Wednesday, January 29, 2014

North Carolina: Near the Bottom and Going Lower

Politico.com has published their rankings of the states, from best to worst. Guess where North Carolina sits on that list. Not at the absolute bottom but well within shouting distance, and we're saddled with a Raleigh regime that intends to drive us on down that pike.

Governor McCrory? 39th out of 51 (Politico included D.C. in the rankings).

Wealthiest per capita: we're 37th.

Lowest unemployment: we're 35th.

Lowest poverty rate: we're 38th.

Highest home ownership: we're 35th.

Highest percentage of high school graduates: we're 38th.

Longest life expectancy: we're 37th.

Lowest infant mortality rate: we're 45th.

Lowest obesity rate: we're 39th.

Highest reported well being (based on the Gallup index score): we're 35th.

Highest math scores: we're in a smokin' four-way tie for 25th!

Highest reading scores: we're 35th.

Least income inequality: we're 36th.

Lowest crime rate: we're 28th.

Highest percentage employed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs (thank you, RTP!): we're 24th.

(Hattip: Rob Christensen in the Raleigh News & Observer for drawing our attention to these rankings.)

1 comment:

Doug said...

Followed your link to POLITICO.

Funny thing is, the author of the referenced study clearly states, "(our) approach isn’t scientific or comprehensive."

If I were to give any weight to a study that "isn't scientific or comprehensive," which I don't, I have this problem:

The study is a snapshot in time. There is no year over year data to show improvement or decline. This begs the question, what would have been NC's ranking in say 2009? How much further down the list would we have been under Demorcat rule?