Why is the rural Midwest "easier" to live in than the rural/suburban South?

[muon2]

To illustrate the impact of the variables, consider the following two counties. Meigs county TN (pop 11,753) is a rural county that sits along the Tennessee river and has a county seat 47 mi from Chattanooga (pop 167,674). Lyon county IA (pop 11,581) is a rural county that sits along the Missouri river and has a county seat 32 mi from Sioux Falls (pop 153,888). Both counties are over 95% white. They sound pretty similar based on this level of geography.

Now look at their scores. Meigs has a median income of $33,492, 7.8% college educated, 9.9% unemployment, 2.4% disabled, life expectancy 74.1 years, and 41% obese. Lyon has a median income of $49,727, 16.3% college educated, 2.7% unemployment, 0.3% disabled, life expectancy 79.3 years, and 35% obese. No surprise that out of 3,135 counties, Meigs is 2,932 and Lyon is 321.

I didn't spend much time looking for these counties, I just picked two from their respective regions that were rural, equal population, and with some similar demographics. You could find many similar examples in short order. Note they they vary a lot on most all the measures, so my guess is that no matter what socioeconomic variables one thinks is important these two will tend to be quite different in overall score. With better education, more jobs, and income to match, arguably rural Midwestern life is not as difficult as that of the South.