I Drove Through The WORST Neighborhood in North Carolina. This Is What I Saw.
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Published 2021-02-21
For this video, I took Route 11 into rural Lenoir County in North Carolina. My goal would be to visit the absolute worst neighborhood in the entire state. I’ve never done that before - typically, I visit the worst area in a city, but when I read a report about a neighborhood in the city of Kinston, I had to see it firsthand. The day was Saturday, December 19, 2020 at 1 in the afternoon.
A while back, the University of North Carolina’s Center for Urban Studies issued a report on the most distressed communities in the whole state. Two of them were in East Kinston, a smallish city of 20,000 people way out in the sticks, surrounded by forest and farmland. The report highlighted a part of town on Kinston’s east side, an area that has more poverty and blight than any other tract in the state.
Here it is.
Kinston ranks in the top five in this state for both crime and poverty. The bottom 99% of folks here make under $29,000 a year. Like many other smaller communities in eastern North Carolina, Kinston was a booming textile and tobacco hub. But factories shut down, and farmers moved to mechanization, meaning lots of folks were out of jobs. In the 1950s, this place was jamming, full of middle class families which shopped in higher end department stores. Other eastern North Carolina communities have kind of held it together. But Kinston is on another level. Buildings that have been crumbling for years remain the same. People are leaving, and there’s hardly anyone to replace them. Would you want to live here yourself?
A typical home in this hugely depressed neighborhood sells for about $30,000. There aren’t very many homes for sale in this part of town though. It would be hard to envision anyone outside of an investor buying one and renting it out. This is certainly not a good place to raise a family.
Kinston was founded in 1791, but most of its troubles have been in the last 60 years. Recurring floods, economic devastation, rampant gang violence. Its biggest claim to fame is that it turns out more NBA talent than any other small community in the country. For many people in this impoverished neighborhood, basketball is the only way they think they can make it in this world.
Now, the city of Kinston has applied for several planning grants to help improve this particular neighborhood. But, council hasn’t been able to get the funds needed to improve homes, build new affordable units, and tear down abandoned houses, which would give this part of town a much-needed boost. They figure throwing money at the problem will solve the crime, and the drug use and the poverty. There have been quite a few NBA players raised in this very part of town - men like Brandon Ingram and Jerry Stackhouse. NBA players from Kinston are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but the community is left to rot. Where is their money? Where is their support? I mean the city can’t even get $50k to knock buildings down.
In many parts of this neighborhood, you’ll see large areas where homes used to exist, but are no longer here. You’ll see large stretches of blocks where homes are completely abandoned. Many of the homes that are occupied are in bad shape. Several housing projects serve as this neighborhood's center gathering point.
Here’s the rest of a neighborhood in East Kinston, the absolute worst place in the state of North Carolina.
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All Comments (21)
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When I see a poor area that's clean, I think these people still have self-respect. The value their neighborhood and think "it may not be much but it's all we got". They have hope.
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I’ve lived in NC my whole life. I’ve only been thru Kinston a handful of times. Had no idea this was supposed to be the worst city in NC!! I’ve seen worse neighborhoods in my city of Fayetteville!!
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Was just in Kinston yesterday. It is a poor town but honestly some of the best down-to-earth humble and gracious people though...
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I live in Kinston, and of course we have our lower income areas, like any city. We have also been flooded three times in the past 20 years with devastating effects to some areas. If the area looks abandoned and destroyed, it probably is. Not by people, but due to major, catastrophic flooding. There are some things to dislike about our area, but to come and take a tiny slice of it and call it the worst, without showing the rest is kind of sad and misleading. He drove through former flooded areas where people were unable to return to their homes. He also drove past empty lots and didn't mention that an abandoned house had been there but torn down, nor did he show the small park areas the city has made where abandoned homes used to be. As for the myriad of famous ball players from our area, many come back and help in different ways through their own charities and by giving to those less fortunate. Apparently he didn't do his research well. Every city or town has areas that are low income and need a lot of attention, but there is so much more to this area than what he showed.
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That's a bad neighborhood? No graffiti nicely mowed lawns...what am I missing?😳
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The saddest thing to me (or maybe the most hopeful) is to see the houses that are well-kept in the midst of everything. When I saw those, I thought, "Somebody's Grandma is living in the middle of all that."
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Im from California and seeing this city; how its not congested, no homeless and peaceful yet its just rundown and flat really shows how bad our ghettos out here in the west coast are, because this doesn't even look bad.
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I’m the Father of an NBA player from Kinston and here is my status on this video.First of all as an outsider coming in interview people and get your research right before you cast judgment.Research show that 1 NBA player renovated a gym investing (90k),Donated (25k) to hurricane Mathew Victims,Donated (25k) to homeless Mary’s Kitchen,donated (20k) to Mentoring program,donated (85k worth of shoes) to Lenoir healthcare workers,donates (65k to Kinston high athletic program yearly in apparel),donated 1,000 bookbags ,shoe’s and teachers supplies yearly to all Lenoir co schools.No one matches what we do and the Ingram’s never complain.One man cannot do it alone so please get your facts right before you report!!!
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This is the cleanest rundown neighborhood I've ever seen.
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Why would someone who becomes successful and is a former resident of Kinston be obligated to share their wealth with the people of Kinston?
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I grew up in Kinston and agree that it has poor areas, but also has nicer areas. I wish the video noted that this part of town has been flooded from hurricanes several times in the past 15 years. . In spite of that, the residents are doing their best to keep the neighborhood clean and well kept and people try to help each other.
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Communities are a living thing, without nourishment they will die.
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Moving back to Kinston from California next month. I still have family there. My husband and I hope to make a positive economic change by going back.
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From what can be seen on this vid,no litter,no rusting car wrecks and farm equipment or junked appliances on the yards,most of the inhabited houses looked nice and well-kept.Maybe people over there aren't exactly well off but at least they do their best.That's my impression.Greets from down under😊👍
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That town missed out on a lot of revenue. The driver of the vehicle rolled through numerous STOP signs. They also occasionally thought they were in a country that drives on the left.
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Nice video Nick. I actually grew up in this place. The problem I see with Kinston compared to similar Eastern NC towns is that when the textile and tobacco industry left, Kinston had nothing to offer, no strong industries to drive the economy. Nearby Greenville had ECU, Goldsboro and Jacksonville a military base, New Bern near the coast, but Kinston is just...Kinston. It was already in decline before Floyd in 1999 but that just hastened what was already in motion. Though it was a little better and safer in the 90s compared to now It's the kind of place that you don't want to come back to once you leave. No opportunities, no entertainment to keep young people. I don't blame the athletes for not going back. On the bright side, the guy who owns the Mother Earth Brewery downtown seems to be making some progress in that part of town.
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This must’ve been a Sunday morning while everyone was still at church.
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My Grandparents lived there for decades. They lived in one of the oldest homes in Kinston. I spent allot of summers in Kinston during the late 60s and early 70s. My GrandDaddy ran the two kovie theaters in downtown. The was a large shirt factory there years ago.
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Here's my entire North Carolina playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq-_cmf3H6ypqFmmckN4kY1… And if you need help finding a place to move, I do consulting. I can help you pick where to move and get you a real estate agent, too. Email me! NickJohnsonNC18@gmail.com/
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I was born and raised in kinston, it was never this bad we had clubs and downtown shops the mall was packed and jobs was good. We had things to do and military men would use their weekend pass to stop in. Now as a mother of two I had to make the tough choice to leave behind friends and family to make a better life for us. This video high lites how bad our town has gotten. It saddens me that this once popular town has turned into this. I am not ashamed of being from kinston it has given me the skills and mind set I have today.
