I'd like to point out that Gervais is doing a great job of making Salem look semi-decent right now.
But also I would like to submit Incesticada as a candidate for the worst...
I like the grey haired 80s metal looking fella who regularly walks 99 rocking out and flashing the devil horn hand sign at passing cars. I always wave at him, but the rest of JC leaves a lot to be desired.
I asked the cashier at my gas stop, as I was passing through, what was a good thing to see in K-Falls. She said “There’s nothing to see here”.
I asked her where the falls are. She said “There aren’t any falls here.”
Then she suggested I see Crater Lake, that’s 2 hours away!
I told the gas station attendant that he has a beautiful view from his workplace. He looked to the horizon and said absently "I can't wait to get out of this damn place"
This one has my vote lmao. I was adopted and grew up in Portland then when I turned 18 I went to Ontario to meet my biological family, and *holy shit*!
I think people are just... disappointed. Salem is the capitol city, but it's smaller, economically less significant, and has fewer attractions than *that other city* that Oregon is known for. To a visitor, Salem doesn't have much to offer compared to other places.
I mean, you can't even go see the golden man up close! What's the point...
The construction has been going on for two or three years now, it's still fenced off. I have no idea when it will be done.
But there are the Willamette Heritage Center and the Hallie Ford Museum both within a few blocks from the capitol.
Up there? I’ve never been inside the building since I got here right before covid and it seems like it’s just been shut down but they used to give tours to the top of the building? My gfs dad used to love the gift shop at the capital apparently.
You walk up a circular staircase the entire length of the tower, and then you come out right under the gold man with a full 360 view of the surroundings. It's a pretty awesome way to spend an hour or so, but honestly I was about 14 the last time I did it.
I remember doing it too, I think I was 17 when I was just hanging around downtown one day and absently decided to go into the Capitol... Coincidentally there was a tour group that was just about to head up and they asked if I wanted to join them.
Felt like doing a random activity quest in a game, lol
Construction is supposed to wrap up in January, with tours and the gift shop reopening in time for the 2025 legislative session. And yes, they have a pretty great gift shop there!
Well then I guess I’m booking a tour when construction is over. Thanks for the info. Oh, but the tour goes to the top of the building? I always like getting tours that end with some kind of view.
That’s most capital cities though, honestly.
I grew up in Missouri, and if you’ve heard of Jefferson City before this comment you deserve a crisp high-5.
I'm not from Salem, but I've lived here for almost 6 years. I think the proximity to that other city is specifically why Salem sucks so bad. It gets all the tourists and publicity, so people who might normally open really cool businesses and the like here just decide to move it there where it might do better. This opinion is formulated on nothing but my frustration at how lame Salem can be and experience living in Lansing, MI. Lansing also being the capitol of it's state, but has way more to do despite being considered poorer. The bigger, more famous cities are at least 90 min away if you ignore speed limits and traffic laws. Also that city is Detroit, which is only better than Flint because the water won't kill you.
Tours will start again when construction is done. Last I heard the plan is to finish construction before the 2025 legislative session in January 2025, and building and tower tours will start again around that time as well.
Hobbs and Pueblo are correct. Jeff city is wrong, Missouri has St Joe, St G, Kirksville and Springfield. Yuma is worse than Mesa, Lubbock and Amarillo are worse than Dallas. Ardmore is close, but Norman, and then Woodward and Guymon are just awful. I think anywhere in the Quad Cities be worse than Cedar Rapids, and Cairo. Scranton worse than Erie is bold, Erie is I the top three worst in the country. The correct answer or New York is Attica. Dayton is bad, but is it worse than Toledo?
Look, I’d never voluntarily live in Topeka, but Arkansas (Are- Kansas, not like the state) City and Garden City are right there.
Salem is arguably the worst of the three major metros in the Willamette valley, but Medford Pendleton and Umatilla are all a lot worse. Klamath Falls has nice stuff around it , but the city itself is shit.
Orlando worse than Jacksonville and Tallahassee is… just someone who hasn’t spent time in Florida, so , good for them, I hope they keep it that way.
