Ventura County, Calif., is the absolute most desirable place to live in America.
I know this because in the late 1990s the federal government devised a measure of the best and worst places to live in America, from the standpoint of scenery and climate. The "natural amenities index" is intended as "a measure of the physical characteristics of a county area that enhance the location as a place to live."
— washingtonpost.com
Wanna find out how well or how poorly your home county scored? Head over to the Washington Post article and hover your mouse over the interactive map. (Residents of the Great Lakes Region - prepare yourselves for disappointment.)
6 Comments
It looks like this map is based on a very faulty metric, those desert east counties of California are hardly a good place too live. Is water REALLY a factor in their ratings?
I like the ocean (definitely prefer the Pacific), and the forests of the Pacific Northwest are sublime, and I truly miss mountains every day, but I also really love the subtle beauty of the slowly changing seasons in the Midwest. I feel like my body and mind are tuned to the world in a way they never were out west. Also enjoy the lack of predictability. Growing up in Arizona it was predictably too hot to enjoy the outdoors from March through October, then slightly less hot the rest of the year; while I miss the smell of the desert I don't miss that.
LOL Our tax dollars at work!
The west has far more protected land area than the east...Alaska is # I believe with 80-90% of the land federally protected...Federal Conservation efforts of course happened well after the east was settled and mostly deforested...
Map Porn is catnip for the Church of Data
54 of 3111, Not too bad.
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