October 2024 is U.S. National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This occurs at a time when the average monthly Social Security disability benefit stands at $1,403. Most economists see this as barely enough to live on.
To assess the context, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released a report on 2024’s Best & Worst Cities for People With Disabilities. The report aims to ease the process of finding an affordable and accessible place to live while managing a disability.
With the data, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 33 key indicators of disability-friendliness (and unfriendliness). The data set ranges from wheelchair-accessible facilities per capita to the rate of workers with disabilities to the quality of the public hospital system.
Best Cities for People With Disabilities:
1. Scottsdale, AZ
2. Minneapolis, MN
3. Columbus, OH
4. St. Louis, MO
5. St. Paul, MN
6. Huntington Beach, CA
7. Pittsburgh, PA
8. Gilbert, AZ
9. Irvine, CA
10. Chandler, AZ
In contrast:
Worst Cities for People With Disabilities
173. Huntsville, AL
174. Anchorage, AK
175. South Burlington, VT
176. Winston-Salem, NC
177. Mobile, AL
178. Juneau, AK
179. Montgomery, AL
180. Jackson, MS
181. Pearl City, HI
182. Gulfport, MS
Within the data set some interesting comparators exist. For example, Fort Smith, Arkansas, has the highest share of people with disabilities living in the area. This is 3.6 times higher than in Irvine, California, the city with the lowest.
Connecting this to poverty, the data shows that Overland Park, Kansas has the lowest share of people with disabilities living in poverty in contrast, this is 5.3 times lower than in Cleveland, Ohio, the city with the highest.
Gulfport, Mississippi, has the lowest median annual cost of in-home services, which is 2.9 times lower than in Santa Rosa, California, the city with the highest. With another financial measure, Fremont, California, has the highest median annual earnings for people with disabilities, which is 6.4 times higher than in Burlington, Vermont, the city with the lowest.
As a consequence of the research, Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst draws the following insight (in a statement sent to Digital Journal): “More than one in four U.S. adults live with a disability, so it’s extremely important for cities to prioritize becoming a safe, welcoming and affordable place for this demographic. The best cities have highly-accessible public facilities and housing, high-quality medical care, and an affordable cost of living for people on a fixed income.”
