[NativeNewYorker]

This is a joke. Flint and Philly are crime-ridden cesspools losing population, while New York has a record-low crime rate and is gaining people.

How does NYC end up between the other two?

[Southack]

"This is a joke. Flint and Philly are crime-ridden cesspools losing population, while New York has a record-low crime rate and is gaining people. How does NYC end up between the other two?"

It's an amatuerish index. A better indication of misery would be rate and number of new business closing versus opening, population growth or shrinkage (the water was cold), lawsuits filed, unemployment rate increasing or decreasing, average wages increasing or decreasing, weather, crime rate increasing or decreasing, commute time increasing or decreasing, air/water quality increasing or decreasing, local political/sports power/prestige increasing (e.g. winning a Super Bowl in Green Bay would make that area estatic regardless of everything else), local taxes increasing/decreasing, etc.

[Clemenza]

NY's issues are the high cost of housing and the high taxes. If you go out to the outer boroughs, and speak with the lower middle class and recent immigrants, they will tell you what hell it is to live in New York in their condition.

Believe it or not, your average Chinese/Albanian/Dominican/Ecuadorian/Nigerian would much prefer a large house on a large lot in suburbia than a row house/flat in Queens or Brooklyn. The "glamour" of NYC means nothing to them.

[GreenLanternCorps]

This is a joke. Flint and Philly are crime-ridden cesspools losing population, while New York has a record-low crime rate and is gaining people.

How does NYC end up between the other two?

I would say the below paragraph sums it up:

"The Big Apple is the nation's center for financial services, publishing, advertising and countless other industries, making job opportunities plentiful. But the costs can make all but the super-wealthy miserable. Housing costs are through the roof, and income tax rates are 10.5%, more than twice the U.S. average. Commuting times are also the worst, at an average of 36 minutes each way."

In other words, in New York it takes forever to get to work, you pay most of your salary for a tiny room to live in, and the government takes the rest of your money in taxes.

[MotleyGirl70]

This is a joke. Flint and Philly are crime-ridden cesspools losing population, while New York has a record-low crime rate and is gaining people.

From the article (which takes income tax into consideration) :

Housing costs are through the roof, and income tax rates are 10.5%, more than twice the U.S. average.

[Alberta's Child]

It’s the horrendous commute times and income taxes, I guess. New York City ranks dead last among the 150 cities in both of those categories.

[soupcon]

Agreed. New Yorkers don’t seem miserable at all to me...maybe it’s their superior coping skills when dealing with long commutes and high taxes.
I’ve been taking my nine year old girl to NYC every month for the last three years, and she LOVES Manhattan, especially the people.

[doorgunner69]

How does NYC end up between the other two?

You'd have to be on the outside looking in to understand..............