Are Idahoans Really Among the Top 10 Financially Stable in the Country?
Okay, okay, I might have exaggerated that a little bit...
I found this list of States Where Residents Are Financially Hurting the Most – 2022 Edition from SmartAsset, and Idaho was listed as number 44.
That would mean we’re among the states whose residents are financially hurting the least, right?
SmartAsset claims to have “examined data from all 50 states across the following six metrics: poverty rate, January 2021 unemployment rate, one-year change in the unemployment rate, unemployment benefit replacement rate (i.e. average weekly unemployment benefit received as a percent of the average worker’s weekly salary), recent housing insecurity and recent food scarcity.”
So, what’d they have to say about Idaho?
First thing I noticed; Idaho is actually new to being in the number 44 spot, because in their studies last year (2021), Idaho was ranked number 50! Here’s the link to SmartAsset’s 2021 Version.
That would mean on their list of residents financially hurting the most, Idaho was technically the state with residents hurting the least. But unfortunately, that also means something happened in the last year to move us a few steps backwards—and it sucks knowing we're hurting more now than we were before.
SmartAssets reported that Idaho’s December 2021 Unemployment Rate was 2.4%, Idaho’s Percentage of Adults Experiencing Recent Housing Insecurity was 3.7%, and Idaho’s Percent of Adults Experiencing Recent Food Insufficiency was 8.1%. If you check their studies from last year, it would appear that Idaho has had a small uptick in unemployment, and very saddening, Idaho has had a significant uptick in food insufficiency.
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