Report: Kane County Among Better Places to Live in United States

When it comes to the hardest places to live in the United States, Kane County residents struggle less with health and wealth than most. 

A New York Times article this week looked at the following data from counties across the United States to determine which counties were the hardest places to live: 

• Median household income
• Education (percentage of residents with at least a bachelor’s degree)
• Disability rate
• Life expectancy
• Unemployment rate
• Obesity

The newspaper then gave a ranking to the counties based on those factors. Kane County received a rank of 416 out of 3,135 total counties, according to the New York Times data map. 

And while the county is doing better than most, it's not doing quite as well, overall, as other suburban counties, such as, DuPage County, which received a rank of of 69; Lake County, which received a rank of 181; and McHenry County, which received a rank of 192, according to the New York Times. 

Here is a look at the data the New York Times factored in when determining Kane County's ranking: 

• The median income in Kane County: $68,674
• Percent with college education: 31.9 percent
• Unemployment: 8.8 percent
• Disability: .5 percent
• Life expectancy: 80.6 years
• Obesity 37 percent

In comparison, the hardest place to live was Clay County, Kent., where the median income is $22,296, 7.4 percent of residents have a college education and the life expectancy is 71.4 years, according to the New York Times data map. 

Read the full article and find out how other counties rank on the New York Times website.