The 10 Poorest Cities In The United States For 2024

The 10 Poorest Cities In America For 2024

1. Detroit, MI

Detroit – what else can we say. You’re literally the poorest, least employed and most poverty stricken place in the nation. And that’s despite the fact, that people keep saying Detroit is getting better. Of course, you could talk about the decline of Detroit starting when car companies pulled out of town. That’s part of it. You could spend an entire article talking about what happened in Detroit, but today, you can buy houses for $1, about 60% of the population is gone, and it’s straight rough in most parts.

Why Detroit? Chicago, Philly, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Cincinnati were all somewhat spared. And other rust belt towns like Pittsburgh and St. Louis – and heck even Cleveland, aren’t doing THAT bad.

Fact is, Detroit has a TON of catching up to do if it wants to somewhat resemble an actual American city at some point down the road.

Review Of Detroit by HomeSnacks User

The crime is horrible there. The schools are some of the worst I have ever seen. Everything is run down there because the people do not take care of themselves or the places around them. It’s like a 3 world country!

There’s nothing there I would say is good. It’s all bad. I feel like that place should be completely bulldozed and rebuilt.

Review Detroit

2. Cleveland, OH

Cleveland is straight broke. 31.17% of the city is poverty stricken, and the average family lives just outside of poverty. If you live there, this isn’t new news.

At least the Cleveland sports teams have been taking people’s minds off of being in the poor house. And there’s theaters, nice restaurants opening up and national orchestras in town – despite those being traditionally wealthy forms of entertainment. Can anyone weigh in on if a majority of Cleveland residents can afford to do these things?

Apparently, though, the more you look online, the more optimistic you see Clevelanders talking about how their city is improving each year. That’s great news, Cleveland. Like the other cities on this list, we’re pulling for ya. And best of all, Cleveland – at least you’re not Detroit.

Review Of Cleveland by HomeSnacks User

I grew up here. It is completely segreated in terms of living. Some areas are really nice and classy while others are barren and proverty filled. Everything seems to have an invisible barrier when it comes to socialization, by that I mean some classes only associate themselves with their own and not too much outside. The weather is primarily cold, so there is not enough sunny days. I think the poor air quality and proverty effects the people too, the poorer physically look un healthier than those who are careful and can afford better care, but I think it depends on ones thinking.

The museums like the Rock and roll hall of fame, Art museum, and Children’s Museum.

Review Cleveland

3. Syracuse, NY

Our 3rd poorest city in America is Syracuse, New York, where 1 in 3 people lives in poverty – the 3rd highest rate in the US. Syracuse has actually become more poor than any other major city. A few years back, Syracuse was the 10th poorest, and now it’s the 3rd poorest. Across America, poverty rates have ticked up in major cities, but overall, poverty rates have gone down overall, by quite a bit – about 10 percent more people are less poor nowadays.

On top of the poverty issue here in upstate New York, Syracuse actually gets more snowfall than any other place in America – with slightly more snow that Wooster Mass and nearby Buffalo. As such, Syracuse residents pay about 25% of their homeownership costs on utilities, with a big portion of that going to their heating bills. So for many months, it’s extra tough to get to one of four Syracuse area Super Walmarts, or one of four area Syracuse Targets. Since Targets groceries are about 15% more expensive than Walmarts, it’s safe to assume the poorer folks patronize Walmart.

Look at how many dollar stores are in the greater Syracuse region. Makes sense.

Review Of Syracuse by HomeSnacks User

Rochester IS a GREAT PLACE to live ! Trust me I lived in Syracuse – the armpit of the universe. Rochester is cosmopolitan – non-judgmental, progressive. Cant comment on cost of living RE: retirement. Namaste – David

Review Syracuse

4. Gainesville, FL

As the 4th poorest city in the United States, Gainesville grapples with a poverty rate of 29.02%, leaving 41,328 residents navigating financial hardships. Despite a median income of $43,783 and an unemployment rate of 5.53%, a relatively large share of the population still struggles with poverty.

Gainesville is in the center of Florida and is home to the University of Florida’s main campus.

Review Of Gainesville by HomeSnacks User

Bad schools, lots of bugs, not much to do, full of judgemental people, crackheads, and lots of college students. Highly suggest not moving here.

Lots of homeless and maybe not as much crime as other places

Review Gainesville

5. College Station, TX

College Station faces economic challenges, ranking as the fifth poorest city in the U.S. With a median income of $52,397 and an average home price of $333,157, the city grapples with real estate accessibility issues. A 28.46% poverty rate, affecting 34,280 individuals, highlights the economic hurdles.

The one quirk of the data is that a large percentage of the city’s population is Texas A&M University. University students tend to fall below the poverty level because they are younger and not employed full-time.

6. Rochester, NY

Our next stop is in upstate New York. This time, we’re going to Rochester. One Rochester resident says, and I’ll paraphrase: Rochester used to be the headquarters for several large companies back in the 70s and 80s, and then a heavy tax burden businesses in the area. Now, a lot of the larger companies have left, taking the local economy with them.

Apparently, most of that is true – the language is kinda rough, but yes, Rochester was once a thriving city. It used to be a place where you could get your GED and make a pretty decent salary in what was considered a low-skilled job. Now, low high school graduation rates in Rochester make it tough to find the skills needed to entice companies. But they’re trying. The area is luring in new companies to the area these days.

