After the Washington Post ran a big article about how nobody in McAllen, TX down on the Mexican border can understand why anybody in the rest of the country is worried about immigration’s effects, readers keep pointing out Bottom Ten lists of cities featuring McAllen. For example, from 247WallSt:
Ten Cities Where Young People Can’t Find Work
By Vince Calio and Thomas C. Frohlich April 1, 2014 4:52 am EDT… #1 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
> Employment rate, ages 20-24: 50.6%
> Total unemployment rate: 11.0% (7th highest)
> Pct. high school graduate or higher: 63.5% (the lowest)
> Median household income: $33,761 (the lowest)As of 2012, just 50.6% of McAllen area adults under 25 years old had a job — the lowest rate in the country. Unlike many of these cities, the employment rate of young adults has been low for some time, barely falling from 2000 to 2012. One contributing factor may have been the low educational attainment among young adults. Just 4.2% of adults ages 20 to 24 had a college degree, the fourth lowest rate of any major metro area. Residents of the McAllen metro area were also among the nation’s poorest. As of 2012, 34.5% of McAllen area residents lived below the poverty line, the second highest percentage in the nation and more than double the national rate of 15.9%.