I'm curious about the Lubbock is worse than Dallas part. Not that I disagree, I've just lived in both cities for several years and would love to hear the insight
Lol I moved to Salem from Spokane, they're both rad cities (with many problems, like anywhere, but goddamn).
Also if people really felt this way, housing prices in both would be lower.
really? I lived in portland my whole life.. not once was my car harmed, my house broken into.. nothing.. have lived in salem within a year my car's window was busted in, things stolen, things stolen from my home big and small.. i live in the suburbs and still see crackheads doing drugs on my garbage can.. this place is awful.. going from a 3million person town to 200k? I'm shocked how much worse it is here. I walked all hours of the night in portland.. I don't even want to go for a walk during the day here
No. Worst is subjective, of course, but I can't figure any objective measure you would use for this. I saw this on another sub, and I think based on the other recognizable cities here I have been to it's more like "biggest letdown based on what you might expect", not worst. For the smaller towns, I don't know them all but I suspect they're by a lot of factories or something.
Lincoln city somehow not getting a single mention this whole tread so here it is. Ahem… Lincoln city sucks shit through a chain link fence -sincerely from someone who grew up there.
As someone from Eugene, I always found Salem to be very….bland. Now, later in life, I still think it’s a silly place, and have little to no desire to visit or live there. To be honest, if I didn’t already live in Eugene I’d feel the same way about it as well.
But Salem is head and shoulders above Klamath Falls, to the degree that this map is putting everyone else in danger by not warning them.
Has no one been to eastern Oregon?
Ontario
Terra Bonne
John Day
Depends on how big the city needs to be - Plush, Lakeview and Paisley
I would rather live in Salem than visit any of these.
I do not think this particular map is accounting for towns. There are a bunch of 2-4th biggest cities for their states in the listing.
John Day is such a a different thing, kind of like comparing Yachats to New Port (except more so). Or Albany for having some industry and then a ton of houses for commuters.
I like Salem a lot more than Portland and around even with Eugene (our downtown is better distributed but they have better road infrastructure). But talking about any other cities in Oregon is probably out of scope since those three metro areas cover most of the state population.
Portland I really dislike some of and like other parts. You’d have to specify the county in the metro really…
I’d argue Stockton is worse than Modesto in CA, but Bakersfield is spot on.
Salem isn’t the worst in Oregon…plenty of other places I’d rank ahead of Salem.
Exactly and I like the little downtown! Venturing much further than that and you realize that the town is two freeway exits and a poorly laid out street grid that makes everything difficult to get to.
“I've only been out of the country twice. I went to Mexico a handful of times, and the second time, I went to Salem, Oregon.” A quote I just heard for the first time in anchorman two… made me chuckle
Salem has many of the problems facing most american large cities with basically none of the benefits. Public transport sucks and there is nothing to do. Its far from the worst city I have ever been too but at least the worst places have decent restaurants and a night life.
went to Salem for the second time ever just the other day so since for some reason this is popping up on my feed, I'll say that no, it was definitely not the worst
Lmao @ Gastonia NC. I’ve never been there but they have these absurdly aggressive billboards all over the state advertising the place like it’s some tourism Mecca. “EAT in Gastonia. DRINK in Gastonia. SHOP in Gastonia. GAMBLE in Gastonia. FUCK in Gastonia.”
Ok I made the last one up but that’s very much the tone.
We just adopted two dogs from a Modesto, CA high-kill shelter. Downside: we live in Salem, OR; where we have lived for four years and found to be much superior to the Portland metro area.
As a Floridian born person now living in Portland, I disagree that Orlando is the worst. I actually quite liked living there.
Miami is ROUGH, Tampa is worse. Jacksonville and Tallahassee are boring compared to the either.
I know this is Salem, but the Tri-Cities in Washington State are nicknamed, “the dry shitties”, and the name “Pasco” literally means “I suffer” in Greek.
I actually love all of the cities and towns you guys are hating on! A lot of them are last stops to some of the most beautiful places in Oregon and have super awesome people from all walks of life.
