A Ranking of the Toughest Places to Live in the U.S.

If ever there was a neighborhood that symbolized a city’s growing pains, it’s Central Fresno. This working-class area is squeezed by poverty, homelessness, and gang violence.

While it doesn’t often make national headlines, those who live here know the struggle intimately: unreliable public transit, overcrowded rentals, shuttered storefronts. The heat is oppressive in summer, but the heat of social frustration burns longer.