Ventura County top county
when it comes to natural amenities

August 21, 2015
Santa Paula News

Not everyone has heard of Ventura County but now more people will want to visit after the county ranked No. 1 among the nation’s 3,111 counties at least when it comes to natural amenities.

The Washington Post’s Wonk Blog author Christopher Ingraham used a natural amenities scale developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rank counties in the 48 continental states.

The verdict: “Ventura County, CA, is the absolute most desirable place to live in America.”

The index combined six measures of climate, topography, and water area to reflect environmental qualities most people prefer.

And to no one’s surprise those qualities according to the USDA shout Ventura County: they include mild, sunny winters (check), temperate summers (check), low humidity (check), topographic variation (check for sure) and a body of water (big check for the Pacific Ocean).  

Notice only 48 continental states were ranked: the USDA didn’t have complete data for Alaska and Hawaii, so they were not included in the rankings.

What’s bad for the 50th state is good for Ventura County according to Ingraham who wrote “It’s probably for the best, since Hawaii would probably have swept the top of the rankings, what with it being an island paradise and all.”

Some Ventura County residents would argue it is also a paradise, albeit on a much-much larger island. 

But California fared well as a whole filling the top of the highest ranked counties; after Ventura, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Del Norte counties rounded out the top 5.

Counties in Florida also ranked very high although they must have lost points on humidity.

The Great Lakes region had more than its share of lower rankings with Red Lake County, Minnesota, ranking last on the USDA survey.

Follow the link to read the blog and see maps with the rankings: http://tinyurl.com/nm3my82





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