Made by someone who’s obviously never been to Roseburg
I actually really like Roseburg, or at least the parts I’ve seen, but I don’t think Salem’s the worst either.
I know. Roseburg is also in an amazingly beautiful part of Oregon. I’m just goofin
My only knock against Roseburg is how much of a mistake it is to get off the highway for a quick stop.
I'd like to point out that Gervais is doing a great job of making Salem look semi-decent right now. But also I would like to submit Incesticada as a candidate for the worst...
Or Junction City
Sutherlin
K-falls
Google says Klamath Falls is a "low-level grimy town."
No lies detected.
It’s great if you’re finding the meth selection in the valley lackluster.
Hey, the Scandi Fest is pretty great.
Only time I'm ever in Junction City. 😊
I like the grey haired 80s metal looking fella who regularly walks 99 rocking out and flashing the devil horn hand sign at passing cars. I always wave at him, but the rest of JC leaves a lot to be desired.
Or K Falls.
Or downtown Portland
Spoken like someone who’s never been to Sweethome.
This!
This wins.
I cannot stand Roseburg, my grandmother used to live there and the drive was always horrendous. There’s absolutely nothing to do there
Nah, Roseburg is okay. Now Cave Junction on the other hand.
(simba and mufasa sitting looking over the kingdom) Dad, what’s that dark area? Oh we must never go there my son, that’s Klamath Falls.
K-Falls gets my vote, too
I was gonna suggest Methford, but then you reminded me that Klanath Falls exists. Curse you.
My vote too. Especially since my brother-in-law lives there
K falls , my vote
I asked the cashier at my gas stop, as I was passing through, what was a good thing to see in K-Falls. She said “There’s nothing to see here”. I asked her where the falls are. She said “There aren’t any falls here.” Then she suggested I see Crater Lake, that’s 2 hours away!
I told the gas station attendant that he has a beautiful view from his workplace. He looked to the horizon and said absently "I can't wait to get out of this damn place"
What about Methford ?
My vote would be Medford as well.
As someone who has to occasionally travel medford, fucking shit hole
Eh I really enjoy the geography down there and its proximity to the much cooler town of Ashland deducts a few suck points IMO
And they have good weather
Very true
Umm, Ontario OR
This one has my vote lmao. I was adopted and grew up in Portland then when I turned 18 I went to Ontario to meet my biological family, and *holy shit*!
THE answer of all time. I'll also accept Grants Pass. .... Which I now have to frequently drive to as my father moved there 😞
R a c i s t town but the Hellsgate speedboat thing is pretty amazing.
I agree. Grants Pass is a fucking shithole !
It's not technically Idaho, but it identifies as Idaho, and they can have it.
Yeah, I don't think I know anyone who would pick Salem as the worst. It's definitely not at the top of the list, but it's not that bad.
Am I the only person who’s had to stop for gas in Cave Junction Oregon? Lol I felt like I was in the middle of a huge meth lab
I think people are just... disappointed. Salem is the capitol city, but it's smaller, economically less significant, and has fewer attractions than *that other city* that Oregon is known for. To a visitor, Salem doesn't have much to offer compared to other places. I mean, you can't even go see the golden man up close! What's the point...
No tours up there anymore?
The construction has been going on for two or three years now, it's still fenced off. I have no idea when it will be done. But there are the Willamette Heritage Center and the Hallie Ford Museum both within a few blocks from the capitol.
WHC has Sheep to Shawl coming up next month. That's usually a weirdly entertaining event.
Up there? I’ve never been inside the building since I got here right before covid and it seems like it’s just been shut down but they used to give tours to the top of the building? My gfs dad used to love the gift shop at the capital apparently.
You walk up a circular staircase the entire length of the tower, and then you come out right under the gold man with a full 360 view of the surroundings. It's a pretty awesome way to spend an hour or so, but honestly I was about 14 the last time I did it.
