Newark Tops the List of New Jersey's "Most Miserable" Towns. Do You Agree?

By Noah Sanders, Founder of The Newark Chronicle

A national list just put Newark at the top of a ranking nobody wants to top — and eight more New Jersey towns made the same list.

The list comes from Herald Weekly, which ranked the "most miserable" places in America using crime rates, median income, commute time, poverty, and more. Nine of the towns on it are from New Jersey. And Newark is number one.

Here is the full New Jersey list:

1.  Newark

2.  Jersey City

3.  Paterson

4.  Elizabeth

5.  New Brunswick

6.  Trenton

7.  Union City

8.  Passaic

9.  Plainfield

The reasons given are the ones Newark hears all the time: high crime rates, high lead levels in the water, poverty, and a big population carrying all of it at once.

But here is the part the list does not say. Newark is not the most dangerous city in New Jersey by the crime numbers alone — Camden usually takes that spot, with Newark ranking around fifth on crime-only lists. And Newark's violent crime rate, while still about two and a half times the state average, is not the whole story of this city. It is a city rebuilding — new development, new businesses, new people moving in, and neighbors who have been holding it down the whole time.

So the question is not just what a list says. The question is what the people who live here say.

Do you agree with this list?

Would you keep Newark at number one, or move it down? Is there a town on here that does not belong — or one that should have made it and did not? Are you satisfied with the town you live in?

Tell us in the comments. We want to hear from Newark, and from every town on this list.

The Newark Chronicle covers Newark news, housing help, jobs, culture, and community — and the national stories that matter here. Got a story or a tip? Email thenewarkchronicle@gmail.com.