For the facts, I examined a recent USNews and World Report study: Best States Rankings
The study ranks the states on eight criteria:
Health Care
Education
Economy
Infrastructure
Opportunity
Fiscal stability
Crime and Corrections
Natural Environment
First, I wanted to compare blue states and red states, something which USNews and World Report does not do. The country’s political climate is extraordinarily polarized, and I was curious to see whether the data confirm one of my preconceptions, namely that overall, blue states are better than red states. Well, they most certainly do:
According to 270towin, there are 18 blue states, 22 red states and 10 “mixed” states. They are located as follows:
West: 4 blue states: Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. 1 red state: Alaska.
Midwest: 4 blue states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. 5 red states: Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri. 3 mixed states: Iowa, Indiana and Ohio
Rocky Mountains: 5 red states: Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Arizona. 3 mixed states: Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. ZERO blue states.
New England: 5 blue states: Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island. 1 Mixed state: New Hampshire. ZERO red states.
The South: 11 red states: Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana. 3 mixed states: Virginia, Florida, North Carolina. ZERO blue states.
Atlantic Coast: 5: blue states: Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania. ZERO red or mixed.
These six regions are those
used by the US Census
Bureau.
Clearly this country’s
problem is (1) in the South and (2)
in the Rocky Mountains. As
Heather Cox Richardson explains in How the South
Won the Civil War, America’s political evolution is the
result of a long-term alliance between the South and “Cowboy Country,” which
has increasingly imposed its reactionary
and authoritarian agenda on the country. This coalition is trying to
destroy American democracy. Its long-term aim is to impose a
Republican minority government upon the
nation and to reverse the social progress we have made thus far. Had the South
achieved secession during the Civil War, the North would be far better off today, similar to our civilized Canadian neighbors.
So, the first correlation I examined is that between states’ ranks and their color - blue or red. This confirmed that blue states are better than red states: The former’s average rank is 20.6, whereas the latter’s is 31.3. Blue states clearly enjoy a higher quality of life than do red states.
OVERALL, the 10 top ranked states are the following: 1.Washington (blue), 2. Minnesota (blue), 3. Utah (red) , 4.New Hampshire (mixed), 5. Idaho (red), 6. Nebraska (red) , 7. Virginia (mixed), 8. Wisconsin (blue), 9. Massachusetts (blue) and 10. Florida (mixed).
The bottom 10 states are
the following: 41. Kentucky (red), 42,
South Carolina (red), 43. Oklahoma (red), 44.
Arkansas (red), 45. Alaska (red), 46. Alabama (red), 47. West Virginia
(red), 48. New Mexico (mixed), 49. Mississippi (red), 50. Louisiana (red). Of personal interest to
me are the ranks of California, (#24, blue) and Texas (#31, red).
The next correlation I wanted to examine is that between states’ ranks and their degree of urbanization. The obvious hypothesis was that urban states are better than rural states. To test this, I ranked all the states by their population density, and compared the average rank of the 25 most densely populated states with that of the 25 least populated (Rural vs. Urban).
The hypothesis was confirmed: The average rank of the more urban states is 23.6, whereas the more rural states’ average rank is 27.4.
Also evident is the fact that
urban states tend to be more blue and rural states more red: Of the 25 most
urbanized states, 14 are blue and 5 are red. Of the rural states, only 4 are
blue and 17 are red. So clearly, rural America is the problem.
* * * * * * *
How do the states rank on the eight separate criteria used by the USNews study? The tables below list the 5 best and the 5 worst states for each criterion.
Table 1. The 5 best and 5 worst states in Healthcare, Education, Economy and Infrastructure
|
Healthcare |
Education |
Economy |
Infrastructure |
|
Best
5: 1. Hawaii Blue 2. Mass. Blue 3. Conn. Blue 4. N. Jersey Blue 5. California Blue |
Best
5: 1.N. Jersey Blue 2. Mass. Blue 3. Florida Red 4. Wash.Blue 5.
Colo. Mixed |
Best
5: 1. Utah Red 2. Colo. Mixed 3. Idaho Red 4. Wash. Blue 5.
