Frequent mental distress and Adult income rank of children raised poor here
Where Frequent mental distress is higher, Adult income rank of children raised poor here tends to be lower. The link is weak: -0.33 across 2,932 counties, on a scale from −1 (opposite) to +1 (in step). That figure compares places with the same population density, income and education, so those differences can't explain it. It holds inside states too. Measured separately within each of 38 states, the middle value of the link is -0.19.
Holds after adjusting
Every place, plotted
One dot for each place reporting both measures. Hover over or tap a dot to see its name and values. The thin line is the straight line that best fits the dots. The bold line, shown for counties, is the link after adjusting for density, income and education. A dot far from the lines is a place that does not follow the pattern.
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What each measure is
Frequent mental distress
The estimated percentage of adults who report poor mental health on 14 or more days a month. It is adjusted so places with older or younger populations can be compared fairly. It is an estimate from a statistical model, not a direct count from a local survey.
CDC PLACES · PLACES MHLTH, age-adjusted
Adult income rank of children raised poor here
Where children who grew up here with poor parents ended up as adults, ranked against everyone in the country by income, on a scale from 0 to 1. A value of 0.5 would mean that on average they reached the middle of the national income ladder.
Opportunity Atlas · Opportunity Insights kfr_pooled_pooled_p25
Highest and lowest
Where each measure is highest and lowest among the places reporting both (2023), with the other measure beside it. This is shown for every size of place where both are published. Metro-area values are added up from their counties. A measure that cannot be added up across counties, such as a middle value (median), has no metro figure. Counts are shown per 1,000 residents, since raw totals would only list the largest places. Cities and towns and ZIP codes are shown where the Census survey or the CDC publishes them; most other sources stop at the county. They are shown for places of 5,000 residents or more, and only where the survey’s margin of error is small enough for the figure to be usable. The CDC publishes its health estimates for cities in a version adjusted for age, so places with older or younger people can be compared fairly, but not for ZIP codes.
Counties
By frequent mental distress
| Frequent mental distress | Adult income rank of children raised poor here | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Mingo County, WV | 26.6% | 0.405 |
| McDowell County, WV | 26% | 0.371 |
| Hancock County, TN | 25.7% | 0.384 |
| Calhoun County, WV | 25.7% | 0.475 |
| Logan County, WV | 25.4% | 0.394 |
| Lowest | ||
| Fairfax County, VA | 12.7% | 0.511 |
| Montgomery County, MD | 12.8% | 0.479 |
| Aleutians West Census Area, AK | 13% | 0.35 |
| Aleutians East Borough, AK | 13% | 0.348 |
| Falls Church city, VA | 13% | 0.5 |
By adult income rank of children raised poor here
| Frequent mental distress | Adult income rank of children raised poor here | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Harding County, SD | 15.4% | 0.688 |
| Bowman County, ND | 15.1% | 0.675 |
| Grant County, ND | 16.5% | 0.667 |
| Billings County, ND | 14.6% | 0.666 |
| Golden Valley County, ND | 16.4% | 0.662 |
| Lowest | ||
| Kusilvak Census Area, AK | 23.5% | 0.216 |
| Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK | 17.8% | 0.237 |
| Northwest Arctic Borough, AK | 20.3% | 0.242 |
| Bethel Census Area, AK | 20.9% | 0.245 |
| Oglala Lakota County, SD | 24.5% | 0.248 |
Metro areas
By frequent mental distress
| Frequent mental distress | Adult income rank of children raised poor here | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Beckley, WV | 24.3% | 0.407 |
| Gallup, NM | 23.7% | 0.354 |
| Newport, TN | 23.5% | 0.351 |
| Charleston, WV | 23.2% | 0.386 |
| Parkersburg-Vienna, WV | 23% | 0.396 |
| Lowest | ||
| Los Alamos, NM | 13% | 0.472 |
| Jackson, WY-ID | 13.8% | 0.528 |
| Bismarck, ND | 14.1% | 0.538 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 14.1% | 0.472 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 14.1% | 0.427 |
By adult income rank of children raised poor here
| Frequent mental distress | Adult income rank of children raised poor here | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Dickinson, ND | 14.9% | 0.625 |
| Carroll, IA | 17.6% | 0.59 |
| Williston, ND | 15.6% | 0.586 |
| Le Mars, IA | 16.9% | 0.551 |
| Heber, UT | 14.8% | 0.543 |
| Lowest | ||
| Laurinburg, NC | 20.7% | 0.311 |
| Greenville, MS | 19.6% | 0.319 |
| Lumberton, NC | 20.9% | 0.321 |
| Henderson, NC | 19.5% | 0.324 |
| Clarksdale, MS | 20.1% | 0.325 |
Cities and towns — Adult income rank of children raised poor here is not published for cities and towns
By frequent mental distress
| Frequent mental distress | Adult income rank of children raised poor here | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest | ||
| Kiryas Joel village, NY | 25.7% | — |
| New Square village, NY | 25.4% | — |
| Tallulah city, LA | 25.3% | — |
| La Follette city, TN | 25.2% | — |
| Parkersburg city, WV | 25.2% | — |
| Lowest | ||
| Travilah CDP, MD | 10.6% | — |
| Loudoun Valley Estates CDP, VA | 10.7% | — |
| Princeton Meadows CDP, NJ | 10.7% | — |
| Floris CDP, VA | 10.8% | — |
| North Hills village, NY | 11% | — |
Counties furthest from the pattern
Compared with the straight line that best fits all 2,951 counties: the five with far more adult income rank of children raised poor here than their frequent mental distress would suggest, and the five with far less.
