A recent analysis of the “Best and Worst-Run Cities in America” finds two Michigan cities are among the most poverty-stricken in the nation.

The financial website WalletHub analyzed 148 of the largest U.S. cities across 36 “quality of services” metrics in six categories, as well as their per-capita budgets.

One of the metrics – the percent of the population living in poverty – showed Flint, Michigan ranked 148^th, which is dead last among the cities analyzed in the report released June 18. Detroit ranked 146^th in the same category, just ahead of Gary, Indiana in 147^th.

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers a family of four with an income of $31,200 or less in poverty in the contiguous 48 states, though that figure is slightly higher in Hawaii and Alaska, according to WITL.

According to 2022 data cited by Family-to-Family.org, a nonprofit focused on families in poverty, 39.6% of Flint residents have an income under $25,000 a year 69.4% of residents under 18 live in poverty, and 52.5% are unemployed.

The Flint unemployment rate is also the worst in the nation, coming in one spot ahead of Detroit, according to the WalletHub study.

Preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the unemployment rate in Flint was 4.9% in April, down from 5.3% in February. In the Detroit-Warren-Livonia region, that figure was 4.3% in May.

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Other metrics examined by WalletHub showed Detroit tied with Little Rock, Oakland, Baltimore and Memphis for the highest violent crime rate, and ranked next to last behind Gary for lowest median household income.

Overall, out of 148 cities, the financial site ranked Flint as the 144^th best run, while Detroit was ranked at 140.

The high rates of poverty in Flint and Detroit have been getting worse since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office. U.S. Census figures released in December show rates are rising in over half of the state’s counties.

While the nationwide rate held steady between 2021 and 2022 at 11.5%, Michigan’s rate continued to rise, from 12.6% in 2020, to 13% in 2021, to 13.3% in 2022. The 2022 rate now ranks 13^th among states, up from 18^th in 2021, Bridge Detroit reports.

Lisa Chapman, director of public policy for the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, pointed to rising inflation that led to an 8% increase in homeless people, increased demand on food pantries, and Michiganders struggling to pay their bills.

The U.S. Census Bureau adjusted the poverty threshold up 8% in 2022 to compensate for the increased cost of living, but U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows average weekly wages in Michigan rose by a mere 3.2% from mid-2021 to mid-2022, Bridge reports.

“People just don’t have a lot of cushion,” Chapman said. “It’s tragic.”

The WalletHub analysis supports other recent studies highlighting how life has become harder in Whitmer’s Michigan.

A reworked Michigan Poverty & Well-Being Map released by the University of Michigan in March found 39% of residents in the Great Lakes State are dealing with significant economic problems, a figure that includes the 13.3% below the federal poverty threshold and nearly 26% just above it.

The UM research, based on 2021 Census data, details skyrocketing housing costs near Detroit and in northwest Michigan, high rates of food insecurity in the east central region, lagging wages in east Michigan, high child poverty rates in the northeast, and the detrimental impact of poor educational outcomes in the south central region.

The data shows residents across the Upper Peninsula are struggling with average housing and transportation costs eating up half of their income, while folks in the southwest earn 8% less than the state median, including nearly 22% in Benton Harbor who earn half of the federal poverty threshold.

Still other findings point to racial disparities in economic security in southeast Michigan, and the state’s record low income and high child poverty rates in Lake County, which are driven in part by sky-high high school dropout rates, according to the UM analysis.

A 2024 Kids Count Data Book released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Michigan League for Public Policy in early June ranked Michigan 34^th among states in the measure of child well-being, down two spots from the year prior.

Michigan data in every education measure was worse than the national average, and worse than before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office.

For economic well-being, the data book ranked Michigan 31^st, with categories including “children whose parents lack secure employment,” “children living in households with high housing cost burden,” and “teens not in school and not working” worse than in 2019.