LANCASTER – The cities of Lancaster and Palmdale turned up on a national magazine’s recent list of the “50 Most Miserable Cities in America.”

Business Insider said it used U.S. Census data to analyze 1,000 U.S. cities on criteria such as crime, drug addiction, population changes, job opportunities, commute times, household incomes, abandoned homes and effects from problems such as natural disasters.

Lancaster was ranked No. 50 on the list due to its “crime problems, both with meth addiction and neo-Nazis,” according to Business Insider.

“But Mayor R. Rex Parris is doing what he can to kickstart the city, including looking to China for investment,” the Business Insider article states. Read it online here.

Palmdale was ranked No. 36 on the list due to its “median commute time of 42.7 minutes, which is the highest on the list. It was at one point called ‘the foreclosure capital of California,'” according to Business Insider.

Lancaster and Palmdale were among eight cities in Los Angeles County alone that made the “50 Most Miserable Cities in America” list. Huntington Park was No. 10 on the list, Bell Gardens was No. 14, Lynwood was No. 21, El Monte was No. 22, Montebello was No. 40, and Compton was No. 41.

The most “miserable” city was Gary, Indiana, followed by Port Arthur, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan.

The magazine said cities on the list shared qualities, including few opportunities, devastation from natural disasters, high crime and addiction rates, and often many abandoned houses.

According to Business Insider, the state with the most miserable cities is California, with 10. New Jersey is close behind, with nine, and Florida comes in third, with six. Read the Business Insider article here. View the U.S. Census data used for the article here.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include Palmdale, which made the list at No. 36.