Here’s Why Brewer, Maine, Was Named ‘Worst’ City to Live in the State

Nobody wants to be the worst at something. Entire cities and towns definitely don't want to be declared as the worst in a given state. But depending the type of criteria used and the results of the numbers crunched, there's a harsh reality that can up on your doorstep.

Wall St 24/7 released a special report detailing the worst cities to live in nationwide. They went state by state using an interesting set of data points. They included:

• Median Home Value
• Median Household Income
• Poverty Rate
• Drug-induced Mortality

The latest two data points are uncomfortable topics for most people in any state. Combining all of those data points led to an interesting result: the city of Brewer, Maine, being declared as the worst in the state.

While several areas of Maine have seen a substantial upswing in median home value in recent years, Brewer's gains have been modest. The median home value in Brewer is $172,800, while the median home value in all of Maine is $212,100.

The median household income in Brewer is a point of contention as well. The state average is $63,182 while the median household income in Brewer is only $50,614.

But it's the poverty rate and drug-induced mortality rate that put Brewer on this 24/7 Wall St list. The poverty rate in Brewer is 15.5%. That's 4.5% more than the state average of 11%.

The drug-induced mortality rate in Brewer is 52.2 deaths per 100,000 people. That is up significantly over the state average of 37.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

While it's an unflattering look, many towns and cities in Maine have seen turnarounds in just the last 5-10 years.