The current state of many of America’s large cities is poor and rapidly declining, leading to the greatest rates of emigration since the bad old days in the 1970s of bankruptcy, runaway crime, and disorder. Eight cities stand out as the worst-run in the nation, when ranked on critical quality-of-life markers including cost of living, education, crime, and homelessness: New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, and Oakland. Despite funneling billions into city government annually, each faces a multi-generational challenge brought on by long standing mismanagement.
Breakdowns in quality of life are typically not rooted in a lack of funding. The largest spenders per capita are some of the worst-run metros. Consider that DC spends $15,624 per citizen each year — more than 12 times that of cities like Miami and Indianapolis. New York faces a Fiscal Year 2021 budget hole of $543 million, followed by an average of nearly $4 billion per year the next three. Debt in the worst-run cities is driven largely by pensions and public payrolls, with New York ranking first with an astonishing $64,100 in debt per resident, Chicago second with $36,000, Philadelphia third with $27,900, San Francisco fifth with $22,600, and Oakland seventh with $21,100.
Massive (and ever-growing) debt is toxic—especially as increasingly expensive, inefficient social programs continue to balloon. Oppressive tax rates, levied on residents and corporations to fund ever-increasing public expenditures, result in exorbitant costs-of-living. Prior to the pandemic, New York, LA, Oakland, DC, San Francisco, and Portland metro area zip codes made up 14 of the top 20 places in the US with the highest costs of living. Manhattanites pay almost 150 percent more than the national average for rent, food, tax, and transportation; Angelinos and Oaklanders nearly 75 percent more; DC residents 61 percent more; and San Franciscans and Portlanders nearly double.
Even with billions going to public education funding, many of our largest meccas are home to failing school systems. The deficiencies are reflected in high school graduation rates: 77 percent in New York City; about the same in LA, Philadelphia, Portland, and Chicago; 68 percent in DC; and a pathetic 65 percent in Oakland, all of which fall well-short of the national average. New York City spends more than double the national average per pupil, at $28,808 annually. The city’s system regularly lets down its gifted students, operating without an accelerated program in an eighth of its districts; a committee established by Mayor Bill de Blasio recommended ending all such programs as a “diversity” push. San Francisco attempted to racially integrate its school districts and instead created de-facto segregation.
