America the Beautiful has some not-so-beautiful places to live, if you ask some Americans. From bad weather to walkability, one person asked the internet for the worst places to live in, and unhappy residents and visitors alike responded in droves.
Note: Some quotes in this piece have been lightly edited for grammar.
1: Frosty Conditions
Some North Dakota residents say their oil boom area like Williston is a less-than-ideal place to live. “Not only does it suck in all ways, but it’s not cheap.” Another added that newcomers can be woefully unprepared for the state’s next-level winters. “With the wind chill, the coldest I’ve been out in is -65.”
2: Nothing To See Here
The Texas panhandle got a few shoutouts from residents and visitors alike for being remarkably barren. “There’s just nothing out there,” one person said. Another adds that they’ve never seen a more depressing location than West Texas. “At least middle of nowhere New Mexico and Arizona have terrain or some cool desert features.”
3: Pics or It Didn’t Happen
To one American, Salton City, California, is one of the most bizarre places they’ve ever been, and they’d never want to live there. “I felt like I was on another planet.” A Google image search of the city yields “rusted out abandoned cars, moldy furniture, and trailer parks,” according to one commenter. “Looks like a nuclear bomb hit it!”
4: Why the Long Face?
A Long Island resident thinks many people don’t know how terrible it is there. While you can drive to nicer places, they said the city itself is just a “suburb, mild to high Trump stuff, and racism.” They add to make matters worse, New York City couldn’t feel farther away.
5: Notorious for the Wrong Reasons
One traveler says the worst place they’ve ever been is Rwanda during their civil war. “The next-worst place is Gary, Indiana.” A Chicago resident said on certain days, “If the wind was blowing just right, you caught that Gary smell, and it turned your stomach. The thought that some people were breathing that air daily was beyond imagining.”
6: That Explains It
Even driving through some small towns near the Oregon/Washington coast depressed one traveler. “Poverty, despair, everything’s rusting and rotting, cold, windy, and wet throughout the year.” Late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain grew up in one of them, and one fan says, “I never truly understood the *feeling* behind some of Kurt’s lyrics until I drove through that area. Then I was like… Oh.”
7: Not Ok
One rural Oklahoma native vouched for how terrible it is to reside in. “There was nothing to do. Education is a joke. I grew up near oil pumps and oil tanks, and you could smell it in the air. The state government is a joke. A lot of pollution in the waterways and land,” the list goes on. “I don’t encourage anyone to move there,” they said.
8: I’ve Been Everywhere
One seasoned dwelling-hopper has lived in 36 states over the past 25 years. “The worst two places I ever lived were Needles, California, and Topeka, Kansas,” they said. “They made Bismarck and Butte seem as desirable as that mythological unicorn liberal-leaning low-cost-of-living college town with public transport and lots of fun activities that everyone comes here to find.”
9: Breathe In (or Not)
In Bakersfield, California, one person said the air in the summer is so bad it’s practically green. “It has the worst air in the nation, according to the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]. Bakersfield is Oklahoma in the middle of California; cotton fields and oil wells.”
10: Bad Movie Material
Salton Sea, California, was mentioned yet again for being so very bad for living. “It’s like the set of a horror movie, but people live there, which makes it even more depressing,” says an onlooker. One person said it smells awful, and there’s nothing there. “Then you see someone drive past you in a golf cart… where do they live? Where are they going?”
11: Misery Business
When one person said East St Louis is bad, a few responded to raise them Carbondale, IL. “It’s in complete demise, nothing to do, and locals seem miserable,” they observed. A former resident concurred. “I lived in Carbondale for a few months. I couldn’t take it and requested a transfer at work to St. Louis.”Â
12: Trouble Makers
One person claimed Vidor is the unwashed, sweaty armpit of Texas. “I lived there for a summer, and it was like a portal into another messed-up dimension,” a former Vidor resident says. “I tell everyone not to stop for gas in Vidor, white or not because those guys out there are bored and looking for trouble.”
13: Cali Complaints
Fresno, California, is the worst place to live in the US, according to an in-the-know American. “If you know, you know.” Someone responded and said it’s “0 of the good things about city living or Cali. It’s basically Cleveland but in the desert.”
14: Nothing Good About It
Another American says Chester, Pennsylvania, is as bad as it gets. “I-95 was built straight through the town. Zero care [is] given to any of the residents. High crime, all the businesses left, horrible schools,” they said. “It’s just a hot mess.”Â
15: Delta Dismay
One commenter suggested the entire state of Mississippi is bad for living. Another added a quick history lesson, “Robert F. Kennedy famously said he had been to third-world countries (and bear in mind that would’ve been third-world countries in the 1960s), and the Mississippi Delta was BY FAR the most destitute place he had ever been to.” At least it’s fun to spell aloud.
Source: Reddit.
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