Mass. Blue |
Best
5: 1. Nevada Mixed 2. Oregon Blue 3. Wash. Blue 4. N. Dakota Red 5. Utah Red |
|
Worst
5: 46. Louisiana Red 47. W. Va Red 48. Oklahoma Red 49. Arkansas Red 50.
Miss. Red |
Worst
5: 46. Arizona Red 47. Alabama Red 48. Louisiana Red 49. Alaska Red 50.
N. Mex. Mixed |
Worst
5: 46. Hawaii Blue 47. Louisiana Red 48. W. Va Red 49. Miss. Red 50.
Alaska Red |
Worst
5: 46. Conn. Blue 47. Louisiana Red 48. Miss. Red 49. R. Island Blue 50.
W. Virginia Red |
Table 2. The 5 best and 5 worst states in Opportunity, Fiscal Stability, Crime and, and the Natural environment
|
Opportunity |
Fiscal Stability |
Crime and Corrections |
Natural Environment |
|
Best
5: 1. Iowa Mixed 2. Minn. Blue 3.N. Hamp. Blue 4. Missouri Red 5.
Michigan Blue |
Best
5: 1. Alaska Red 2. S. Dakota Red 3. Tennessee Red 4. Idaho Red 5.
Utah Red |
Best
5: 1. N. Hamp. Blue 2. Maine Blue 3. Vermont Blue 4. Mass. Blue 5.
N. Jersey Blue |
Best
5: 1. Hawaii Blue 2. N. Hamp. Blue 3. S. Dakota Red 4. Mass. Blue 5.
New York Blue |
|
Worst
5: 46. New York Blue 47. Nevada Mixed 48. Louisiana Red 49. N. Mex. Mixed 50.
California Blue |
Worst
5: 46. Hawaii Blue 47. Pa. Blue 48. Kentucky Red 49. N. Jersey Blue 50.
Illinois Blue |
Worst
5: 46. S. Carol. Red 47. N. Mex. Mixed 48.Arkansas Red 49. Alaska Red 50.
Louisiana Red |
Worst
5: 46. Alaska Red 47. Utah Red 48. Indiana Mixed 49. Louisiana Red 50.
Nevada Mixed |
1.Health Care: Access, quality and Public Health
No contest: Blue states are MUCH better than red states. The South is doing an especially bad job in this regard.
2. Education: Higher Ed and Public K-12
Similar: Blue states are in far better shape than red states. Only one
southern state is among the five best:
Florida.
3. Economy: Business Environment, Employment, Growth
The advantage goes to the blue states again. Although some red
states (e.g. Utah and Idaho) are doing
quite well, the worst states are mostly
red (the deep South plus Alaska), and they include, surprisingly, blue Hawaii.
4. Infrastructure: Energy, Internet Access, Transportation
Blue states are again ahead of red states, although not by much: Some red states (North Dakota and Utah) are doing well and some blue states not so (Connecticut and Rhode Island).
5. Opportunity: Affordability, Economic Opportunity, Equality
Blue states do not excel in
this regard. While some of them (Minnesota, New Hampshire, Michigan) are doing
well, the two blue megastates of New
York and California are among the very worst.
6. Fiscal stability: Long-term, Short-term
Red states appear to do much
better in this respect. However, these
are not the Southern red states.
7. Crime and Corrections: Corrections, Public Safety
Blue states do a far better
job than red states regarding crime control and public safety, especially
New England. Red states of the Deep South and Alaska handle crime and corrections extremely poorly.
8. Natural Environment: Air and Water Quality; Pollution
Similarly, red states handle the environment very badly, especially
in the South and in Alaska (#46). Blue
states, including first-ranked Hawaii, are doing a much better job.
In sum, red America is in much worse shape than blue America in most respects. To explain this difference would require a separate piece. For now, let me just say this: The immediate reason why red states are generally the worst states is their failure to govern themselves properly. That, in turn, is caused by a deep-seated culture which favors ignorance over knowledge and obsolete and irrational values over rational ones.
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