The divide between the upper and lower class in the U.S. is as wide as the Grand Canyon and maybe even several other states, according to an article in the New York Times. The article created a nifty interactive map comparing all the counties across the nation to see where the hardest places to live are.
The article compared six data points for each county in the U.S.: education, median household income, unemployment rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity.
Here are some specific comparisons: Only 7.4 percent of Clay County residents have at least a bachelor’s degree, while 63.2 percent do in Los Alamos. The median household income in Los Alamos County is $106,426, almost five times what the median Clay County household earns. In Clay County, 12.7 percent of residents are unemployed, and 11.7 percent are on disability; the corresponding figures in Los Alamos County are 3.5 percent and 0.3 percent. Los Alamos County’s obesity rate is 22.8 percent, while Clay County’s is 45.5 percent. And Los Alamos County residents live 11 years longer, on average — 82.4 years vs. 71.4 years in Clay County.
