Gay-friendly US cities are “miserable”
According to a new survey by Forbes Magazine, some of the cities most popular with American gays are also among ‘the most miserable’ places to live in the US.
It used the economic indicator most often referred to as the ‘Misery Index,’ which adds the unemployment rate to inflation, along with the ‘Misery Score’ which measures the sum of corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes as well as factors including commute times, weather, crime and the number of toxic waste dumps in proximity to a given city.
Forbes this week debuted its inaugural list of America’s Most Miserable cities and there were more than a few surprises and gay favourites among them.
While Detroit won the dubious honour of being named ‘America’s Most Miserable City,’ as a result of having the country’s highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate, the two American cities with the largest estimated gay populations, New York and Los Angeles, apparently induce a great deal of misery as well.
According to Forbes, New York was the fourth most miserable city in the US, while Los Angeles came in seventh.
NYC’s long commute times (36.2 minutes) and high tax rates (10.5%) pushed it top of the list, just as Los Angeles’ traffic, commute times, taxes and number of Superfund sites earned it a not so coveted spot among the Top Ten most Miserable Cities in America list.
Other cities with significant gay populations making the Forbes ‘Most Miserable’ list include Philadelphia which ranked fifth and Chicago which came in at number six.
Duane Wells © 2008 GayWired; All Rights Reserved.
