Top 10 Worst Cities in the Western United States in 2024 

I’ve lived in threes of these cities (Honolulu, Tacoma and Spokane). I never felt in any danger in Honolulu but the crime in Spokane shocked me.

I live in Vegas. Dont move here unless you have a job lined up or a transfer. They post that there are jobs, but good luck getting hired. We moved here 6 mos ago and still haven't been hired anywhere. Thank god at least for my husbands pension! Nick Johnson rocks! Love his channel too!

Eugene resident here. It was a decent place when I moved here in 2018. In 2020 it really went down the drain though. Homelessness, drugs,crime, and a rising cost of living ruined it. I drove around town yesterday, saw tents and garbage everywhere, and thought "this city looks like shit right now" 🤦

Stunned that Bakersfield didn’t make the list.

I live in Tacoma, WA... I have for 50 years. there are areas that are bad - the Hosmer area is the worst- there are also areas that aren't quite as bad. Or maybe I'm just numb to it...

I moved to Vegas from the east coast and really like it. In Florida and NY where I lived, everyone talked about how they did not like it. In Vegas, everyone I know talks about how amazing it is. It’s very underrated- lots of outdoors like Colorado without the crowds. The weather is great 50s, 60s, and 70s year round October - April. It is hot June-August, but dry heat and much better than Florida. Of course it matters which part of town you live in. Because the strip distracts everyone away from all the nature, it is one of the few places you can still get 5-star views without crowds. You have almost everything you want within a 5 minute drive. Great dining. No traffic like other places. The city is growing faster than you can think, so will be interesting to see how the stats change!

I love when people go to Fresno and hang out in fig gardens and say wow it’s really nice here.

I nominate Vallejo, California for this list

I'm from Stockton. I had to look up the Kennedy neighborhood. It's the area that I would have called Sierra Vista. Maybe they changed the name. It was the ghetto. I went to college at SDSU and ended up working and retiring in the Silicon Valley. I've been back to Stockton to visit friends once in a while. My parents stayed in their home. Stockton was a divided city politically and economically.

My aunt moved to Honolulu back in the late 70's. She always held down a job & managed to support herself until the mid 2000's. Her last job was working as a live-in caregiver for an elderly man for about 10+ years. When he passed away, his son saw how much home prices were skyrocketing so instead of renting out the house (& allowing my aunt to stay in her rented room as she was promised by his dad), he kicked her out & sold the place for a ridiculous amount. He didn't give her any sort of severance pay, bonus, or just a small monetary gift to say thanks for taking care of his dad (which he refused to do himself). So at the age of 65, she ended up homeless. We tried to intervene by sending her money & have her move into my parents' place in Monterey, CA but she refused to leave "her home". She cut all contact, lasted about 5 years longer, & died after being physically assaulted by another homeless person in January 2018. The police suspected that it was a robbery & she put up a fight to defend the few possessions she carried around in a suitcase. We didn't find out until months later, after she had already been cremated... It still upsets me to know that she lived there her entire adult life, worked, paid taxes, & ended up dying on the streets instead of in her own house or even a rented apartment.

Regardless of any other problems, Vegas is *not* running out of water anytime soon. It's actually one of the most water-efficient cities in the US, and does not even use all of its' minuscule allotment of 1.8% of water from the Colorado River (most of which goes to SoCal and Arizona). Las Vegas has a water intake below the deadpool level at Lake Mead - i.e., if the water dropped so low it stopped flowing over the Hoover Dam, Vegas would still get water. SoCal residents and farmers lose water (and power) before Vegas does.

Many people are moving out of Anchorage to the Mat Su Valley because land and taxes are less expensive. The Mat Su has grown by over 6,000 people in the last few years.

I live in vegas and today it’s a beautiful sunny 60 degrees with not a chance of a tornado, hurricane, mudslide, blizzard or any natural disasters. 😘 I’ll be in my pool during the hot months. No humidity and mosquitoes is pretty sweet too.

Briggs the reason why home prices are still rising in these cities is the housing shortage! What’s causing the housing shortage is people that have homes with interest rates 4 percent or below are not selling their homes even if they relocate with their job they’re just renting them out cause interest rates are too high! That’s what is causing the housing shortage!

Briggs, you rock! Love the channel and content. Peace ✌️

There are reasons so many cops episodes are filmed in Spokane. Born and raised there, so glad to get out.

Most of the suburbs of Spokane are safe with great schools, but downtown has gotten downright scary with homelessness and rampant drug use. The Hillyard neighborhood used to be the worst and may still be the poorest zip code in the U.S. but it's not as scary as downtown.

Spent a couple of weeks in Yuma years ago. It was summer and I must declare that Yuma is not a city, at least not in summer. There was just about nobody there.

