Where Are the Hardest Places to Live in the U.S.?

[DrLeftover]

Annie Lowrey writes in the Times Magazine this week about the troubles of Clay County, Ky., which by several measures is the hardest place in America to live.

The Upshot came to this conclusion by looking at six data points for each county in the United States: education (percentage of residents with at least a bachelor’s degree), median household income, unemployment rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity. We then averaged each county’s relative rank in these categories to create an overall ranking.

(We tried to include other factors, including income mobility and measures of environmental quality, but we were not able to find data sets covering all counties in the United States.)

The 10 lowest counties in the country, by this ranking, include a cluster of six in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky (Breathitt, Clay, Jackson, Lee, Leslie and Magoffin), along with four others in various parts of the rural South: Humphreys County, Miss.; East Carroll Parish, La.; Jefferson County, Ga.; and Lee County, Ark.

With interactive map
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/upshot/where-are-the-hardest-places-to-live-in-the-us.html?WT.mc_id=AD-D-E-KEYWEE-SOC-FP-NOV-AUD-DEV-ROS-1101-1204&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1414728000&bicmet=1451538000&ad-keywords=KeyweeCampaign&kwp_0=4785&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

 

[DrLeftover]

Where we live now scored almost as badly as some of the counties mentioned in the article.

However, the people here seem to be generally happier than those where we used to live, which scored considerably higher.

So, maybe, there is one additional factor that should be considered next time.

 

[Webster]

*looks at map in Times article* Western NC seems to be a jumble. Live near or in/around Asheville-Buncombe Co, and things are going alright. Live in Boone-Watauga Co., same thing. OTOH, live in the Catawba Valley, not so much...

...there's the map if anyone wants to look.