What Your State Spends On You
While federal taxes get the most attention, the average American spends well over $2,000 per year on state and local taxes. In return, their state and municipal governments provide a range of services year…
All Work
Mike Sauter
Highest Paying Jobs You Can Get Without a College Degree
Though a postsecondary education improves one’s chances of finding a high-paying job, college enrollment has been declining in the United States in recent years, likely due to rising tuition costs. However, though a bachelor’s…
Fastest Growing County in Every State
The United States has added about 17 million people since the last major census in 2010, a 5.3% population growth. The increase has been steady over that time, at 0.7% to 0.8% a year.…
Fastest Shrinking County in Every State
The United States has added about 17 million people since 2010, but growth has been far from even nationwide. While some areas contributed considerably to the national population growth, others have been shrinking at…
The Fastest Growing City in Each State
The U.S. population grew from 309 million in 2010 to 325 million in 2017, a 5.3% increase. While the nation is in a period of relatively slow growth, some urban areas have experienced explosive…
States Where Wildfires Caused the Most Damage
The 2018 wildfire season has begun in devastating fashion, and 61 major fires burn uncontained across 12 states. over 760,000 acres — roughly the size of the entire state of Rhode Island — are…
States Drinking the Most Beer
Despite shifting tastes among millennials, beer remains the most popular alcoholic beverage in the United States. It is the drink of choice for 43% of Americans who drink, beating out wine at 32% and…
16 States Where Incomes Are Booming
During the Great Recession, U.S. gross domestic product declined 4.3%. Since then, the economy has rebounded and is now in one of the longest periods of expansion on record. As the economy recovered, the…
25 Most Expensive Cars to Insure
Car insurance premiums have risen sharply in recent years, increasing by 33% between 2010 and 2016. And if owners are also paying off a car loan, insurance premiums, which well exceed $1,000 annually in…
States Investing the Most in Higher Education
Last year, states spent over $83 billion on public higher education, or about $7,600 per student enrolled full-time in a public college or university. Since the early 20th century, every state in the country…
Cost of College the Year You Were Born
The annual cost of attending a four-year private institution in the United States reached $46,950 last year, more than double what it was less than two decades ago. For many Americans, a college degree…
The Best School District in Every State
Few public services in the United States contain such stark differences in quality as the public education system. While there are several school districts that spend more than $50,000 per student on education each…
The County With the Fewest High School Graduates in Every State
In 1947, 30 years after Mississippi became the last state in the country to pass compulsory education laws, less than one in three American adults had a high school diploma. Today, a high school…
The County With the Most High School Graduates in Every State
In 1947, 30 years after Mississippi became the last state in the country to pass compulsory education laws, less than one in three American adults had a high school diploma. Today, a high school…
States Where the Most People Work for the Government
Since the economic recovery began in 2010, the private sector has added 16 million jobs. At the same time, however, the number of public sector jobs has remained static. As a result, government employment…
50 Most Well-Read Cities in America
According to the Pew Research Center, only about 1 in 4 Americans read a book in the last year. That statistic includes e-books and audiobooks, not just the printed word. While literacy is a…
25 Cheapest Cars to Insure
Car insurance premiums have risen sharply in recent years, increasing by 33% between 2010 and 2016. And if owners are also paying off a car loan, insurance premiums, which well exceed $1,000 annually in…
States With the Most Premature Death
Life expectancy in the United States has fallen for two straight years, the first time this has occurred in more than half a century. The cause of this alarming trend is the sharp rise…
The Value of a Dollar in Every State
While a dollar bill looks and feels the same all over the United States, its value is often very different depending on where it is spent. The prices of housing, food, and services vary…
The Worst Cities for Black Americans
Nationwide, the typical black household earns just 61 cents for every dollar the typical white household earns. Despite the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement more than five decades ago, there exist substantial inequalities…