11 Super Depressing Stats About Detroit

Municipal bond experts Peter Hayes and James Schwartz of Blackrock published a brief analytical note earlier this month titled "Distress In Detroit." In it they offered some stats that would make anyone cringe.

Here are eleven of them:

1. Detroit's population has plunged 63% since 1950.
2. ...and it's down 26% since 2000.
3. The unemployment rate hit a high of 27.8% in July 2009.
4. As of April 2013, the unemployment rate was at 16%.
5. Even though the population fell 63% since 1950, the municipal workforce fell by just 40%, adding to the strain on public finances.
6. Detroit has the highest violent crime rate of any large U.S. city
7. ...it's five times higher than the national average.
8. 40% of the city's street lights don't work.
9. 78,000 structures and 66,000 lots are abandoned.
10. Arson accounts for 1,000 of 12,0000 fires per year.
11. ...60% of those arson fires are in dilapidated or empty buildings.

Read Hayes & Schwartz note at BlackRock.com.