Is it easy or hard to live in your county?

[Mr. Illini]

Residence in 181 (Lake, IL), attend school in 605 (Champaign, IL)

[angus]

The title is a bit confusing. It would be better to say "How hard is life in your county?" Obviously counties that rank high will be more expensive and difficult for people of limited means to find housing, etc. A wealthy family could move to a "hard" county and find that their money goes a lot further.

That was my first thought as well.  Higher median income usually means higher rent, and higher rent usually means less money to spend on other stuff.  Weird algorithm. 

Also, I voted for medium.  (626 out of 3135)

[Хahar 🤔]

Rent is about 4,000€/month in my town, and when we became proprietors back in 2008 we were lucky to find a house for 400K. Don't know how that compares to the US, but it seems quite hard to me.

Didn't you live in San Francisco? You should know how hard it is.

[JerryArkansas]

Pretty good.  A nice college with guys, starbucks, and an ok mall. 

[Gass3268]

Grew up and went to school: Dane County, Wisconsin (#34)
Currently living: Montgomery County, Maryland (#6)

Not bad!

[NHLiberal]

And yet Clay County gave 84% of the vote to Mitt Romney. Disgraceful. Their hatred of that black guy with a foreigny sounding name and their fear that, thanks to said black guy's policies, TEH GAYZ ARE TAKIN OVER, trump their compelling need for populist economic policies when it comes time to vote.

[bgwah]

I would have picked the same small set of LA parishes as "most livable."

And yes, one has a higher quality of life in NYC -- with the exception of the Bronx -- than anyplace outside of the gated counties of the South (Forsythe GA, Williamson TN, etc.).

But these sorts of gross county-level comparisons are sort of misleading. Zip codes are a better measure of class stratification than counties are.

One needs not live in a "gated county." I'd much rather live here in leafy East Memphis than some distant, treeless subdivision. I know a little something about quality of life. Paying $2,000+/mo for a 300 sq ft studio doesn't stike me as an "easy" way to get by.

It's "easy" if you make enough money, which plenty of people in Manhattan do.

To some people, quality of life entails more than getting a big house and filling it with junk.

[memphis]

I would have picked the same small set of LA parishes as "most livable."

And yes, one has a higher quality of life in NYC -- with the exception of the Bronx -- than anyplace outside of the gated counties of the South (Forsythe GA, Williamson TN, etc.).

But these sorts of gross county-level comparisons are sort of misleading. Zip codes are a better measure of class stratification than counties are.

One needs not live in a "gated county." I'd much rather live here in leafy East Memphis than some distant, treeless subdivision. I know a little something about quality of life. Paying $2,000+/mo for a 300 sq ft studio doesn't stike me as an "easy" way to get by.

It's "easy" if you make enough money, which plenty of people in Manhattan do.

To some people, quality of life entails more than getting a big house and filling it with junk.

Compare average income with average rent in Manhattan. It's not at all a healthy or an easy thing. The vast majority of people in Manhattan do not earn >$100,000 year. Most of them are just scraping by the best they can, often with multiple roommates.
Also, my house is not large. Just a bit over 1,000 sq ft. I live in town, not in some distant, McMansion riddled subdivision. I'm not much for shopping or for the maintenance that large houses require. But, more importantly, housing in my area is affordable. Houses like mine sell for about $100k. Regular people can afford to buy their own homes, have short commutes, and have time left for their interests. New York may be more fun than my neighborhood, but it sure as Inks isn't easier.

[All Along The Watchtower]

The vast majority of people in Manhattan do not earn >$100,000 year.

But enough of them do to contribute to the insane cost of living there. Same deal with SF.

[The Free North]

CT is a great place to live apparently.

[Smash255]

Nassau County, NY  63rd

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Doesn't that always depend on what your job is and what your financial and other resources are and so on?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Burlington County, NJ should refrain from color and just be decorated like a piece of cake.  We're relatively wealthy, many job opportunities, and have like.. NO crime. 

[solarstorm]

Surely the hardest place to live would be like the most northern county in Alaska?

Alaska doesn't have counties.

Neither has Louisiana...

[Хahar 🤔]

Surely the hardest place to live would be like the most northern county in Alaska?

Alaska doesn't have counties.

Neither has Louisiana...

Louisiana parishes are functionally identical to counties. Alaska boroughs aren't.