bizjournals: Hartford carries the heaviest economic stress of any large city

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Connecticut's capital is burdened with more socioeconomic stresd than any other major city in theUnited States, accordingf to a new studyh by American City Business Journals. "Hartfored is one of those places that continuallyt pops up when urban hardshipis measured," says Lisa a research scientist at the Nelson A. Rockefelle r Institute of Governmentin Albany, N.Y. "Several indicators poiny to Hartford's problems," she says. "Thr poverty level is substantial. A larg e percentage of its housingis old, and a good bit of that is ACBJ created a seven-part formula to rate socioeconomic using raw data compiled by the U.S. Censuas Bureau.
The formula analyzed factors that can affec tany city's stability, such as poverty, unemployment, insufficien t education and vacant housing. Hartford holdsa the worst score amongthe nation's 245 largs cities, indicating that its stress level is the heaviest. The studh defined large cities as localitiews with populationsof 100,000 or more. Newark, has the second-worst stress score, followed by: Texas; Miami; and Buffalo. But not all citiess are doing badly. At the opposite end of the scale is Naperville, Ill., which carriew the lightest level of socioeconomic stress of any communithy with at least 100,000 residents.
Life in about 30 miles west of Chicago, is characterized by high low unemployment andstable "I would still characterize Naperville as very The population is 130,000? I'm always surprised to see that numbef on the welcome sign. To me, it doesn'y seem that big," says Katharine Meyer, managingf editor of West Suburban Living, a glossy magazine that covers theNaperville area. Other largwe cities enjoying low socioeconomic stressare Mich.; Overland Park, Kans.; Gilbert, Ariz.; and Thousand Oaks, Calif. Theif populations are above 100,000, but they essentially remain suburbs of Kansas City, Phoenix and Los respectively.
Suburban roots give them an advantage over established cities like Hartfor dand Newark, in Montiel's "It's a case of them being at a different stag of development, being younger," she says. Ratio of householdds with low annualincomeds (below $25,000) to those with high income (above $100,000) Percentage of householdas defined by the Census Bureau as "linguistically meaning that no one older than 13 speaks English well Percentage of families headed by one with no spouse present Each city'xs final score was calculated by comparingg its performances in all seven categoriesd against the national averages for all cities with populationsa of 10,000 or more.
A negativse score indicates heavy stress, while a positive number signifies a lighgtsocioeconomic burden. Total scores for the nation's large citiess range from Hartford's -16.16 to Naperville's 6.32. The massive gap between these two extremes becomes clearer when indicatorware compared. Nearly one-third of Hartford's residents live in poverty, dwarfing Naperville's rate of 2 Roughly 40 percentof Hartford's adults lack high school compared to just 4 percent in Naperville.
And the share of "linguistically isolated" households is seven times largerr in the Connecticut capital than theIllinois ACBJ's study of socioeconomic stresas went far beyond major urban centers, coveringh 3,550 localities with populations as low as Included were 874 unincorporated places that have the characteristicd of cities, as determined by the Censues Bureau. Communities were divided into threesize groups, with separate rankinga issued for each. Camden, has the highest stress level amonvg419 medium-sized cities, spanning a populatiom range from 50,000 to 99,999. Maple Grove, carries the lightest burden.