Ferry County: The worst county in Washington?

Submitted by Keyboardl t3_11ei4qa in Washington

Averaging 95.71 IQ, Ferry County reports the second lowest mean intelligence scores in all of Washington. Ferry also has the second worst education system in the state- students in Ferry County lag behind the average Washington student by about 1.13 grades.

Ferry has the highest rate of premature death in the state (almost double the state average) as well as some of the highest rates of physical and mental unhealthiness. 21% of the county are classified as having poor health which is well above Washington’s average. About 33% of Ferry residents are considered obese which is, you guessed it, well above Washington’s average.

Ferry has the lowest Food Environment Index in Washington (by a lot), which is a measure of access to healthy food. Above average binge drinking rates and below average access to exercise opportunities continue to support the conclusion that Ferry County is one of the worst counties in Washington if not the worst.

Ferry has a well-above average teen birth rate as well as one of the lowest rates of insurance. Ferry County’s population proves much less vaccinated than any other county- only about 17% compared to Washington’s 47% average. To put this in perspective, Ferry is 2.47 standard deviations below Washington’s average when it comes to vaccination. That means that if Washington had up to four times the number of counties, following the current distribution, Ferry would still have the lowest rate of vaccination!

As you’d expect, Ferry is one of the least educated counties in Washington and is the second most unemployed county at ~11.5% of it’s population. Ferry has the second highest percentage of children living in poverty, 28%, and ranks second in income inequality with a whopping z-score of -2.77

Ferry has the highest rate of motor vehicle fatalities, and ranks among the highest in injury-related deaths. Ferry has the highest suicide rate. Households in Ferry County average $47,700/year making it the poorest county in Washington.

In conclusion, Ferry is the worst county in Washington. It consistently reports among the worst numbers related to health and wellness. Ferry County residents have some of the lowest IQs in the state which result in them having the least economic productivity. Various county polling and ranking organizations consistently rank Ferry as the worst county in Washington when it comes to health outcomes.

This is a warning to anyone interested in moving to this county. Your children won’t be challenged academically and you’ll be surrounded by some of the most physically and mentally unwell people in the state.

Remember, any anecdotes you hear about this county, in this subreddit and otherwise, are nothing compared to the data reported by credible organizations as presented here.

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Noisy_Pip t1_jae6vvd wrote

That explains how the property we bought in Ferry County was so inexpensive! Seriously though, while all of the stats you gave are undoubtedly true, it's really a beautiful county.

We made an assumption the whole town would be deep red, unfriendly and ignorant and, thankfully, that hasn't been the case.

Having said that, I'm not sure what the point of your post is - if others don't move and try to lift up the county, or spotlight all the inadequacies, how will it ever improve? Do we just wipe it from the map and pretend it doesn't exist?

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Infamous_Length_5774 t1_jae9s4e wrote

Right? Like you can lay out how horrible ferry county is statistically speaking (I grew up in Republic, WA for reference) but it’s not like we can really improve poverty and wage gaps, ferry county has no major city (except maybe Colville?) so of course your going to see much different data for a poverty stricken, rural county compared to the many counties of WA that at least have ready access so opportunities that a city center affords people.

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SharanskyWailer t1_jaecl98 wrote

Poring over the Wikipedia stats, I can tell you that as a rural county that shares part of its land with a Native American reservation and has less than 8000 people, these stats should not come as a surprise. Some people might end up retiring there anyways, but of course, it is absolutely not a place to try and start a family unless you want to homeschool or something.

Great to visit though.

As for "worst counties", there are many other subjective measures, as those in Spokane would tell you "King County". But if we're talking overall misery, I think it's also fair to compare Ferry to those with larger populations.

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mrlunes t1_jaedun6 wrote

I always wondered how these statistics studies figure out average IQ of an area. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone testing the IQ anywhere. Are these based off tests the schools do?

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Generalbuttnaked69 t1_jaeejsg wrote

Ferry county may be the dumbest and poorest but neighboring Stevens is the craziest and, imho, the worst.

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SeattleTeriyaki t1_jaej82w wrote

This post sucks.

These types of circumstances have more to do with being underfunded/under-resourced more than anything.

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newsreadhjw t1_jaejn84 wrote

Prior to this post the only thing I ever heard about Ferry County was that Loren Culp came from there.

I guess it all checks out.

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leericol t1_jaekeb4 wrote

What the fuck is this? A brand new reddit account randomly shitting on a part of Washington for being poor? And make no mistake thats what this is. These stats dont come from people being inherently more shitty than you. It comes from less privilege and opportunity. And not that these cherry picked stats matter or make the point that your dumb ass thinks they do, but can we atleast get some sources if you're gonna go all facts don't care about your feelings about it?

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Noisy_Pip t1_jaench2 wrote

Replying to jeyebeye (#2,127,533)

The reservation stretches across the entire southern section of Ferry county.

Edit - I read this wrong - you were talking about Colville the town, not the reservation. Apologies!

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Crazyboreddeveloper t1_jaeqrre wrote

Sounds OP is worried a bunch of people are going to move in because of the big gold deposit they found there or something…

Weird post.

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jjsav t1_jaeqwam wrote

It's a gorgeous area.

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ElTardoDente t1_jaer5os wrote

You joined Reddit just to post this? Not that I have any room to speak but dude. Could’ve had a better start to your account

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Pristine_Read_7476 t1_jaes8ee wrote

Ferry County is one of Washington's least populated with 7,200 people ( 1/8th the population of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood) and with the State's highest percentage of American Indian residents at 17.1 percent. The random stats here speak volumes to the effects of rural and Native American neglect and abuse by both the State and Federal governments.

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