"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." So goes the old joke but here comes the conundrum.
Researchers at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, in their Update on Urban Hardship, find that, in the years 1970-2000, St. Louis showed the most improved Intercity Hardship Index Score while Los Angeles' ranking declined the most.
In reality, St Louis has sustained the sharpest fall in population over the last 50 years of any inner city in the World . Los Angeles by contrast has been one of the fastest growing cities.
So the conlusion from the research might be the same one that Pol Pot drew – clear everyone out of the city if you want to improve their hardship index. The reality might be that Americans just move about regardless if indexes.