Knoxville, Tennessee
Unlike most of the other cities on this lineup, Knoxville has a lot to be proud of: large corporations, top-ranked schools, beautiful parks, and a long and illustrious musical history. Regrettably, not everybody has access to the same resources: In 2019, Bloomberg ranked Knoxville as one of the worst cities in the country for widening income disparities, according to the publication. More than a quarter of Knoxville’s population lives below the poverty line, with the median household income hovering around $40,000 in the city. The local police department acknowledged that violent crime was on the rise in September 2020, citing the fact that the city had seen 28 homicides by that point in the year, compared to 22 homicides for the entire year of 2019.
Knoxville Tennessee
Thompsonville, Connecticut
The mills of “Carpet City” once were major producers of textiles, but the industry was decimated by a series of closures, sales, and consolidations in the mid-1900s. The average household income in this Hartford County town is $80,125 nowadays, but more than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the most recent census data. According to the Hartford Courant, the state has been dealing with an increase in drug overdoses, with Hartford County being responsible for the highest number in the most recent year of track: 1,590 out of 4,505 total overdoses.
Thompsonville, Connecticut