A Sampling of Highs and Lows From Around the Country

Nine jurisdictions had populations in which more than one-third of their residents were foreign-born. These included three counties in California (Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Francisco), two county equivalents in Alaska (Aleutians East Borough and Aleutians West Census Area) and two counties in New York (Kings and Queens).

There were 292 counties with populations that were less than 1 percent foreign-born, including 34 counties in Kentucky, 27 in West Virginia, 26 in Missouri and 21 in Mississippi.

COMMUTING

The counties with the lowest mean travel time to work included King, Tex., at 3.4 minutes, while counties with the highest mean travel time to work included Richmond, N.Y. (Staten Island), at 42.5 minutes.

POVERTY

There were 19 counties or county equivalents in which the poverty rate was below 5 percent. Five were in Virginia, three were in New Jersey, two were in Colorado and two in Wisconsin. A number of other states had one.

In 21 counties, more than a third of all people were living in poverty. Of the five counties with poverty rates greater than 39 percent, four were on American Indian reservations in South Dakota.

INCOME

Three of the areas with the highest household income in the nation were in Virginia. The highest was the city of Falls Church, at $113,313.

Eighteen counties had a median household income of less than $25,000. These included six counties in Kentucky. The lowest median household income was Owsley County, Ky., at $18,869.

EDUCATION

The percent of those 25 and over who had completed a bachelor’s degree ranged from 4.6 percent in Owsley County, Ky., to 69.5 percent in Falls Church, Va.

Seventeen counties or county equivalents had populations where more than 50 percent of those 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree. Seven of these counties were in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

There were 62 counties where less than 10 percent of the population 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree. Fourteen of these counties were in Georgia.