The May issue of Scientific American reports that the USDA has rated 48 states on natural amenities. (It's on page 32 for those of you with access to the print edition.) Data includes January temperature & sunshine, temperature gain between January & July, July humidity, county water area, and county topographic variation.
USDA claims that natural amenities correlate with population change. Counties with a high "amenity score" have doubled in population (1970-96) while counties with low scores have lost. Of course this ratings system doesn't work very well in the cities so they tend to have low numbers.
The top five counties:
Ventura & Humboldt (both 100), Santa Barbara & Mendocino (both 99), and Del Norte (98). LA & San Fran are the highest-scoring cities.
The bottom five:
Mower, MN (7), Norman MN (6), Tipton IN (5), Wilkin MN (2) and Red Lake MN (0). Minneapolis & Columbus (OH) are the lowest-scoring cities. (I'm guessing it's either the temperatures or the topography.)
Martha, you can tell your Hawaii expats that it's OK to come home now...
USDA claims that natural amenities correlate with population change. Counties with a high "amenity score" have doubled in population (1970-96) while counties with low scores have lost. Of course this ratings system doesn't work very well in the cities so they tend to have low numbers.
The top five counties:
Ventura & Humboldt (both 100), Santa Barbara & Mendocino (both 99), and Del Norte (98). LA & San Fran are the highest-scoring cities.
The bottom five:
Mower, MN (7), Norman MN (6), Tipton IN (5), Wilkin MN (2) and Red Lake MN (0). Minneapolis & Columbus (OH) are the lowest-scoring cities. (I'm guessing it's either the temperatures or the topography.)
Martha, you can tell your Hawaii expats that it's OK to come home now...