WHERE WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE IN AMERICA?

….Poverty in Appalachia

 

The question has been asked and answered.

 

The New York Times has now taken on the question of “Where are the most difficult places to live in the United States?”  In pursuing this project, they used six criteria for coming to this conclusion.  They surveyed each of this nation’s many counties on the basis of each county’s: median household income, life expectancy, obesity, education, disability rate and unemployment level.

 

Once all of this information was collected, one of the conclusion they came to from this project was, “Why any rational American would choose to live in rural Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana is beyond comprehension.”

 

Yes, if you were to Google this question you would eventually come to a map that shows in colored areas where the toughest places are for living in the United States.  Even Alaska and Hawaii were included in the survey.  If you do come upon the map, you will see that the deep south is almost all the deep color where the lowest rated counties are located.

 

In a state point rating system of a possible total of 100 points, there are a number of states one might want to avoid. Mississippi, which scored lower than any other state, barely broke 50 points. Arkansas and Alabama, were tied for second to last, each scored only 51.3. West Virginia, which was fourth to last, scored 52.2. And Tennessee, which was fifth to last, scored 52.9.

 

The single county with the dubious distinction of being the “worst of all” is Clay County, Kentucky, where the local residents can expect to die six years earlier than the average American.

 

The other four counties ranked at the bottom of the survey include four counties in the rural south: Humphreys County, Mississippi; East Carroll Parish, Louisiana; Jefferson County, Georgia; and Lee County, Arkansas.

 

The survey’s findings highlight an overlooked issue in today’s debate about income inequality.  That being, the overall stubbornness of rural poverty. In the US, the number of poor rural residents outnumber those in the cities, with 14% of rural Americans living below the poverty line, compared with 12% in urban areas.

 

The average person's life is harder in the South and in Appalachia than anywhere in the country. The economic safety net in the Southern states is bare bones and has large gaps that let many of their citizens fall into the economic margins. The poor support by the Southern and Appalachian political leaders are considered the main reason these regions consistently lag behind the other states.

 

Yes, the South was the worst performing of any region in the country and is home to eight of the poorest performing states. Only Virginia was in the top 25. And that was just barely.  It came in 22nd.

 

Being born in rural Virginia, I thank my parents for moving our family out of the South and finally settling on the West Coast.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015