Macon one of nation’s “brokest” cities, website says

Posted: 12:00am on Nov 2, 2011; Modified: 9:39am on Nov 2, 2011

Thick clouds billow over the north end of downtown Macon on Tuesday afternoon. The Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority have grave concerns about the effects the proposed moving of the Bibb County Courthouse and the possible closing of the Macon Health Club would have on downtown. GRANT BLANKENSHIP/THE TELEGRAPH — Grant Blankenship/The Telegraph

Macon was named on another unflattering list.

The Daily Beast, Newsweek’s popular news and opinion website, released its list of the nation’s 30 “brokest” cities Tuesday.

Macon is 14th with a 10.4 percent unemployment rate, $37,507 median household income, an average personal debt of $23,775, and an average personal credit score of 715, according to the list.

Three other Georgia cities also made the list. Savannah is 25th with a 9.5 percent unemployment rate and median household income of $46,755. Augusta was ranked 25th with a 9.6 percent unemployment rate and $44,777 median household income.

Columbus topped the list at No. 1 with an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent and a median household income of $36,553.

The list was compiled using data from credit bureau Experian and the federal Bureau of Labor statistics. The credit score for each community is shown, but that was not taken into account when determining the final rankings, The Daily Beast article stated.

Most of the cities on the list are located in the South.

Some other cities named are: No. 2, Harlingen, Texas, 12.5 percent unemployment rate, $31,736 median household income; No. 4, Greenville, N.C., 10.9 percent unemployment rate, $39,664 median household income; No. 6, Bakersfield, Calif., 14.4 percent unemployment rate, $45,524 median household income; and No. 7, Mobile, Ala., 11 percent unemployment rate, $39,998 median household income.

See the complete list here.

In October 2009, Macon was ranked the seventh-poorest metro area in the U.S. by Forbes magazine.

Forbes cited Macon’s per capita income ($21,913), its number of food-stamp recipients (15 percent of the 226,170 metro population) and the percentage of its poorest income earners who fall “below 50 percent of the poverty line” (8.9 percent).

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