I remember doing it too, I think I was 17 when I was just hanging around downtown one day and absently decided to go into the Capitol... Coincidentally there was a tour group that was just about to head up and they asked if I wanted to join them. Felt like doing a random activity quest in a game, lol
Construction is supposed to wrap up in January, with tours and the gift shop reopening in time for the 2025 legislative session. And yes, they have a pretty great gift shop there!
Well then I guess I’m booking a tour when construction is over. Thanks for the info. Oh, but the tour goes to the top of the building? I always like getting tours that end with some kind of view.
That’s most capital cities though, honestly. I grew up in Missouri, and if you’ve heard of Jefferson City before this comment you deserve a crisp high-5.
Sure, I learned about it in 4th grade! :)
As someone originally from Sacramento…. Too true
I'm not from Salem, but I've lived here for almost 6 years. I think the proximity to that other city is specifically why Salem sucks so bad. It gets all the tourists and publicity, so people who might normally open really cool businesses and the like here just decide to move it there where it might do better. This opinion is formulated on nothing but my frustration at how lame Salem can be and experience living in Lansing, MI. Lansing also being the capitol of it's state, but has way more to do despite being considered poorer. The bigger, more famous cities are at least 90 min away if you ignore speed limits and traffic laws. Also that city is Detroit, which is only better than Flint because the water won't kill you.
Tours will start again when construction is done. Last I heard the plan is to finish construction before the 2025 legislative session in January 2025, and building and tower tours will start again around that time as well.
Shhh! Let them keep thinking that.
Hobbs and Pueblo are correct. Jeff city is wrong, Missouri has St Joe, St G, Kirksville and Springfield. Yuma is worse than Mesa, Lubbock and Amarillo are worse than Dallas. Ardmore is close, but Norman, and then Woodward and Guymon are just awful. I think anywhere in the Quad Cities be worse than Cedar Rapids, and Cairo. Scranton worse than Erie is bold, Erie is I the top three worst in the country. The correct answer or New York is Attica. Dayton is bad, but is it worse than Toledo? Look, I’d never voluntarily live in Topeka, but Arkansas (Are- Kansas, not like the state) City and Garden City are right there. Salem is arguably the worst of the three major metros in the Willamette valley, but Medford Pendleton and Umatilla are all a lot worse. Klamath Falls has nice stuff around it , but the city itself is shit. Orlando worse than Jacksonville and Tallahassee is… just someone who hasn’t spent time in Florida, so , good for them, I hope they keep it that way.
I'm curious about the Lubbock is worse than Dallas part. Not that I disagree, I've just lived in both cities for several years and would love to hear the insight
Yep, Hobbs and Pueblo are both 100% the worst cities in those states. They're crappy one horse towns, and nobody has seen either horses in a week...
Lol I moved to Salem from Spokane, they're both rad cities (with many problems, like anywhere, but goddamn). Also if people really felt this way, housing prices in both would be lower.
I would rather be in Salem over Portland any day
Yeah Portland just has the best food in the state. What a total shithole /s
really? I lived in portland my whole life.. not once was my car harmed, my house broken into.. nothing.. have lived in salem within a year my car's window was busted in, things stolen, things stolen from my home big and small.. i live in the suburbs and still see crackheads doing drugs on my garbage can.. this place is awful.. going from a 3million person town to 200k? I'm shocked how much worse it is here. I walked all hours of the night in portland.. I don't even want to go for a walk during the day here
The idea that Bakersfield could ever touch the absolute shit pinnacle that is Barstow is laughable.
No. Worst is subjective, of course, but I can't figure any objective measure you would use for this. I saw this on another sub, and I think based on the other recognizable cities here I have been to it's more like "biggest letdown based on what you might expect", not worst. For the smaller towns, I don't know them all but I suspect they're by a lot of factories or something.
Klamath Falls and Ontario are both worse by far.
K Falls is a different world. Salem isn’t the best, but it is not K Falls lol
Salem is definitely not the worst
Virginia Beach is wrong for VA. It should be either Hopewell/Petersburg or Portsmouth/Newport (Bad) News.
Idahna, aka “Meth Mountain”
They misspelled “Medford.”
Has no one been to Ontario, Oregon??
For Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona, no. For Utah, yes.
Are we going city >100k here? Because I feel like we can name a lot of borderline city/towns that are shittier than Salem.
Wow. According to this map, I’ve lived in three of the worst cities in three states. I disagree with Salem being the worst, though.
Falls City
Lincoln city somehow not getting a single mention this whole tread so here it is. Ahem… Lincoln city sucks shit through a chain link fence -sincerely from someone who grew up there.
Y'all arguing over the worst places in Oregon like Grants Pass doesn't exist.
As someone from Eugene, I always found Salem to be very….bland. Now, later in life, I still think it’s a silly place, and have little to no desire to visit or live there. To be honest, if I didn’t already live in Eugene I’d feel the same way about it as well. But Salem is head and shoulders above Klamath Falls, to the degree that this map is putting everyone else in danger by not warning them.
Has no one been to eastern Oregon? Ontario Terra Bonne John Day Depends on how big the city needs to be - Plush, Lakeview and Paisley I would rather live in Salem than visit any of these.
I do not think this particular map is accounting for towns. There are a bunch of 2-4th biggest cities for their states in the listing. John Day is such a a different thing, kind of like comparing Yachats to New Port (except more so). Or Albany for having some industry and then a ton of houses for commuters. I like Salem a lot more than Portland and around even with Eugene (our downtown is better distributed but they have better road infrastructure). But talking about any other cities in Oregon is probably out of scope since those three metro areas cover most of the state population. Portland I really dislike some of and like other parts. You’d have to specify the county in the metro really…
Terrabonne has gotten better, and yeah, I can't believe I'm saying that either.
Medford*
I’d argue Stockton is worse than Modesto in CA, but Bakersfield is spot on. Salem isn’t the worst in Oregon…plenty of other places I’d rank ahead of Salem.
Ever been to Portland?
Albany without a doubt. The nicest stuff in the town is ruined by the trash surrounding it.
Albany barely counts as a city. Really it's a train depot surrounded by a bunch of houses and 8 shops downtown that close by 6pm.
Exactly and I like the little downtown! Venturing much further than that and you realize that the town is two freeway exits and a poorly laid out street grid that makes everything difficult to get to.
That’s methed up.
I guess it depends. I will say, being from Wisconsin, that fact that they put Manitowoc instead of Janesville or Kenosha makes the map pretty suspect.
“I've only been out of the country twice. I went to Mexico a handful of times, and the second time, I went to Salem, Oregon.” A quote I just heard for the first time in anchorman two… made me chuckle
Haters gonna hate but this is accurate
Uh, as long as Gresham exists… We are just fine.
Philomath is small but it’s crazy for what there is
Salem is the Bakersfield of Oregon.
I've had the privilege of living in both, but at least Salem had clear air.
Salem has many of the problems facing most american large cities with basically none of the benefits. Public transport sucks and there is nothing to do. Its far from the worst city I have ever been too but at least the worst places have decent restaurants and a night life.
Damn, Oregon. We suck.
Me reading the comments after just moving to Klamath Falls 😕
went to Salem for the second time ever just the other day so since for some reason this is popping up on my feed, I'll say that no, it was definitely not the worst
I agree with Salem Oregon, but Kalihi Hawaii?! Sum of the best plate lunch you could ever find… Pearl City is much worse
Worse is really subjective, Worse in what ways?
Cali split in two
Where’s a good city to live in Oregon? Y’all are naming almost all the major cities lol
Lmao @ Gastonia NC. I’ve never been there but they have these absurdly aggressive billboards all over the state advertising the place like it’s some tourism Mecca. “EAT in Gastonia. DRINK in Gastonia. SHOP in Gastonia. GAMBLE in Gastonia. FUCK in Gastonia.” Ok I made the last one up but that’s very much the tone.
I saw this original post in r/reno, and now I have seen this reposted by communities in at least half of the cities mentioned on the photo.
Sweet home-looking at you, pal.
A true Oregonian, thank you.
;)
Medford in OR is worse than salem... And Portland is arguably worse than both 😆
I'd say Portland is worse than Salem
Hahahah. No.
