MSN: The poorest county in each state

[us175]

http://money.msn.com/family-money/the-poorest-county-in-each-state-mainstreet-slides

[bulkyorled]

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...

[Brandon]

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.

[tdindy88]

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.

[Takumi]

Virginia's is Lee County, the westernmost in the state. There are a few independent cities that are probably around that level, too.

[mgk920]

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

[twinsfan87]

^^ I agree. IMO, Iron County is pretty depressing to drive through, especially on WIS 77.

[kurumi]

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.

[vdeane]

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...

[mgk920]

^^ 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

[bassoon1986]

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

[agentsteel53]

how do I find the list quickly without clicking 50 times?

[KEVIN_224]

@ 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.

[Duke87]

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...

[golden eagle]

I was surprised Taliaferro County wasn't the poorest in Georgia.

[bulkyorled]

I 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

[empirestate]

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...)

[algorerhythms]

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.

[SteveG1988]

I was not expecting Cumberland County to be the poorest in NJ, i was halfway expecting Salem, or Burlington (mostly agricuture and trees)

[NE2]

This guy posted it all without the annoying clicking: http://sostadiumstatus.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-poorest-county-in-each-state-blog.html

[brad2971]

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.

[tdindy88]

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?

[NE2]

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.

[Brandon]

^^ 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.

[Roadgeek Adam]

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.