3 Most Desperate Cities Include Vallejo, Calif., Harrisburg, Pa., Central Falls, R.I.

Vallejo, California, wasn't heaven, maybe. But at least it wasn't hell. Then, in 2008, bankruptcy hit this city on the northern rim of San Francisco Bay hard. Budget cuts shuttered fire houses and thinned the ranks of police. Abandoned and foreclosed homes pockmarked neighborhoods. As businesses left Vallejo and taxpayers fled, prostitutes and drug-sellers moved in.

Vallejo knows what it's like to go through desperate times—a distinction it shares with similarly-blighted towns and counties around the U.S., including Central Falls, R.I.; Harrisburg, Pa; Boise County, Idaho, and Jefferson County, Ala.

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