16 Poorest Large Major Cities in America in 2018

Interested to know which are the poorest large major cities in America in 2018? Read along!

Being born out of the US and in the poor world region (the Balkans), it comes strange to me that there are actually poor cities in that part of the globe. While reading the news, there are always some big numbers involved which, from my perspective, are impossible to get to if you are not overall a rich country. Regardless of what I think, the US is shown to be a rich country with occasional poor cities here and there. Well, of course, it would be very unnatural that all of the cities within the 50 state are rich! Also, we should have in mind that there is a big difference when we talk about poverty in America and elsewhere. After all, living standards differ from one country to another one.

You can read about the poorest cities in the US in 2017 in one of our previous articles – 25 Poorest Cities in America in 2017. Some of them are El Centro in California and Port St. Lucie in Florida, which are basically smaller size cities. That is why, with today’s list, we covered only poorest large cities in America for this year. What you will notice on your own, while reading, is that two cities of Texas are mentioned. That can provoke a thought that Texas is, in general, a poor state. For example, the average annual salary of an office manager is $43,686. We could say it is not much, but there are also poorer as well as the richer states than Texas. I think it is fair to say that it is somewhere in between, according to annual average salary. However, while researching this topic, questions like “why is Philadelphia so poor?” and “what are the causes of poverty in Philadelphia?” were bumping up almost on every corner. So, we decided to provide you with the answers.

Poverty in Philadelphia reached its peak in 2015, when 12.2% of the city’s population lived in deep poverty, with income under 50% of the federal poverty limit. According to the Pew Trust, “it is difficult to find a single statistical indicator that best captures the state of the city.” On the other hand, some suggested that poverty could be examined by age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Philly found three possible explanations of big poverty in Philadelphia which include transportation, housing and land use in suburbs. In order to see if the city progressed, we compared the poverty rate in the year 2016 and 2017, and we found out that it didn’t change much. So that you get a clearer impression, in 2016, the income for the family of four was $24,300 or even less.

In order to create our list of poorest large major cities in America in 2018, we first took as many suggestions as we could, from various sources such as already mentioned Philly, then CBS News, MLive, World Atlas, and many others. Then we checked for each suggested city its average annual salary on the PayScale, and in addition, ranked them in that manner. Even though during our research there were some indicators that Reading, PA could be one of the poorest cities, in the end, that wasn’t the case. The list goes from the richest to the poorest city in the USA. Now let’s get started!

16. Boston, Massachusetts

Annual median income: $70,800

The cost of living in Boston is 46.8 percent higher than the national average, according to the PayScale. Moreover, some of the most popular occupations are Operations Manager, Software Engineer, and Senior Software Engineer. The salary for those positions is between $70,666 and $112,483 annually. In contrary, the lowest paid position on the same list is the Financial Analyst with pay of $59,573.

15. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Annual median income: $59,726

On the fifteenth place of the poorest large major cities in America in 2018 is, already mentioned, Philadelphia. This city had a poverty rate of 25.7% in the year 2016. Moreover, if we look at the PayScale’s suggestions, the lowest paid working position is the Administrative Assistant with the pay of $39,107. For other positions such as the Project manager or Software Engineer, paycheck could be way higher. The cost of living in Philadelphia is 16.6 percent more expensive than the national average.

14. Detroit, Michigan

Annual median income: $58,860

In the city of Detroit, the average salary is $58,844, while the cost of living is 3.2 percent less than the national average. Some of the most popular jobs are the Operations Manager, Mechanical Engineer, and Software Engineer. Their pay can be between $65,952 and $73,531 per year. However, the average pay, which is around $7 per hour, could raise in future, according to some sources.

13. Baltimore, Maryland

Annual median income: $55,959

Even though the average annual income in Baltimore is $55,953, there are lower ones as well. For example, for the position of Administrative Assistant, the pay is $39,368, while for the Office Manager it can be a bit higher with $46,423 per year. The cost of living in Baltimore is 16.5 percent higher than the national average.

12. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Annual median income: $52,787

By looking at the annual median income, we could think it is not much, and comparing it to other big cities it really isn’t. But then again, Milwaukee is one of the rare cities where the cost of living is 1.8 percent lower than the national average. Some of the most popular occupations are the Operations Manager, Mechanical Engineer, and Software Engineer and their pay could be between $62,977 and $68,313 per year.

11. Cleveland, Ohio

Annual median income: $51,838

We are continuing our list of poorest large major cities in America in 2018 with Cleveland, where the cost of living is 0.5 percent above the national average. Moreover, there are, of course, lower paid positions such as the Executive Assistant with $49,056 and also the Administrative Assistant with $38,017. If you compare these pays with the previously mentioned cities, you will realize it is for a thousand less, and that is not a small difference!

10. Indianapolis, Indiana

Annual median income: $51,036

Same as for Milwaukee, the cost of living in Indianapolis is 7.5 percent lower than the national average. However, there are some job positions that are paid less than the annual median income. In the same time, the higher ones can reach even $96,000 such as, for example, a position of a lawyer.

9. Buffalo, New York

Annual median income: $48,685

On the ninth position on our list of poorest large major cities in America in 2018 is Buffalo. Some of the lower paid positions than the average income is the Office Manager with $43, 746. However, the most popular occupations are Operations Manager, Registered Nurse and Mechanical Engineer whose salary range between $58,491 and $61,192 per year.

8. Louisville, Kentucky

Annual median income: $48,581

In Louisville, the lower paid job positions are the Staff Accountant with $45,791, and even lower is the Office Manager with $41,667, which is in the same time one of the most popular occupations. The cost of living is 8.2 percent less than the national average in this city.

7. San Antonio, Texas

Annual median income: $48,148

Office Manager in San Antonio gets an annual pay of $41,229 which is seven thousand less than the average median income. However, there are even worse cases. The administrative Assistant gets $34,680 annually. The cost of living is 13.6 percent lower than the national average in this city.

6. Memphis, Tennessee

Annual median income: $46,918

Lower paid job positions than the average median income have Office Managers and Administrative Assistants, as in other previous mentioned cities. For the Office Manager, the pay is $6,000 lower, while for the latter position even $10,000 than the average income! The cost of living in this city is 16.8 percent below the national average.

5. Tucson, Arizona

Annual median income: $46,257

Fifth on our list of poorest large major cities in America in 2018 is Tucson, with annual median income of $46,257. The cost of living in this city is 5.7 percent less expensive than the national average. Some of the lower paid positions are, as in previous cities, the Office Manager with $$40,878.

4. Fresno, California

Annual median income: $44,598

Fresno has 5.5 percent higher cost of living than the national average. The wages can be very high with reaching $88,918, but at the same time, they can go as low as $40,785. The most popular occupations are the Office Manager, Operations Manager, and Human Resources Manager whose pay can be between $40,785 and $65,885 annually.

3. El Paso, Texas

Annual median income: $40,668

The cost of living is 10.5 percent below the national average in El Paso, the number three on our list of poorest large major cities in America in 2018. Some of the lowest paid job positions are the Office Manager with $39,738 and the General Manager of a restaurant with $41,118. The highest one goes around $58,000 which is, as you can see by yourselves, not much higher than the average.

2. Springfield, Missouri

Annual median income: $39,241

The cost of living in Springfield is 11.3 percent below the national average. Some of the most popular jobs are the Office Manager, Operations Manager, and Software Engineer. However, for the Office Manager, the pay is among the lowest ones with $37,956.

1. Bay City, Michigan

Annual median income: $38,008

Finally, on the top of our list of the poorest large major cities in America in 2018 is the Bay City in Michigan! The most popular occupations in this city are the Administrative Assistant, Retail Store Manager, and Information Technology Director. However, you wouldn’t be that happy if you are the Certified Nurse Assistant as you would get just $11 per hour. On the other hand, for a registered nurse the salary is $30 per hour!