Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Economy sends Las Vegas to top spot on ‘miserable’ cities list

If the economy has you feeling down lately, there’s a reason.

Las Vegas received the unenviable top spot on a list of "most miserable cities" to live and work, according to a Business Insider report based on data released Thursday from the Brookings Institution.

A comparison of economic data from the nation's 100 largest cities, including unemployment rate, gross metropolitan product and housing prices, lifted Las Vegas to No.1 on the list, making it more depressing than cities like No. 11 Phoenix, No. 12 Detroit and No. 20 New Orleans, according to Business Insider.

Las Vegas employment is down 13.4 percent and the city’s gross metropolitan product is down 12.8 percent when measured from their peak through the second quarter of this year. Unemployment was up 7.5 percent when measured from the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2011, according to the Brookings data.

Home prices are down 64.5 percent in Las Vegas from their peak, the numbers show.

Coming in at No. 2 and 3 on the "miserable" list were Riverside, Calif., and Sacramento. Eight California cities and seven Florida cities appear on the list.

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