US City rankings

Poorest Cities in the United States

Detroit, MI ranks 1st on Ranking, followed by Cleveland, OH (2nd) and Dayton, OH (3rd); rank 1 is the worst. Birmingham, AL ranks last of the 8 listed (9th).

Population8 cities · 1 metricUpdated Oct 28, 2026Original page
2 sources
RankingBetter directionWhether a higher or a lower value is better. A green arrow means higher is better, a red arrow means lower is better, and no arrow means neither.More in the glossary →
8 of 477 cities
Compare this metricAdd to combined rankingOpen full map

Ranking

Darker green is better (rank 1 is the worst, so a higher rank number is better). Click a place to highlight it.

Loading map…

All 8 ranked

Worst first; rank 1 is the worst and has the longest bar.

Data

Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.

8 cities · # = rank by Ranking
#
1Detroit, MI1st
2Cleveland, OH2nd
3Dayton, OH3rd
4Hartford, CT4th
5Rochester, NY5th
6Jackson, MS7th
7Syracuse, NY8th
8Birmingham, AL9th

What correlates with Ranking?

Not enough places to compare

Correlations need at least 10 cities with data; this metric covers 8.

Quick answers

Which US city ranks first on Ranking?
Detroit, MI ranks 1st on Ranking, followed by Cleveland, OH (2nd) and Dayton, OH (3rd). Rank 1 is the worst US city.
Which US city ranks last on Ranking?
Birmingham, AL ranks last of the 8 US cities listed, at 9th.
Where does the Poorest Cities in the United States data come from?
Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: U.S. Census Bureau - American Community Survey; Bureau of Economic Analysis. Last updated Oct 28, 2026.

Related topics

More rankings of cities that share statistics, a category or a subject with this one.

Keep exploring