http://money.msn.com/family-money/the-poorest-county-in-each-state-mainstreet-slides
I'm surprised Fresno was the poorest here. Im not sure what I would have picked for us though probably one of the smaller ones but I suppose someone had to be the poorest...
Not too surprised at Alexander County being on the list for Illinois. It contains Cairo, one of the poorest cities in the state. Cairo is a mere shadow of what it was. If you think Detroit lost population, or even East Saint Louis for that matter, Cairo is much worse. From a high of over 15,000, Cairo has sunk to about 2,000 or less. It's only 1/7th of what it was 60 years ago.
I had thought that Imperial County in California was the poorest, at least by median household income. Indiana's selection of Monroe County is way off thought. A poor county? I can point to you ten other rural counties that make Monroe County look like San Francisco any day of the week. It seems the list is based only on the poverty rate, which can be (as the article states) skewed for a college town setting. Though, much agreed on Alexander County in Illinois, I drove thorugh Cairo last year, the difference between driving through there and Indiana's "poorest" county is more than night and day. In the eye of the beholder I suppose.
Virginia's is Lee County, the westernmost in the state. There are a few independent cities that are probably around that level, too.
Menominee County in Wisconsin is the Menominee Indian Reservation (about 1.25 hours' drive time north of Appleton/1 hour west-northwest of Green Bay). OTOH, some of the counties in the far northwestern part of the state are likely right up there in poverty levels. Some of then within an hour or so of Superior and Ashland are truly depressing to drive through.
Mike
^^ I agree. IMO, Iron County is pretty depressing to drive through, especially on WIS 77.
Woohoo. CT's Windham County is the "winner": lowest poverty rate among the 50 counties in the list. But Willimantic, like most cities in CT, has serious problems. Factor in the wealthy suburbs, and the state is pretty bipolar.
I'm surprised that NY's poorest county is Bronx and not St. Lawrence! I guess the associated colleges are inflating the income numbers up here...
Quote from: twinsfan87 on April 19, 2012, 10:52:16 AM
^^ I agree. IMO, Iron County is pretty depressing to drive through, especially on WIS 77.
I don't really want to inject politics into this discussion, but speaking of Iron County, there is a truly massive proven deposit of taconite (iron ore) in Iron County that has a lot of interest from mining companies (100+ year depletion life for a proposed mine) - and the state Senator whose district covers Iron County voted AGAINST a bill that would change the state's environmental law to streamline the permitting process to make it easier to develop that mine. That bill failed in the state Senate by one vote a few weeks ago, a mining company then announced that they would pull out of the project, instead opting to develop a similar deposit in da nearby YooPee of Michigan and that Senator (a Democrat) may soon be up for recall because of it.
Also, speaking of Da YooPee, I'm kind of surprised that the county listed for Michigan is not in Da YooPee. Much of Da YooPee is a very depressed backwater, chocked full of mining ghost towns and other severely declined places. If not for the amazing scenery, it would be one of the most depressing places in the entire USA to drive though.
Mike
I knew East Carroll Parish would be the one chosen for LA. Most of the northeastern part of the state is pretty poor with failing towns
how do I find the list quickly without clicking 50 times?
@ KURUMI: Are you sure it's Windham County? The text list puts the counties in alphabetical order. Obviously, Fairfield County (except the city of Bridgeport) won't be Connecticut's poorest county. EVER. As for the Willimantic section of Windham though, I wouldn't doubt it being poorer. It's also the heroin capitol of the state.
Yeah, it's Windham. Clicking through the slideshow reveals as much.
Also nice (or not) to see my native county of Bronx, NY get noted for something else infamous...
I was surprised Taliaferro County wasn't the poorest in Georgia.
QuoteI had thought that Imperial County in California was the poorest
That's what I was gonna say too, its probably high up on the list
Quote from: Duke87 on April 19, 2012, 09:39:58 PM
Yeah, it's Windham. Clicking through the slideshow reveals as much.
Also nice (or not) to see my native county of Bronx, NY get noted for something else infamous...
Yeah, Bronx represent! (Not my native county, but my current residence...)
I feel cheated. First the print button on that page doesn't let me bypass the "you have to click 50 times to see the list" crap, and then I find out that the poorest county in Maryland isn't a county.
I was not expecting Cumberland County to be the poorest in NJ, i was halfway expecting Salem, or Burlington (mostly agricuture and trees)
This guy posted it all without the annoying clicking: http://sostadiumstatus.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-poorest-county-in-each-state-blog.html
What is listed as the poorest county in Colorado is considerably misleading when you realize that the county has more people incarcerated as a percentage of the population (2682 out of 5823, or 46% as of 2010 Census) than any other in the country.
