by Tom Kando 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.
leave comment here © Tom Kando 2021;All Rights Reserved
10 comments:
Thanks for doing this analysis, Tom...these are assumptions I have made, it's nice to have them confirmed
Tom, It was nice to see my state of Minnesota ranked second. However, I was wondering why homelessness wasn't considered an important factor. It's a growing problem here. It might change the overall standing a bit. My daughter who lives in Seattle spends a lot of time working with the homeless there. Here is a link to homelessness by state: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/homeless-population-by-state
We should have moved to another state, e.g., Oregon.
Thanks for your comments.
Tom G.’s reaction is similar to mine. Many of these findings are what we expected
To Gordon: I checked out your link:
California has the largest absolute number of homeless people, but not per capita: The relative number is highest for Hawaii (4,528 homeless per million), then New York (4,735), then California (3,829). Oregon is nearly as bad as California (3,763 per million) and Washington Washington’s number is 2,833.
To Scott: Montana’s rate of homeless is only 1,269 per million, much better than Oregon’s.
But there are many other criteria that can be used to compare states, countries and cities. How about the weather, the culture (museums, orchestras,, etc.), the relative position of women. In international comparisons, Japan always loses points because it scores lowly on this latter variable....
Thanks, Tom, for your many insightful articles. You are keeping me on track.
I am emailing because, for some reason, my comments don't get through. My 98 year old brain is not in sync with yours.
Hi Kiyo, thank you so much for your e-mail. I transferred it to the blog. It’s an honor.
For the readers: Kiyo is a fantastic Japanese-American lady, nearly one hundred years old and going strong. She published her brilliant autobiography titled “Dandelion through the Crack.” It is the entire saga of her life, including her internment in a “relocation camp”, along with her entire family, during World War Two.
She was the keynote speaker at the recent (August 29) annual Book Awards Banquet of the Northern California Publishers and Authors.
Let me take this opportunity for some self-aggrandizement as well: This year, I received the silver award for my recent travel book titled “Tried and True: The Best Travel Experiences in Europe.” Kiyo received the golden award a few years ago, so I am in good company.
Hi Tom, Interesting stats. I'm BLUE, originally from SE ID, and have never been a Mormon. But, having grown up in that LDS environment, it is no surprise to me that UT and ID, where the Mormon church really does take care of "its own", explains the ID/UT exemption. When I lived in SE ID (then as LDS as UT) federal welfare didn't exist and ID had zero healthcare or welfare of any kind for NON-MORMONS. Women were terribly demeaned. The result was hellish for families w/o a father. Most Mormon leaders and politicians aim to continue their successes in big business and big finance and expect to soon control the entire nation. It almost happened when Romney ran for Pres. I fear the day!! But the thought of a Trumpster winning again is worse!
Fellow sociologist.
Thank you for the information, anonymous. Right, Mormons are a fascinating group. They seem to be quite successful in some ways, but of course their entire culture and belief system are alien and unacceptable to me. Romney, similarly, evokes some (minor) degree of sympathy in me, if only because he, like McCain and Liz Cheney, has the courage to deviate from the current zombie-like Republican group think.
Relative differences between states aside, John Hopkins University reports that as of Wednesday, more Americans have died from Covid-19 under the Biden administration than under the Trump administration despite the fact that Biden has had the vaccine the whole time (thanks to Trump). You Dems elected an incompetent buffoon!! Covid-19, Afghanistan, the border, rising crime, unemployment, inflation, the infrastructure bill...can this bumbling idiot do anything right? But God forbid if Dumb leaves, and Dumber takes over.
You are wrong in many ways:
Until Jan. 20, when Biden became president, there had been 430,000 Covid deaths. Since Jan. 20, another 301,000 have died (Johns Hopkins). Obviously the epidemic has been raging at a far higher level over the past 9 months than it had before that, so the relatively high number of deaths during the Biden presidency is no surprise.
And of course most of the vaccine resisters are your kind of people.
As to all your other issues:
The mess the country is in was inherited by Biden from Trump, and the country’s inability to solve its problems is caused by the Trumpite/Republican Party.
Typically, Republican administrations mess things up, whereupon Americans elect a Democratic administration to fix up the mess. Going back a century, Biden, Obama, Clinton, Carter, FDR/Truman each repaired the damage caused by their Republican predecessors - Trump, Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, etc.
There is a possibility that Biden will go down in history as a failure. There are some analogies between him and Buchanan. Many historians view the latter man as one of the worst presidents ever, some of this as a result of circumstances beyond his control. If a similar fate befalls Biden, it will be unjust and unfair to him, but not surprising. Success is the ultimate measure by which we judge each other.
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