Descenting order: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Alabama, DC, North Carolina, Nebraska, Florida, Delaware, Tennessee, Iowa, Mississippi, Ohio, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Oregon, Minnesota, Vermont, North Dakota, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, California, Michigan, Oklahoma, Maine, Maryland, Arkansas, Illinbois, Missouri, Kansas, Washington, Louisiana, Kentucky, Colorado, New York, New Mexico, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, Utah, and Montana.
Georgia sits at the national average.
Property tax rates.
I don’t think so – NJ’s property taxes are something like 40% higher per capita than any other state in the country, and the average tax rates are, IIRC, also the highest or second highest in the country.
Any trivia question in which CT leads the list and NJ nearly brings up the rear is going to be pretty interesting, though. I’m struggling to think of anything where that kind of spread would make sense.
Gas taxes would explain that spread, on further reflection, but New York is way too low for that to be the answer.
I was really shocked to see NJ at the bottom of this list. I would have been a bit surprised at New York, too, though my investigation into finding the numbers tipped me off.
And once again, California isn’t an outlier. I resent Will’s plot to make us seem normal.
I was surprised that California was not an outlier. No offense, but I would have expected it to be higher on the list.
Prop. 13.
Per capita Check-e-Cheeses.
Tuesday Hint: This is arguably tied with density, in more ways than one.
Um… the odds that really overweight people are living in urbane growth boundaries?
I’d note my misspelling of “urban,” but I’m thinking I might like the misspelling more.
Will did you mean descending order instead of descenting? or are the States more odorless as you go down the list?
I never misspell anything. It’s a little-known fact that Chicago is in Illinbois.
Wednesday Hint: I believe that most people here at LoOG would agree that this is a list you do not want to be at the bottom of (I can’t think of anyone that has advocated less…). People not from around here, however, have no problem being at the bottom.
That makes me think of some educational measure, but I can’t think of any such that would have Iowa and Mississippi in such proximity.
Thursday Hint: Health-related, not education-related.
Surely not as straightforward as life expectancy?
The idea of it being health related just seems to be at odds with your claim that some non-Leaguers don’t mind being at the bottom…who is comfortable being at the bottom of any health statistic?
People covered by health insurance plans?
People the medical community is very, very frustrated with.
Okay, at the bottom we’ve got a bunch of mountain west states, with New York and New Jersey thrown in. So I’m thinking it’s something that disproportionately affects white people. And if it’s related, somehow, to population density…
Genital herpes?
% of (Tobacco) Smokers?
Childhood vaccination rates?
Yeah. MMR vaccination rates, to be precise.