The 5 Worst Cities for Urban Youth

2. Detroit, MI

The motor city presents a dismal high school graduation rate of 38% according to America's Promise Alliance; it too is struggling with the same educational challenges as Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cleveland. According to the most recent executive summary of juvenile statistics published by the Michigan Department of Human Services, Detroit's Wayne County is at the top of the list of counties identified for targeted intervention due to a high juvenile crime arrest rate over a period of 5 years, and high prevalence of arrest in the most recent year of documented juvenile justice data. Statewide, African-American youth comprise almost 50% of arrested juveniles. Detroit is also known to be one of the most violent cities, rated as the nation's murder capital by Forbes. The FBI reports 17,428 instances of violent crime out of a population of 905,783, in their most recent published data on U.S. Crime. Michigan Higher Education Land Policy Consortium reports that Detroit has an infant mortality rate of 15.4 per 1000 live births. The city's unemployment rate stands at a staggering 17.3%. For Detroit's zipcode of 48201, more than $20,000,000 in Recovery Act funds has been received, with only 67 jobs having been created.

1. Chicago, IL

With the highest graduation rate of the 5, Chicago still barely manages to graduate more than half of its Urban District students with a high school graduation rate of 55.7%–this according to the special analytic report on high school graduation published by America's Promise Alliance. According to the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority's most recent annual report, almost 300,000 youth live in poverty in Chicago's Cook County. Over 26,000 crimes again youth have been reported. Over 31,000 youth in Cook County have been arrested for criminal offenses; and of those arrested, 72% were African-American youth, the highest of any other minority group. Chicago's struggle with youth violence has received national attention over the past year. In the previous academic school year, 36 Chicago-area students have been killed, with the recent death of 16-year old Derrion Albert receiving the most national attention. According to the most recent data on Infant Mortality by the Cook County Public Health, African-Americans have a mortality rate of 14.7 per 1000 births, also the highest of any racial group. Chicago's unemployment rate stands at 10%. For Chicago's zipcode of 60603, more than $800,000,000 in Recovery Act funds has been received, with a dismal 19 jobs created.

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