It’s not easy to live in Louisiana. Since Boise State plays Louisiana-Lafayette this week in football, I searched the Internet to find something Louisiana does better than any other state.
According to CNBC, Louisiana ranks 47th out of the fifty states in quality of life, 46th in economy, 46th in technology and innovation and 40th in business friendliness. 24/7 Wall Street ranks Louisiana 48th in quality of life, because it’s very high in poverty rate and unemployment and very low in life expectancy. Wallet Hub has Louisiana 48th in school quality and 50th in school safety. The United Health Foundation puts Louisiana dead last, pun intended. At Governing.com, it’s number 46 in economy.
Bankrate.com says Louisiana is the 46th best state in which you should spend your retirement years. USA Today says Louisiana is only the tenth most miserable place to live. They also rank 4th in obesity, 43rd in household income and 47th in the percentage of adults who have graduated from high school. Mental Health America ranked the states by percentage of citizens with mental health issues compared to their access to mental health care. Louisiana was number 49.
Estately.com said Louisiana was a bad place to live because they have lots of hover boards, Chris Brown fans and people who like Goop, which is a lifestyle publication put out by Gwyneth Paltrow. But on the good side, it has very few Arby’s, vape shops, magicians, Nickelback concerts and people who enjoy egg salad. I then checked Politico Magazine. Based on various rankings from the census bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and the FBI, Politico listed the states according to overall strength. Louisiana was number 50.
Then there’s FEMA. On their website listing disaster declarations, in addition to the recent floods caused by heavy rain, it shows that Louisiana has been hit hard by, in reverse chronological order, Hurricane Isaac, Tropical Storm Lee, Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina, Tropical Storm Cindy, Hurricane Ivan, Hurricane Lili, Tropical Storm Isidore and Tropical Storm Allison. That only covers the past 15 years, and you know they don’t even give them names unless they’re pretty bad.
But I did find Thrillist.com. The folks at Thrillist seem to really like Louisiana. Their overall ranking of the states puts Louisiana clear up at number five, thanks to shrimp poor boys, Cajun cooking, Tabasco sauce, cocktails, jazz, Mardi Gras, the invention of the dice game craps, the origin of the term Uncle Sam and a statue of Shaquille O’Neal on the LSU campus.
Added together, it seems to me that Louisiana may be number one in the nation in toughness, resolve, hot sauce, pelicans, those who pronounce the word onion “own-yoan”, and people who, when you get right down to it, don’t really care much about what other people think.
