Special Report

This is the Worst County to Live in Virginia

Samuel Stebbins

Published: July 28, 2021 7:00 am

Last Updated: July 28, 2021 3:56 pm

Life expectancy fell by 1.5 years in the United States in 2020. The decline, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid crisis, represents the most pronounced regression in public health in the United States since World War II.

While the most recent dip in life expectancy in the U.S. is alarming, there are many parts of the country where poor health outcomes and other socioeconomic hardships have long been the norm.

Using an index of three measures — life expectancy at birth, bachelor’s degree attainment, and poverty rate — 24/7 Wall St. identified the worst counties to live in in every state.

There are 133 counties and independent cities in Virginia, and of them, Buchanan County, located in the western part of the state along the West Virginia and Kentucky borders, ranks as the worst place to live. County residents are nearly three times as likely to live below the poverty line as the typical Virginia resident, and life expectancy at birth in the county is 74 years — over half a decade less than the average across the state.

Like many U.S. counties lagging in key socioeconomic indicators, Buchanan County’s population is shrinking. Over the last five years, the number of people living there fell by 8.0%, even as Virginia’s population expanded by 3.3%.

Data on bachelor’s degree attainment and poverty are from the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Data on average life expectancy at birth came from the 2021 County Health Rankings, a joint program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and are based on mortality data from the years 2017 to 2019. Supplemental data on population and income are from the ACS, and unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted for May 2021 and are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the worst county to live in every state.