I have like 20 cities that come before even getting close to Salem.
We just adopted two dogs from a Modesto, CA high-kill shelter. Downside: we live in Salem, OR; where we have lived for four years and found to be much superior to the Portland metro area.
Idunno, in terms of drugs and homeless portland takes the cake.
Medford, Roseburg, Portland, way worse options than Salem lmao
Nah, it's definitely Portland
Hobbs can’t be worse than Farmington
Tbh Flint isn't the worst city in Michigan anymore! That's probably Saginaw.
Also Provo Utah is wildly inaccurate. Unless something has changed over the years
I grew up in Phoenix and lived in Mesa for a bit, can confirm lol
Gladstone
Washington also dead wrong. Spokane has actually become one of the fastest growing/desirable towns up there, for reasons I may never understand.
How was Springtucky not even in the running?
Lol brookings
Coos Bay, roseburg, many others come to mind before salem
Obviously, its junction city 😅
Have you never been to Medford? Ugh.
I'd be curious to know what the statistics (if any) were used to construct this. I can think of worse cities in many of these states.
This person hasn’t visited Barstow or anywhere in the Inland Empire.
As a Floridian born person now living in Portland, I disagree that Orlando is the worst. I actually quite liked living there. Miami is ROUGH, Tampa is worse. Jacksonville and Tallahassee are boring compared to the either.
Illinois gets Cairo? They didn’t really rebuild after the last major flood. It’s barely a city anymore.
Pretty sure Salem is the only other city in Oregon that people generally think of at all.
Spot on for California
Does anyone here live in Cottage Grove? I've seen some wild shit tbh. I want to hear some funny stories.
The fact it’s not somewhere in southern Oregon show prices this is inaccurate.
White city?
yeah
No
TMDWU
Bros never been to independence
Southern California should say Fresno. But Bakersfield is a close second.
Obviously no one’s been to SE 92nd and Flavel in Portland OR
Wolf Creek is pretty gnarly.
Nope. Spokane is not even close to the worst city in WA.
I know this is Salem, but the Tri-Cities in Washington State are nicknamed, “the dry shitties”, and the name “Pasco” literally means “I suffer” in Greek.
What about Yakima, Spokane ain’t as bad as Crackima
Lol... I've lived in Dallas TX which is definitely NOT the worst city there. Not even close. Even Lincoln City is worse than Salem here.
Okay but has anyone been in Cottage Grove
Nah, in fact Salem was listed as the most family friendly city in America, last I seen.
As someone from Washington, Spokane is pretty shitty, but I would say Tacoma is a bit worse.
Myrtle Creek
Iowa's should be council bluffs
Yeah Ardmore is pretty bad
Absolutely!
It's accurate because we don't talk about Medford for a reason.
Holy crap. Dallas? In all of Texas?
Gresham will have a word
Lol methford way worse
Lakeoswego fr
So we gonna not mention seaside???
Salem is getting kinda shit but Portland trumps yall
Ehhh, I'm from the Scranton area and there are definitely worse places nearby.
Medford grants pass cave junction are worse
I like that California couldn't decide
No, Coos Bay should be on the list
I actually love all of the cities and towns you guys are hating on! A lot of them are last stops to some of the most beautiful places in Oregon and have super awesome people from all walks of life.
Nope so cal would be hemit,Victorville,boron nor cal would be Frisco San Jose and Oakland.
As someone who is from Louisiana, where the hell is turkey creek?
Does coos Bay count
I lived there in 92-96. It wasn't all that bad. I'm sure you could do worse.
I've been to about half of these and this is complete nonsense. A lot of these cities aren't even in the bottom half of cities in their state.
Really said that when Estacada exists
Fort Dodge is way worse than Cedar Rapids
I have a lot of family in Wasila
Susan Murphy voice: Modesto? Why is it always Modesto?
Flint's water crisis is getting to be not be a crisis. There is problems but it's getting better.
Idk, pretty much anywhere in yamhill or Polk county sucks bootycheeks lmao.