Someone has figured out the worst towns to live in for all fifty states. Most of them are pits for the usual reasons of poverty, joblessness, and crime, but some states, like Nebraska, apparently are so uniformly liveable that all the surveyors could find to complain about is that residents didn't have ideal access to fresh produce. The case against Derry, New Hampshire, is particularly thin: the cost of living is high in this well-employed, safe little town. In one Utah town--horrors--the nearest hospital was 10 miles away. I wish.
At least no one mentioned limited Starbucks accessibility or the over-prevalence of Chick Fil-A. Two other subjects studiously avoided were demographics and politics.
10 comments:
Rexburg, Idaho is getting a raw deal. That's the home of the BYU-Idaho campus, which enrolls about 22,000 students. This is in a population of 27,000 people. Wouldn't you know it, the poverty rate is 42%. Rexburg will just have to console itself with its 38 per 100k violent crime rate.
Orono, Maine looks like another place getting an undeserved spot on this list. That's where the University of Maine is located. I think there are other universities and community colleges nearby, as well.
Echo Deevs.
We all check out our own state, and the case for Derry is unconvincing. The high property tax number compared to national numbers ignore the context of no sales or income tax. I would have nominated Berlin instead.
Low crime numbers all over the state, as usual. though Manchester and Nashua are inching up.
I would have counted the presence of a Starbucks within 25 miles as a heavily weighted negative when assessing the livability of any urban area.
But that's just me.
Eric Hines
You could see how hard they had to reach to explain what was wrong with the "worst" town in some states.
Now, if they'd chosen the 50 worst towns in the U.S. and not tried to award one to each state, we'd have seen a different list. States like Utah, Nebraska, and New Hampshire wouldn't even have appeared. Other states would be rich in candidates.
You could see how hard they had to reach to explain what was wrong with the "worst" town in some states.
Not their intent, but I also took the list as an index of States that were good places in which to live, at least according to 24/7 Wall St's criteria. If the strongest argument against any town in an entire State is that there's no fresh produce readily convenient, or a hospital is all of 10 miles away, that's likely a pretty good State overall.
Eric Hines
Yelm, WA. Really? A place so bad that by their own numbers the population is doubling? Must be refugees from Seattle.
As a weird and irrelevant side note , Yelm WA is the home of two Pipe Organ shops, that still build from scratch huge pipe organs for churches etc.
Berlin- that used to be stinky, but thriving- I don't think there is much industry there since the Brown Paper Co shut down. But the Androscoggin is a lot cleaner.
I looked at the state list too, WA is #1. Really? Why not CA? WA is doing their best to emulate CA , but CA is already "there". Logically, CA should be #1. Wa now has a complete D lock on all branches of gov, and the agenda is clear.
I love Paris in the springtime,
I love Paris in the fall,
I love Paris,
Why oh why do I love Paris?
Because my love is there.
Deevs:
Orono, Maine looks like another place getting an undeserved spot on this list. That's where the University of Maine is located.
That would appear to be the case.
Consider what the site wrote about Orono: "Orono residents also do not have much in the way of culture and entertainment options."
Anyone who would write that about a university town is, shall we say, rather ignorant.
I can think of one bad rap about Orono. My uncle's second wife was an Orono native. To know her was not to love her, though it took my uncle a while to decide that.
Ironically, the same town that one website rated as the worst town in Maine is rated at another website as the 7th best town in Maine to raise a family. These are the best cities to raise a family in Maine for 2019: #7 Orono.
From my New England childhood, I remember two University of Maine fight songs. One was readily accessible on YouTube.
1.Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees - Stein Song (University of Maine)(1930).
2. University of Maine Band song- couldn't find it on YouTube. Here are the lyrics.
There’s a college down in Orono, in the good old State of Maine,
Where the teams all show ’em how to go,win or lose in any game.
Oh the students sure know how to cheer, and Bananas lends a hand,
But the boys who keep the pep up, are the members of the band!
They always look so fine when in the line as down the field they go,
Just see them keep in step so full of pep they form their ranks just so,
And as they swing along and play the song,so dear to ev’ry Maine man,
Spell it the long way, and take your hats off to the band!
Which is probably much more than you ever wanted to know about Orono.
Poorly rated places to live in New England are usually dead mill towns, not college or university towns.
One sibling lives in Maine, and the other used to live there half the year.
If you have ever been to Orono Maine, and I have many times, then you will know about Pat's Pizza (circa 1930's). The best pizza in the state and maybe NE, NYC included. I certainly wouldn't have it on any shame list. Old Town, maybe.
Deeves beat me to it, but Rexburg has almost as many college students as regular residents. The poverty numbers are wildly off because 50% of households have next to no income. This also skews housing affordability data even though a huge chunk of "households" aren't looking to buy a house because they are students.
For a clue as to how awful Rexburg really is, take a look at that violent crime stat. It's a wonder that anyone can stand the place, I tell ya.
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