5 ms·

Interesting, I grew up in eastern SD, pretty much right in the big cluster of deep blue counties in the middle of the country on the map. I'm trying to think o

Interesting, I grew up in eastern SD, pretty much right in the big cluster of deep blue counties in the middle of the country on the map. I'm trying to think of what could be responsible for the above average outcomes in this area, and not coming up with much. The best reason I have is that it's a very family focused area. The 'default' path for most people is to get married, have kids, and put parenting before their career. This is quite different from what I see now, living in the bay area.

epistasis 11y ago
I'm from that area as well, and I thought the standout difference was that the schools were just really really good ~15-40 years ago. There's been a divestment from education in recent years, so if my theory is correct we should see worse outcomes in a decade or so.
- lstyls 11y ago
  I grew up in central MN, and I agree that strong support of public education is likely the driving factor.
caseyf7 11y ago
I think it's the impact of outliers. For a county with a small population, only a few people need to do really well to significantly raise the average. There are hardly any downside outliers, only upside outliers when the average is around $40k.
harimau 11y ago
I grew up in a not-so-blue area in NC but of the people I knew from school that have gone onto success it's been more through parents retiring and passing down solid local businesses. Most of those who have gone onto 'bigger' things have moved out to areas with more opportunities.
look_lookatme 11y ago
My rural county was, astonishingly, in the 80th percentile and my first thought was energy jobs over the last decade. A quick google search gave me this map: http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-the-united-states http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-t... When overlaid on top the NYT map, seems to smooth out some of the outliers.

epistasis 11y ago

I'm from that area as well, and I thought the standout difference was that the schools were just really really good ~15-40 years ago. There's been a divestment from education in recent years, so if my theory is correct we should see worse outcomes in a decade or so.

lstyls 11y ago
I grew up in central MN, and I agree that strong support of public education is likely the driving factor.

caseyf7 11y ago

I think it's the impact of outliers. For a county with a small population, only a few people need to do really well to significantly raise the average. There are hardly any downside outliers, only upside outliers when the average is around $40k.

harimau 11y ago

I grew up in a not-so-blue area in NC but of the people I knew from school that have gone onto success it's been more through parents retiring and passing down solid local businesses. Most of those who have gone onto 'bigger' things have moved out to areas with more opportunities.

look_lookatme 11y ago

My rural county was, astonishingly, in the 80th percentile and my first thought was energy jobs over the last decade. A quick google search gave me this map: http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-the-united-states http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-t... When overlaid on top the NYT map, seems to smooth out some of the outliers.