Many people in the United States will face financial hardships at some point in their lives, whether it's homelessness, food insecurity, or poverty. Some cities have been hit harder by the pandemic while others have experienced these hardships for a lot longer.
A new study by WalletHub compiled a list of more than 180 cities, including the 150 most populated cities in the country, to determine which were facing the most poverty-driven hardships. Several cities in North Carolina made the cut.
Here are the North Carolina cities ranked as the country's "neediest" in 2021.
- Fayetteville (61)
- Greensboro (84)
- Winston-Salem (102)
- Charlotte (132)
- Durham (144)
- Raleigh (159)
While Fayetteville was ranked near the middle of the list, the majority of North Carolina's cities were in the lower half, with Raleigh having the best economic well-being and health and safety in the state.
The top five cities on the list are Detroit, Michigan; Brownsville, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; and Laredo, Texas.
To determine the list, WalletHub compared 182 cities across the country using two factors: economic well-being and health and safety. These factors were then evaluated using 28 relevant metrics, including child and adult poverty rate, unemployment rate, homelessness rate, presence of homeless criminalization laws, foreclosure rate, high school drop out rate, food insecurity rate, share of depressed adults, suicide rate, crime rate, and more.
Check out the full list of cities here.
Photo: Getty Images