Cairo is today nothing more than a shell with just 2,800 residents, a decline of 81% from its high in 1920 – the highest percentage of any principal city in the United States. The city hospital closed in 1987, and in 2009, 75% of the county deputies were laid off and five patrol cars were repossessed just days later. The remaining patrol cars were idled due to a lack of a gasoline, as the department did not have the funding to purchase any. Fort Defiance, once vital to the city during the Civil War, fell into disrepair. In education, Cairo lacks – it has one of the lowest average ACT scores in the nation, one of the highest drop out rates for high school students, and one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates.