| Frequent mental distress | Adult income rank of children raised poor here | |
|---|---|---|
| Above the line | ||
| Wibaux County, MT | 19.2% | 0.648 |
| Harding County, SD | 15.4% | 0.688 |
| Grant County, ND | 16.5% | 0.667 |
| Golden Valley County, ND | 16.4% | 0.662 |
| Bowman County, ND | 15.1% | 0.675 |
| Below the line | ||
| Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK | 17.8% | 0.237 |
| North Slope Borough, AK | 16.3% | 0.288 |
| Mineral County, CO | 16.2% | 0.294 |
| Denali Borough, AK | 15.4% | 0.31 |
| Aleutians East Borough, AK | 13% | 0.348 |
Two series, one county
Both measures over time for a county you pick. The two charts are stacked, so they share only the years along the bottom. You can pick from the thirty largest counties reporting both. This panel covers 2010–2024, and a measure published only once shows as a single dot.
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Every version of the link
Each row measures the same link, from −1 to +1, in a different way. If the rows mostly agree, the link does not depend on one choice of method.
| Before adjusting for anything | -0.471 | 2,932 counties reporting both |
| After adjusting for density, income and education | -0.330 | the part of the link that is not just how urban, rich and educated a place is |
| Also adjusting for population size | -0.338 | size taken out as well as density |
| Also comparing only within each state | -0.264 | each county is compared only with others in its own state, so this is no longer a comparison between states |
| Giving bigger counties more weight | -0.280 | the adjusted link for the average resident rather than the average county. With this weighting, the data counts for about 264 equally weighted counties |
| Middle value inside single states | -0.186 | the link worked out inside each of 38 states with at least 20 counties reporting |
| Using ranks, after adjusting | -0.230 | uses each county’s rank, not its value, so a few extreme counties cannot create the link |
How much to believe it
Could it be chance?
The p-value is the chance of seeing a link this strong if there were really none. A value of 0.05 or less means the link is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 3.1e-16 means 0.00000000000000031, and the bigger the number after “e-”, the smaller the value. Treating every county as a separate case gives p = 2.2e-75. But counties in the same state tend to resemble each other, so the better figure allows for that: p = 0.002. The site tested 20,910 pairs, and testing so many turns up some flukes. The q-value allows for that too. For this pair it is 1.5e-74.
Do nearby places look alike?
Moran’s I measures how much nearby places look alike: 0 means no map pattern, and higher means neighbours are more similar. For the part of each county that the adjustment leaves unexplained, it is +0.61 (p = 0.001). That unexplained part still clusters on the map. So some regional factor shared by both measures is not accounted for.
Did they change together?
Not measurable: at least one of these is published for too few of the years a change needs (2014–2019 or 2019–2023), or for too few counties in both.
Related pairs
- Adult income rank of children raised poor here and Economic connectedness — +0.63
- Returns reporting capital gains and Adult income rank of children raised poor here — +0.55
- Lack of reliable transportation and Adult income rank of children raised poor here — -0.53
- Housing insecurity and Adult income rank of children raised poor here — -0.52
- Loneliness and Adult income rank of children raised poor here — -0.51
- Binge drinking and Adult income rank of children raised poor here — +0.51
- Returns claiming the earned income credit and Adult income rank of children raised poor here — -0.51
- Adult income rank of children raised poor here and Social connection score — +0.51
Association only. Nothing here shows that either measure changes the other. This describes counties, not the people in them. Two measures going together across places does not mean the same people have both. How the US county data works · Explore Frequent mental distress and Adult income rank of children raised poor here