Let’s all root for Rochester!

Rochester residents make a little less money than their Syracuse peers, but essentially, both have mostly poor to middle class residents. I wondered what type of music Rochester would listen to. And other poor communities. Apparently, there’s an answer for just about everything on the web. Poorer people like to listen to golden oldies, disco and rap. Richer people like classical, opera and rock.

Who listens to Taylor Swift then? 12 year olds?

Review Of Rochester by HomeSnacks User

I may not live in Rochester any more, but it will always be home!

Review Rochester

7. Dayton, OH

There once was a guy from Dayton
His life he tried to straighten
In 2003,
He got a degree
Did he get a good job? He’s still waiting’

We’re almost to our poorest place in the USA, and we’ll take a couple quick stops in Ohio. Here in Dayton, things are a real mess. 1 in 3 residents lives in poverty, and people barely crack the $30k mark annually for salaries.

Review Of Dayton by HomeSnacks User

I’m from Cincinnati and driving through Dayton is like going thru a small ghost town/war zone. I have family there and they even say it’s depressing. Sad part is most people from Dayton go to Columbus, Middletown, Cincinnati or elsewhere to have fun. Funny thing is Rooster’s is like a club for local folks, yea I said Rooster’s Restaurant.

The terrible a** roads and a lot of empty houses

Review Dayton

8. Buffalo, NY

Another rust belt city, Buffalo ranks as the 8th poorest city in the United States for 2024. The poverty rate is 27.17%, and average incomes are $46,184.

Buffalo has seen its population fall since the 1970s but has picked up a bit in recent years as jobs start to come back to the city.

Review Of Buffalo by HomeSnacks User

Buffalo now has a beautiful waterfront. It is a great place to raise a family and homes are reasonably priced.

Pros: Waterfront, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Food, Affordability, NHL hockey, NFL football

Cons: We all know about the snow, but it is manageable.

Review Buffalo

9. Hartford, CT

Hartford is in the top ten in all three categories we measured, and it has a high unemployment rate at 10.63%. And its poverty rate is twice the national average. Yikes.

A pretty in depth article talked about Hartford’s fall from grace – noting that at one point, Hartford was very popular. To sum, Hartford is more expensive to live than lots of other places, people are leaving Hartford in droves these days, and crime is really high. When manufacturing left, so did the jobs, talent, and enthusiasm.

Hartford used to have a hockey team, but they moved to Raleigh. They have a baseball team called…the Yard Goats? Why are they called that? Anyways, I’m surprised Hartford residents have any supplemental income to go watch baseball games.

Review Of Hartford by HomeSnacks User

Hartford is a miserable crime riddled city without any positive attributes. The restaurants are sub-par. The crime rate is through the roof. It is not uncommon to see prostitutes and pimps. You can’t drive more than a couple blocks before you see a drug deal. The mayor is an idiot and is doing nothing to turn his awful city around. Now, the City of Hartford thinks the State of Connecticut should bail them out.

There is nothing worthwhile in this city. The baseball team is a complete joke. The restaurants are sub-par. The parks are heroine needle filled. The roads are full of potholes. The hospitals frequently treat people with gun shot wounds and stabbings. Avoid Hartford, Connecticut at all costs.

Review Hartford

10. Birmingham, AL

Birmingham, Alabama — here, the residents earn on average, $42,464 a year, and the poverty rates one of the lowest in the country, too. Alabama’s other poorest city, Mobile, isn’t quite as poor, where people make a more reassuring $40k a year.

Speaking of maps, where would a resident of Birmingham go for fun? Like, what do poor people do for entertainment? There wasn’t an exact answer, but after searching the internet for like 2 minutes, it was clear that poorer Americans go to public parks and pools, fish, attend church and spend time with friends and family. And guess what? Those things cost nothing.

And sadly, poorer people don’t have as much time to do that, as research suggests there’s about a 10-12 year gap in life expectancy between the rich and poor.

Review Of Birmingham by HomeSnacks User

This place is very racist and not good at all its like a ghost town.

Its very racist and not a good place to live.

Review Birmingham

Next 10 Cities

Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Large Cities in The US For 2024

The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest cities in the United States is simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established income level for a household of a specific size.

We used Saturday Night Science to look at the poverty level from the newly released 2018-2022 American Community Survey:

And, to be clear, we measured the 314 largest cities in America with populations over 100,000. So, while your little small town might be broke, we only look at the most populated areas.

To score the cities, we ranked each one from 1 to 314 where one is the “poorest” and has the highest poverty level. We updated this article for 2024. This report is our tenth time ranking the Poorest cities in America.

Summary: The Poorest Cities in The Us For 2024

After all the dust settled and the analysis was over, we crowned Detroit as the poorest city in America for 2024.

The cities in the United States with the highest poverty level are .

While it’s bad news for the cities we mentioned, we must acknowledge America’s richest cities. If you live in Centennial, CO, Frisco, or Overland Park, , sounds like things are going pretty well right now.

It may be time for you to consider giving back to the community.

For more reading, check out:

• Cheapest States To Live In
• Best Places By State

Poverty Rate By City In The United States For 2024