I live in Eugene. You're right this used to be a great city. We call west Eugene felony flats.

these videos always make me laugh, great sense of humor included in them (the worst place to live in Tacoma is Tacoma). Was surprised to see Honolulu on this list. I know there is crime, but I always felt fairly safe in Waikiki, but haven't been there in a dozen years, so maybe things have changed.

I kind of thought that Bakersfield was going to make the list... Like Fresno Bakersfield is where people live who want to live in California but can't afford to live in California. I've lived in Bakersfield all my life and I hate it here, lol.

Tacoma is on the upswing as prosperous Seattle-ites are being pushed out.

I've been living in Las Vegas for 2 years now. It's so bad here I plan on staying :)

Picking on me today Briggs. All the cities in Cali Ihave been through multiple times or lived next to and grew up there. I can confirm, Oakland, SF, San Jose, Fresno, Stockton,Bakersfield, Modesto are all places I avoid now. IDK how Imade it out in one piece after 50 years, maybe I didn't cause I have some mild pstd and anxiety for sure. Listen to abriggs on this one folks.

Re Eugene: You pretty much nailed it. What you did not convey is that the city, and many of its citizens, actively promote homelessness. We have one of the highest per capita homeless rates in the nation.

Love your videos bro

My dad's family has a long history in Spokane (and Colville, but that is hardly a city). My grandfather inherited a rooming house near downtown from his sister that we nicked named the Empty Arms, lots of good memories about that. My sister currently lives in Spokane, and they get by well enough, but I'm always surprised food/restaurants cost as much as Seattle without Seattle salaries. The hill is pretty nice to live on, however, if you can afford it.

We lived in Honolulu for over nine years. Technically, the entire island of Oahu is a consolidated city and county of Honolulu. When new people were moving there, we always told them not to live anywhere that starts with a “W” - includes Waikiki, Waipahu, Wahiawa, Waimanalo, Waianae, Waipio, and so on.

"If you're demented and want to live in Fresno.." TRUTHHHHH

As a nearly lifelong native Californian with family and friends all over the state, I could not agree more with these choices though I will admit I haven't been through Spokane in about six years. With friends in AZ, Yuma has only been good for two things in my experience: stopping for gas on the way to/from the Phoenix area or 1970-1993 when the Padres called it home for Spring Training games.

The average home price in my hometown,Morgan Hill CA is 2.2 million.I am thrilled to see these low home prices

I had my windows on my truck only smashed out twice last year in Denver, and there is a bum on every street corner.

I am sorry to hear about Portland and Eugene!!

When I lived in Spokane, the worst neighborhoods were either parts of Hilliard and West Central area which was known as felony flats

You're correct. Absolutly correct

Love the Diaz bros reference. Great video, as always 😊

I lived in the Shadle / Hillyard neighborhoods in Spokane growing up. I now live in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma. This data definitely makes sense now! In the past year we’ve had a house burn down, two people shot, and a police standoff in the past year on just my Hilltop block.

Born and raised in Stockton. Graduated from the University of the Pacific, beautiful campus in Stockton. I taught in Stockton Unified School District for over 32 years. We have our problems like any city. We also have a wonderful museum, the symphony, live theatre, waterways that take you to the Pacific Ocean. A great university and community college. We are one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. I’ve traveled to far worse places around the United States and the world.

I lived in Henderson in 2013-14...it was nice...safe.

I love the Greenville Falls, and Sioux Falls are really really pretty too!

My cousin liven in Fresno for a while as an airplane pilot, now he lives in western Washington.

Eugene is beautiful (primarily lived here since the 70's). Just like Pdx (if you go to old town, yeah it's going to suck) there are a few crappy areas, but overall it's a safe city with access to the beach or the mountain hiking in an hour's drive. Lived in Pdx, too, back in the 90's/2000's (about a decade). Eugene has done a lot in dealing with homeless, you ought to have visited during the pandemic - it's in far better shape now.

went to tacoma before and didn't feel safe. I stayed at this hotel in tacoma and I had to use my roomkey to enter, to use the elevator, basically to do anything. I also went to a wingstop in Tacoma and there were bars around the window and by the ordering station

I live in W Eugene. Yep, it's getting pretty bad.

Are ANY cities in the U.S. improving their homeless problems? (without just putting them on a bus and passing the buck to another city, of course.)

I lived in Eugene in the late 70’s. It was a great place then. The economy took a hit, serious inflation. The construction industry collapsed so the timber industry, which was big in Eugene/Springfield followed. The city though was really nice. Sorry to hear it’s fallen so far..

