Clifton, Colorado
More than a quarter of the population in this peaceful Colorado town is poor, and unemployment appears to be more than twice as high as the national average. It has a $43,452 median annual household income. Drug abuse, according to some residents, is becoming a more serious problem in the area. The surrounding Mesa County has a lower rate of opioid deaths than the rest of the state, but in 2019, The Daily Sentinel reported a spike in drug-related deaths as doctors decided to stop prescribing as many opioids, and users instead turned to street drugs like heroin. In addition, criminal activity is becoming a source of concern. The number of violent crimes reported in Weld County, which has more than twice the population of Mesa County, was significantly higher in 2019.
Clifton, Colorado
Spanish Lake, Missouri
According to the St. Louis Beacon, a documentary on the area’s decline describes how Spanish Lake went from being a “beautiful suburbia” to an “apocalyptic ghost town” where jobs were scarce, homes were foreclosed, educational opportunities were reduced, and public transportation was “slower than a snail’s pace.” Middle-class families packed up their belongings and left in droves in the 1990s, causing the local economy to collapse. Deindustrialization and the Great Recession had particularly negative consequences. Spanish Lake’s median household income is currently a little more than $37,000 per year. In fact, over the last decade, incomes and population in St. Louis County have both decreased. According to IRS data, approximately 440,000 people earning more than $10.64 billion moved to St. Louis County, while 492,000 people earning more than $14.05 billion left the same county.
Spanish Lake, Missouri
