Cities Ravaged by Recession

The perfect storm of high unemployment rates, shrinking salaries and a painfully slow economic recovery has thrown many U.S. cities teetering on the brink of survival into utter desperation.

Last year, median income for American households dropped a staggering 3.6 percent -- the greatest one-year decline since records have been kept -- and the recession dropped an additional 2.6 million Americans into poverty.  Worse, The Economic Policy Institute predicts that incomes could drop another $3,000 and the poverty rate could rise another 1.9 percent by 2011.

Coupled with the assertion that the number of homeless could rise by 1.5 million in the next two years, this news is especially bad for the ten poorest cities in America -- a group of metropolitan areas chosen based on per capita income, the percentage of the population earning less than half the poverty line, the percentage of food stamp recipients, the percentage of people under age 65 receiving public health care and the unemployment rate.  (All these statistics come from 2008 Census Bureau data.)

One often overlooked characteristic that seems to link all of these cities together is a fragmented job base requiring residents to rely on costly auto transportation, or the less reliable public alternative.  With the Bureau of Labor Statistics finding that it costs American households roughly $8,000 a year to own and operate a car, it's clear to see why residents of McAllen, Texas (the poorest city in America) who make only an average of $13,742 a year are in such dire straits.

How can you really support yourself when more than 50% of your income is used just to drive to and from work?

There are many different reasons why these cities are suffering.  Some cities (like Saginaw and Flint, MI) are coping with the vast decline in manufacturing jobs, while others (like El Centro, CA) are dealing with an influx of immigrants who are having a difficult time finding traditional farm work because of an extended drought in California.

Whatever the reason, all these cities are left to ponder what can be done to rebuild an economic infrastructure that, in many cases, has been neglected for decades.

(Photo credit: kevindooley on Flickr)