I grew in San Bernardino my entire entire childhood until I moved to Perris when I was 14. When I was watching Nick Johnson's and I went there for meeting with a judge or to go the Pick-a-part on Waterman everywhere has gone worse. Nick Johnson has covered everywhere except for everything across the West of the 5th street highway bridge. So everything from Mt. Vernon Avenue where the MetroLink train station to Medical Center Drive is where the second hospital is, and Muscoy. It is all crap in San Bernardino, it is sad because I had good memories living there.

I lived in Spokane Valley growing up, brother is still there. I loved it! Wonderful for outdoor activities

I'm originally from Detroit... And now I live in Washington on the Seattle side and I wouldn't even buy in Tacoma I don't care how many houses are for sale.

This must be some kind of record-I live in Tacoma and have been to every one of the cities on this list. Looking to move somewhere else!

@14:57 *San BERDOO* (most dont enunciate the second 'r' = Bernadino)

I moved from Orange County to Fresno 17 years ago. Fresno has some bad areas, but a lot of it is really nice. I disagree with it being the worst.

I live in Vegas and love it. We have crime, but who doesn't

I’ve lived near a couple of the places. With respect to heat in San Bernardino, imagine adding at least 5-10 degrees from the temperature in Los Angeles. And yes, the smog is bad, although probably not as bad as it was in the 80’s and 90’s when “red flag” warnings were more common. A couple areas I would recommend avoiding in that area are Muscoy and Colton . For the Tacoma area and city itself, it’s not all bad, it has a lot of gems like Point Defiiance Park with Owen Beach, Point Ruston, and some good entertainment options like the Grand Cinema and Museum of Glass, and pretty wide variety of food options. There are some nicer areas (and yes, more expensive) like the Proctor District, DuPont, Steilacoom, and University Place, but I recommend to definitely stay away from Lakewood, WA.

Stockton, Anchorage they always seem to come out in the gutter... and still either side of $400k for a house... and what's that house look like? Often that's a near tenement.

Albuquerque nm

I left Fresno years ago. I hardly ever visit it today. The west side was bad 60 years ago and still is.

Not surprised to see my city ranked No. 2

you should do best midwest cities

I'm shocked Bakersfield and Barstow didn't make your list.

Great video Mr.Briggs!, how about a video on the best/worst cities and states for the self employed or starting a business?, thank you!

My wife and I moved our family from San Diego to Spokane in 1996. Never regretted the move. Great schools and amazing outdoor activities. Lots of culture and sporting events. Yes there is homeless like San Diego has but what you can get for your money in regards to homes. Lots of people moving here. People are down to earth and friendly.

The worst neighborhood in Spokane is Hillyard. It’s the northeast corner - where the developed area stops. While many hoods are gentrifying, this area never will. Tacoma was known in Western Washington as Tacompton, when I was a teenager. But you mentioned that Compton is improving, so that might be changing. The worst neighborhood there was Hilltop. Northeast Tacoma, which is kind of not integrated with the rest of the city, isn’t (or wasn’t) as bad as the rest of it.

Yeah, Spokane has a bad homeless situation, especially in downtown where they gather. We have programs, but we need people to get help. I can't really do anything. I was born and raise here. it's bad could be better, but it is home.

Honolulu got so expensive. My grandparents moved and my friend said he’s moving out too

Fresno is referred to as the armpit of the valley by those who live here. They just need to build a wall around Stockton.

I’m surprised Salem Oregon didn’t make the list

Briggs, at West High School in Torrance, they're still called the Warriors, but they may have changed their logo to just an "Arrow."

Thank you

We lived in Stockton in the early 70s. That was the first place I ever lived where I kept the house locked, and also locked my car doors when I was driving. 🤷‍♀️ ETA, the worst place back then was French Camp.

Fresno is actually a fun place to live. There are events like concerts , trivia nights at bars, karaoke, art hop, (the list goes on) happening every day of the week. A pretty nice zoo, a few lakes all within a 45 min drive and access to San Fran and LA within a 4 hour drive either way. People usually hate a place because they refuse to put any effort into looking for what a place has to offer.

Yes, it is terrible on the west coast. So bad and too full of those scary people. And the weather and nature are not the most beautiful in the country. Did i accomplish my goal of keeping people from moving here?

I feel bad about Eugene Orygun. My wife and I lived there 40 years ago and it wasn't a bad place to be. We considered in years past that this might be a good place to retire, but the changes in the whole sense of place in the Eugene/Springfield area steered us away from that dream. SPOKANE, on the other hand (at least the central city area), is a place that I would have never considered living in my entire life growing up and living in the PAC NW. Even back in my early years and teens, it felt a bit dirty, grimy, and sketchy. In 1995, I was at a training session hosted at a hotel on the south side of the site of the 1974 World's Fair (Expo 74) and was SCOLDED by the hotel staff for exposing myself to danger by going on a solo evening stroll along the hiking paths that wander through the riverside park that the old Expo site had become....told me all I need to know about downtown Spokane...

