and hours to look good three months out of the year? (I live in Indep.)

disavow

stevegoz

Papa Midnight

char

lenagainster

RIP MRHANDS

Bay State Darren

friendlynerd

Don't forget, our transit system sucks too!

Scalvo2

ClayS

Death

ClayS

morganlh85

cunnij98

morganlh85

Canerican

Ass_Cobra

Tallanvor

I have to agree, this list can't be correct! There aren't any NJ cities on it!!

bustit22

Why not? I love waiting in line...for everything.

Wimpkins

foghat81

digitalhen

missdona

Sherryness

Bladefist

K-Bo

ClayS

smitty1123

The misery of Detroit is a totally different beast than the misery of Chicago or NYC.

TWinter

kantwait

missdona

ClayS

vastrightwing

stephenjames716

If you love a city without major grocery chains, an incompetent city bureaucracy, a thoroughly corrupt administration, huge taxes for both residents & non-residents (and corresponding lack of services), Detroit is your kind of place!

Things were looking upbeat for the city & the region under the previous mayor (Archer), but he declined to run for reelection because he was fighting a one man battle for the city.

MalcoveMagnesia

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