It seems to me that this list was created by just looking at a few catagories and calling it a day without doing much more research into what is causing the numbers to be like that. There isn't any way to get an actual list that is 100% correct and agreed upon by everyone of course. But to anyone in Pennsylvania, is Philadelphia County (and city) really the poorest in your state. The state's rationale is that it is because the county has the most people below the poverty line, but there are more people living in that county than in any other, so would that be a fair measure (the same for Baltimore County, MD and Bronx, NY) Granted there are plenty of parts on Philly and Baltimore that are poor, but are all those rural counties outside of Philly and Baltimore really richer?
Quote from: tdindy88 on April 20, 2012, 08:57:12 PM
The state's rationale is that it is because the county has the most people below the poverty line, but there are more people living in that county than in any other, so would that be a fair measure (the same for Baltimore County, MD and Bronx, NY)
Er? I would assume they divided by the population of each county. That's why some states have rural counties in the list.
Quote from: mgk920 on April 19, 2012, 11:51:23 AM
Quote from: twinsfan87 on April 19, 2012, 10:52:16 AM
^^ I agree. IMO, Iron County is pretty depressing to drive through, especially on WIS 77.
I don't really want to inject politics into this discussion, but speaking of Iron County, there is a truly massive proven deposit of taconite (iron ore) in Iron County that has a lot of interest from mining companies (100+ year depletion life for a proposed mine) - and the state Senator whose district covers Iron County voted AGAINST a bill that would change the state's environmental law to streamline the permitting process to make it easier to develop that mine. That bill failed in the state Senate by one vote a few weeks ago, a mining company then announced that they would pull out of the project, instead opting to develop a similar deposit in da nearby YooPee of Michigan and that Senator (a Democrat) may soon be up for recall because of it.
Also, speaking of Da YooPee, I'm kind of surprised that the county listed for Michigan is not in Da YooPee. Much of Da YooPee is a very depressed backwater, chocked full of mining ghost towns and other severely declined places. If not for the amazing scenery, it would be one of the most depressing places in the entire USA to drive though.
Mike
Actually, I'm not surprised at Isabella County taking the bottom spot in Michigan. It is home to a very large Ojibwa (Chippewa) Reservation as well as Central Michigan University (the Chippewas). The res there is larger than anything in any one county of the UP.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on April 20, 2012, 07:52:41 PM
I was not expecting Cumberland County to be the poorest in NJ, i was halfway expecting Salem, or Burlington (mostly agricuture and trees)
I was expecting Salem or Camden. I am sure the only reason Camden ain't it is all the eastern suburbs.
Quote from: tdindy88 on April 20, 2012, 08:57:12 PMBut to anyone in Pennsylvania, is Philadelphia County (and city) really the poorest in your state.
After being there and having a friend who taught there, I would have thought Cameron County.
The latest list of wealthiest counties (by per capita income) has Chester supplanting Montgomery, Allegheny coming in at six, Philadelphia at 44, and Forest pulling up the rear at 67.
I think Kings county in Central Valley between Fresno and Tulare city-counties is the poorest, then Imperial and Modoc counties, and Inyo or Mono counties straddle the Nevada state lines are not too far behind. The farther away from an urban center like L.A. (today is the 20th anniversary of the L.A. riots) and San Francisco bay area, the poorer the locality and community it will be: the Imperial valley is in the desert, but used to be known for an once-thriving prosperous year-round agricultural economy. Much of the Sierra Nevada, Cascades and coastal range areas are rural, with lower incomes and annual working salaries than in major cities. But the number of persons and percentage rates of those receiving county, state and federal public assistance is L.A. county, Riverside-San Bernardino area, San Diego and the san Joaquin valley (i.e. Bakersfield); then again we hear how affluent Ventura and Orange counties are, the number of millionaires in the state's coastal areas or "beach cities" due to higher real estate values not much affected by the real estate price collapse.
Quote from: bulkyorled on April 19, 2012, 04:44:18 AM
I'm surprised Fresno was the poorest here. Im not sure what I would have picked for us though probably one of the smaller ones but I suppose someone had to be the poorest...
I'm not surprised that Fresno County would be the poorest County in CA. After all the issues with getting water from the delta and how that has affected farms on the west side of the county, pretty much anything along the I-5 corridor, I know some cities, like Mendota, were up to 40% unemployment and may still be in that range.
I've been to Owsley County-I audited then-County Clerk Sid Gabbard nearly a decade ago. The place is depressing. I understand Lee and Estill counties, to the north, aren't in much better shape.
Wasn't surprised that Wilcox County appeared for Alabama. Although, none of the counties in the Black Belt (where Wilcox is located) are any better off.
Not shocked that Baltimore City (which is not part of any county - it is an "independent" city that functions as a county) is the poorest county in Maryland.