Stockton is horrible (I grew up close by) because it is a failed social experiment. They took lower income people and put them in middle income neighborhoods to show they could raise the quality of life of those from the lower income demographic but the opposite happened. They brought down the neighborhood. That's why you don't have nice area and poor areas, instead you have nice streets and poor streets right next to each other. As real estate broker, I rarely take listings in Stockton because the comps are very difficult due to how overlapping the areas are.

I've been to all of them except Anchorage ... just passing through.

Mr. Briggs. Thank you for your honest assessment of Eugene. I lived for 15 total and it's quite the armpit. The city for some odd reason doesn't seem to do anything about the homeless and drug infestation.

Make videos breaking down large cities like LA,NY

I had a friend that lived in Tacoma and she loved it, she came from a good sound middle class family, not all Of Tacoma is bad

Went to Fresno for a job interview. The interview went well but the city was the reason why I was not interested anymore. Came back home happy I was not living there 😂

My son was stationed on Oahu. He said the traffic is horrendous.

When you mentioned St.Louis you said bulldoze East St.Louis unfortunately you did not differentiate between St.Louis, Missouri & East St.Louis Illinois 2 different states...Keep the videos coming Mr.Briggs

Fresno is my birthcity, ended up in Kingman, AZ so I dunno which is worse (probably Kingman). Wanted to take a drive around there, but I haven't been there since I was six, so I don't even remember much of anything about it.

I've lived in and around Spokane since 2001. It has been shocking to see the lack of regard for some of these beautiful and historic old neighborhoods that the city holds. The homeless crisis I have seen here is worse than what I ever saw in Portland Oregon simply due to a lack of facilities or amenities for these people to access. The suburbs and small towns around the area are wonderful and for the most part the violent crime is concentrated in the concentrated in the East central, West Central and areas around downtown which statistically are where the homeless population tend to congregate. The north side of town is still relatively town is still benign and middle-class and there are lots of and there are lots of great walkable neighborhoods as you get farther up into the South Hill for farther north in the areas around Colbert. Spokane Valley has a lot of wonderful areas and still a very family-centric vibe as does our Northern more rural areas such as Deer Park. There has been a dedicated effort to assist the local law enforcement in helping the crime rate particularly in the downtown area and to bring more arts and culture activities back to downtown in the aftermath of covid. Thank you for having such a wonderful Channel and for highlighting both the benefits and the drawbacks of so many of our lesser known cities!

Spokane is a decent place to live! I live in a good neighborhood I guess but still. I’m absolutely shocked about those crime stats. Crime is bad here but geez.. Overall it’s a good place. If they get the homeless problem figured out Spokane should see that crime rate go down. The worst neighborhood is accurate. East central sucks but mostly because there was a large homeless camp in that neighborhood

Briggs, great as usual. Well-researched with a personal touch.

Funny story, I was born in Yuma, AZ. Currently live in the East Central neighborhood of Spokane, WA. 😂 Oh, and my husband was born in Tacoma.

I moved out of Anchorage in 2020, and it was sadly getting worse there. Though oddly I wouldn't have guessed Sand Lake to be the hotspot for crime. Fairview and Mountain View always seemed like the place I didn't want to be around.

I spent a year in Fresno one weeded. Dullsville, USA. Surprised Hemet isn’t on the list.

Surprised you left out the traffic in Tacoma. Also wounder where Berkeley landed on this list.

All cities have good and bad areas. I grew up in Spokane and it has some great outdoors opportunities.

Not shocked to see Eugene, my hometown. We moved to TX 12 years ago and so glad!

I used to live in East Honolulu Kaimuki(nice) from 02-04 attended college at Hawaiian Pacific University Dowtown campus. Parts of downtown Honolulu was shocking and this is coming from southern Californian it felt like somebody just cut downtown LA and tossed it in the ocean.

I live in San Bernardino and moving to Eugene at the end of the year.

I've been to Spokane once and I'd never, ever go back. There's nothing there except for Gonzaga. Everybody I saw looked like they belonged in King of the Hill.

After 13 states I can’t imagine living somewhere worse than Portland Oregon. The people the weather the government it’s all the worst.

We call Tacoma and Spokane Tacompton and Spokompton here in Washington, respectively

Everywhere in the Inland Empire, including San Berdoo (as we used to call it) has never been great. I'm shocked Riverside didn't make the list. (I'm a Riverside native and couldn't wait to get out of there.)

In the seventies we use to call Fresno the arm pit of Ca

If you say so, Briggs!

I lived in las vegas. It was pretty bad. I moved back home. Las Vegas was a disappointing. You are right on.