8. Stockton, Calif.

Forbes: America's Most Miserable Cities

Stockton became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy protection last year. The city is burdened with the highest foreclosure rate in the U.S. and ranks among the five worst for unemployment and crime.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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Most Miserable C... Economist Arthur Okun developed the original Misery Index in the 1960s. It combines unemployment and inflation (and was 10.2 last year nationally, down from an 18-year high of 12.1 in 2011).

Our look at misery is more localized, and includes unemployment, as well as other things that aggravate people.

This year we examined nine factors for the 200 largest metro areas in the U.S. The metrics include the serious: violent crime, unemployment, foreclosures, taxes (income and property) and home prices. We also include less weighty, but still important quality-of-life issues like commute times and weather.

We tweaked the methodology in this year’s list in response to feedback from readers, dropping our rankings of both pro sports team success and political corruption, since both were based on regional, rather than city-specific data. We also added a new measure—net migration—which we see as a clear gauge of whether or not residents feel a community is worth living in. Detroit, which ranked No. 2 last year, also would have finished No. 1 under the previous methodology.

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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10. New York, N.... Taxes are always a hot button issue in New York, whether it revolves around banks paying their share (rally above) or the taxes that residents face, which are the highest in the U.S. New Yorkers also rank first when it comes to the longest commutes.

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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9. Lake County, ... The Chicago suburb is one of the richest counties in the U.S., as measured by per capita income. But home prices are down 29% over the past 5 years. Other drawbacks: long commutes and lousy weather.

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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8. Stockton, Cal... Stockton became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy protection last year. The city is burdened with the highest foreclosure rate in the U.S. and ranks among the five worst for unemployment and crime.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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7. Warren, Mich. Troy and Farmington Hills are part of the government-defined Warren metro division. Like Detroit, the Warren metro has seen home prices collapse--off 53% the past five years.

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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6. Vallejo, Cali... The city finally emerged from bankruptcy at the end of 2011 after nearly 3 years. Problems remain with high levels of foreclosures and unemployment.

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5. Modesto, Cali... Foreclosures continue to plague Modesto with 6,859 foreclosure filings in 2012, according to RealtyTrac. It represents 3.8% of homes, which is the third highest rate in the U.S. Recent unemployment was 15%.

(Forbes)

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
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America’s Friendliest Towns

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4. Chicago, Ill. Chicago has passionate supporters, but residents must endure the misery of long commutes, plummeting home prices, brutal winters and high foreclosure rates. The migration rate out of Chicago is the sixth worst among the 200 largest metros.

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3. Rockford, Ill... A three decade decline in the manufacturing base has hurt Rockford's economy and kept unemployment high. Job fairs like the above are busy servicing the city's 11.2% unemployed, which is one of the highest rates in the U.S. Another burden: high property tax rates.

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2. Flint, Mich. Flint has been demolishing homes as the city shrinks with residents leaving in search of jobs. Only Detroit has a higher net out-migration rate. Flint ranks third worst for violent crime, behind Detroit and Memphis.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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1. Detroit, Mic... Violent crime in the Detroit metro was down 5% in 2011, but it remains the highest in the country with 1,052 violent crimes per 100,000 people, according to the FBI. Home prices were off 35% the past 3 years, which is the biggest drop in the U.S.

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Full List: America’s Most Miserable Cities 2013
America’s Most Dangerous Cities
America’s Friendliest Towns

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More from Forbes Click here to check out which other cities are terrible to live in.

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