America's Most Miserable Cities of 2009

I live in stockton and honestly, I dont see anyone hard timing it here. i mean we have homeless but there has always been. and violent crime so what? everycity has it. Im certain that the BS data used to give our city such a shitty title is just that..shit.

we aint any different than any other california city. everyone I see and talk to seems to think that the title of "most miserable city" is utter bullshit and ignore it.

kinda makes me proud (yeah,right!)to be a part of such a wonderful statistic... I'm actually from Modesto-famous for Scott Petersen, Chandra Levy, highest car theft, meth capital of the world and little known fact that we have the highest rate of wheelchairs in a city ever!!! Ghetto Valley is our nickname now... sigh

Moving there for the next 4-5 years this fall for grad school. :P

I lived in Stockton for many years and went to Tokay High before they built that prison that is Bear Creek High. Stockton IS a miserable place and THE MOST MISERABLE PLACE I have ever encountered. I have lived all over California and in other states as far away as the East Coast. The population of Stockton is ignorant and largely uneducated or undereducated. A thriving culture of violence exists and gangs are rampant. Ethnic clashes are commonplace and racism is rife (usually from Hispanics and African-Americans against Anglos, not the other way around). Jobs are low paying and opportunity is not largely available unless you move. I could go on, but anyone who has even driven through Stockton will know that it has worked hard to earn that #1 spot. It is a shame too, as Stockton used to be a beautiful place to live before they started developing it and paving over all the farmlands, starting in the late 80's. This is why the community fought for decades to prevent this exact thing that has led to the deterioration of a once decent city. Enjoy your cesspool Stocktonians.

This is FORBES magazine, home of the ultra right, who think that any tax is a bad tax.

Chicago is a GREAT place to live. A world class city.

Nobody minds paying a little more taxes to live here. That's just the ultra right clowns braying about taxes again.

Here's a site that put Chicago in the top 10:
http://www.cityrating.com/

Here's a site that puts Chicago in the top 20 in almost every category:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/afc/2008/city/chicago

Taxes aren't everything, ultra right wingers!

its all its cracked up to be

I don't know if St. Louis is really the 10th most miserable city in the US, but this year has so far ranked among the 10 most miserable years of my life, so maybe so. :P

I live in Fresno which makes Stockton look like Honolulu. Higher uneployment, worse air, worse violent crime and farther from civilization! The foreclosure rate is slightly lower here though. And we're much closer to Yosemite and the mountains.

I also live in Stockton. I know the high foreclosure rate and high auto theft rate hurts our ranking but the city isn't that bad. We have a major university (univ of the pacific). We also have minor league hockey (which is very popular) that plays in an awesome venue. They are cleaning up downtown. This list is very bias. I think we should move up 10 spots just for the fact that I don't have to walk to my car after work in 10 feet of snow. Also, how about some points for proximity to major points of interest. Just over an hour to SF. Just over an hour to Skiing/Snowboarding.

You need to get the truth out anout the US. You also should work to pulish the jobs that are avalable free to employers and employees, so people can work there way out of there bad situations. make it easyer for the country to comunicate.

I've lived in Stockton for the past 15 years, and actually it is one of the nicest places I've lived, compared to half a dozen cities on the east coast including Manhattan, Bronx, DC, New Haven, Boston. Best weather on earth, fresh vegs, 10 minute commute, affordable housing! Why don't they factor in these things? As well as diversity?!

I live in Stockton, too. I mean sure sometimes it has it's crime and violence and gangs. But I'm sure so does every other city. I really don't tthink that Stockton is that bad of a place to live in. Yes, we have homeless people, but who doesn't in these times of unemployment? I don't know. Maybe the data is messed up. Who knows. Maybe Stockton IS the worst place ever. Haha.

Being from Sacramento might make be biased, but Stockton is a pretty horrible place. If you're not holed up in UoP (Which is a major university now? News to me!), and you get anywhere near Hammer Lane you'll run into more car-jackings, gang violence, teen homeless, and other shit that'd make Oakland or The Bronx blush. I have no idea what an earlier poster's idea of "best weather on earth" is, but that usually doesn't entail WEEK-LONG 100+ Degree days combined with the dryness that the delta somehow fails to quench, not to mention miserable rainfall and wind during the winter. Stockton, and the 209 Area Code in general, is a pretty shit place to be.