Ever been to Red Lake Falls, MN? A year ago, this unassuming small town was dubbed “America’s worst place to live” by Washington Post data journalist Christopher Ingraham. Well, guess what? Now, he’s eating those words. In fact, he thinks Red Lake Falls is ah-mazing. So, what triggered this total 180?
Rewind to a year ago, when Ingraham first reported on a federal “natural amenities” index ranking more than 3,000 U.S. counties based on their physical characteristics—weather, topography, bodies of water—that are thought to make a place “nice” to live. Red Lake County, with its flat-as-a-pancake contours and negative-degree winters, came in dead last (California’s Ventura County came in first in case you’re wondering).
But once Ingraham’s article came out, he got a call from miffed Red Lake officials inviting him to come see the place for himself. So he did. Then he decided to stay —for at least a year, anyway—and then revisit the topic: Is Red Lake Falls truly that bad?
The answer, of course, is no.
“My relocation to Red Lake Falls has been a humbling reminder of the limitations of numbers,” Ingraham reported in his follow-up article. “It has opened my eyes to all of the things that get lost when you abstract people, places and points in time down to a single number on a computer screen.”
Like? For instance, missing from the data was the fact that Red Lake residents are extremely friendly. “My wife and I have lived together all over the country, including in New York, California, Vermont and Maryland,” Ingraham wrote. “But we’ve never gotten anything approaching the warm reception we’ve had here.” (Let’s forget all about the “sucking up to journalists who trash you” phenomenon.)
Also MIA from the data was Red Lake’s ambience. Fine, it may be wheat fields for as far as the eye can see, but as Ingraham points out, “Red Lake Falls feels like the kind of town your grandparents would live in, and I mean that in the best possible way.”
Then there’s the impact on his family: “The data do not capture how moving to a place like this can be a life-altering experience for kids—in our case, our 3-year-old twins. It’s been amazing watching them transform, in a few short weeks, from toddlers to little boys under the expansive Minnesota sky.” Wow.
In sum, labeling a city “best,” “worst,” “ugliest,” “most expensive,” or anything really is hardly the entire picture.
Towns cannot accurately be reduced to stereotypes—and you never truly know a place until you visit, or maybe even live there for a while. Think about it: Ingraham could have easily moved to Red Lake Falls and gotten bored out of his skull, bitter about the harsh winters, and annoyed by the difficulty of finding a decent bagel. Instead, he waxed on about the sound of the breeze rustling the grain fields, and how his hardworking neighbors banded together when the pipes on his street froze, leaving many without water for weeks.
Fine, such glowing stories make for a more heartwarming column. Thanks for the blast of sweetness, Chris! But, just maybe, with the right attitude and a little effort, any town can be the very best in the world.
The post The Shocking Truth About ‘America’s Worst Place to Live’ appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.
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