Think Washington Should Split Into Two? Here's Why It Shouldn't

In recent years, there has been another uptick in interest of some citizens in the Evergreen State to split the state into two separate states. Understandably so, many that live on the east side of the Cascade Mountains do not feel that one half of the entire state is not properly represented in our capitol of Olympia. Many on the west side feel that eastern Washingtonians take more than their fair share of tax dollars based on the the disproportionately sized population. I think we should just leave it the way it is and, apparently, the folks at US News and World Report agree.

For the second consecutive year, the publication has named Washington the best state overall in the nation.

My reasons, however, differ than that of the publication's. I love the fact that, by living in Washington, one is less than a day drive from the ocean shore, the highest peaks, the wilderness and much, much more. In their study, US News says that they rank Washington #1 because of its expanding economy, booming tech industries, flat-taxes among other key points.

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In their study, they assigned a score from 1-50 (1 being best) in eight categories. They included: health care, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections and natural environment. In those categories, Washington in the top 10 in five of the distinctions and in the top 5 in three. (see: chart below)

USNews.com

It is the first time since the publication began their annual rankings that the same state has come away with the top spot in back-to-back years.

Following Washington at numbers 2 through 10 were Minnesota, Utah, New Hampshire, Idaho, Nebraska, Virginia, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Florida.

What do you think? Should we split the state into two or keep it just the was it is -- as in, on of, if not the, best state to live in the entire U.S.?

Rock on! \m/ \m/
Todd E. Lyons, Esquire

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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