LA Tops Forbes' List of Overpriced Cities

Thanks to inflated home prices, an astronomical cost of living, and embarrassingly high unemployment, Forbes magazine slapped the City of Angels with the number one spot in its 2009 list of "America's Most Overpriced Cities." The list was calculated using a combination of 4 measures: average salary for college-educated workers, unemployment rates, cost of living, and the Housing Opportunity Index, which measures a median income family's ability to purchase a home locally. Other California cities on the list were Riverside (#6), San Diego (#9), and San Francisco (#18). Chicago, Miami, New York, and Providence rounded out the top five.

At 10.3%, unemployment in Los Angeles is one of the highest of American cities. In the last two years, residential building permit rates have dropped 82%, and the unemployment rate of construction workers is now 21%, almost double what it was last year. And despite the median home price having plummeted almost 40% from $525,000 to $319,000, the cost of buying a home still ranks among the highest in the country. Only NYC, Long Island, and San Francisco score worse on the Housing Opportunity Index.

And in an attempt to soften the blow and gain hip hop credibility, Forbes even references late rapper and convicted sex offender Tupac Shakur. Frustrated with the high cost of living back in 1996, Tupac proclaimed he would almost rather "live life in the pen," according to the magazine. Were he still alive today, Tupac would likely have little trouble finding a nice pad with $15 million in annual royalties.