Story at a glance
- Personal finance website WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 34 key indicators of disability friendliness to determine the best and worst cities for people with disabilities.
- Gulfport, Miss., held the No. 1 position, in part due to its ranking by WalletHub among the five cities with the lowest employment rate for people with disabilities.
- Mobile, Ala., followed Gulfport.
Gulfport, Miss., is the worst city in the U.S. for people with disabilities, according to findings in a new report.
Personal finance website WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 34 key indicators of disability friendliness, including wheelchair-accessible facilities per capita, the rate of workers with disabilities and the quality of public hospital systems, to determine the best and worst U.S. cities for people with disabilities.
One in 4 U.S. adults live with a disability, and the number jumps to 2 in 5 for adults over the age of 65, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The highest percentage of adults with disabilities live in the South.
Gulfport held the No. 1 position in part due to its ranking by WalletHub among the five cities with the lowest employment rate for people with disabilities. Mobile, Ala., followed Gulfport.
Tallahassee, Fla.; Winston Salem, N.C. and Montgomery, Ala. round out WalletHub’s top five worst cities for people with disabilities. Meanwhile, the highest share of people with disabilities lives in Rochester, N.Y.
Bismarck, N.D., has the highest cost of in-home services at $93,877, compared to Brownsville, Texas, with the lowest at $34,320. Meanwhile, median annual earnings for people with disabilities are lowest in Burlington, Vt.
Experts told WalletHub that even close to 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — landmark legislation passed during the first Bush administration prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities — stigmas remain around its enforcement.
“The problem with the ADA is that it is completely dependent on private enforcement by plaintiffs with disabilities that need to go to court to enforce the law,” said Doron Dorfman, an associate professor of Law at Seton Hall University.
“The problem is that many people with disabilities lack the resources (time, money, awareness) to do so. Plaintiffs who do are often stigmatized as gold diggers,” he added.
Here are the 10 worst cities in America for people with disabilities, according to WalletHub.
1. Gulfport, Miss.
2. Mobile, Ala.
3. Tallahassee, Fla.
4. Winston Salem, N.C.
5. Montgomery, Ala.
6. Jackson, Miss.
7. Shreveport, La.
8. Fayetteville, N.C.
9. Bismark, N.D.
10. Greensboro, N.C.
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