Fresno, California is almost always at or near the top of "worst American cities" lists for some attribute. What are the factors in Fresno's history that led to the city's excellence in being so awful?

by [deleted]

The title is the queston. Fresno is always at or near the bottom of "best cities for ...." lists, if not the top of "worst cities for ..." lists. Fresno seems to excel at unflattering statistics, but why did it become that way?

CokeDick

As a followup question: I live in Modesto, which is nearly always at the bottom of these sorts of list as well, and I'm also curious as to what sort of factors caused these Central Valley cities, which have a surprisingly large population collectively, to consistently be placed on these lists.