1 Illinois Place 4th Most Abandoned in US, 1 in 4 Buildings Empty

It's like a modern wasteland. There's one Illinois place that was just ranked as the 4th most abandoned in America where more than 1 out of every 4 buildings is vacant.

This new ranking from 24/7 Wall St of the most abandoned zip codes in America reveals the cities and towns in the country where the people aren't, but buildings remain. One Illinois city was declared the 4th most abandoned in the entire country. It's not unusual to see foliage growing out of the buildings you drive by.

The vacant buildings in this Illinois place at last count were 698, or 26.89% of all homes. This is, of course, East St. Louis, Illinois, the 4th most abandoned city in America. Only 5,908 people call this deserted Illinois place home now and the average value of homes is a measly $47,500. One of the sad aspects of this is there remain many historic buildings that used to thrive as recently as the 1950's and 1960's, but are now hangouts for gangs and vagrants. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I'd love to be optimistic and say that someone in East St. Louis, Illinois will find a way to turn around this horrific trend, but I'm also realistic and barring a miracle, it simply is not gonna happen. The only question is how many of these buildings will be allowed to remain and if so, for how long before they are demolished. It's simply a matter of time.