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Any two county measures
Everything below was worked out across up to 3,198 counties for 2023. It is read from a table calculated in advance, since running the shuffle tests and neighbour checks for every pair would be too slow for a page to load. Each pair is adjusted: it compares counties that are alike in population density, median household income, share with a bachelor's degree or higher, so those differences can’t explain the link. Any of these that is one of the two measures being compared is left out of the adjustment. See what each measure is.
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How to use it
Choose any two of the 293 US measures. The map and chart show every county, and the figures below them show how closely the two go together before and after comparing similar counties. Some pairs are left unrated, each with its reason: two measures built from the same numbers, or from the same statistical model, are linked by arithmetic rather than by anything about the places, so their link says nothing.
Pairs to start with
The figure is r: how closely two measures rise and fall together across US counties, from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together). 0 means no link. “After” compares counties that are alike in population density, household income and the share with a degree. Each pair below has its own page with a map, the counties furthest from the trend and the checks behind the result.
Strong links that hold up
Counties alike in density, income and education still show these links.
| Pair | Before adjusting | After |
|---|---|---|
| Median age and Share aged 65 and over | +0.92 | +0.93 |
| Average temperature and Winter nightly low | +0.93 | +0.91 |
| Self-care disability and Material security score | -0.92 | -0.88 |
| Average temperature and Summer daily high | +0.86 | +0.88 |
| Stroke and Material security score | -0.91 | -0.86 |
| Food insecurity and Returns claiming the earned income credit | +0.91 | +0.84 |
| Lack of reliable transportation and Returns claiming the earned income credit | +0.90 | +0.84 |
| Vision disability and Material security score | -0.89 | -0.83 |
Strong links that mostly reflect city versus country
These look strong across all counties, but lose most of their strength once similar counties are compared.
| Pair | Before adjusting | After |
|---|---|---|
| Coronary heart disease and Economy score | -0.84 | -0.32 |
| Independent-living disability and Economy score | -0.83 | -0.36 |
| Disability-free score and Economy score | +0.83 | +0.37 |
| Frequent physical distress and Economy score | -0.82 | -0.35 |
| Economy score and Health score | +0.81 | +0.30 |
| Any disability and Economy score | -0.81 | -0.33 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Economy score | -0.81 | -0.22 |
| Mobility disability and Economy score | -0.81 | -0.35 |
More: every US county pair with its own page, US county and state rankings and how the adjustment works.