It's getting kind of depressing to see yet another poll and infographic telling us we live in such a horrible place.

This week, it's "Where Are the Hardest Places in Live in the U.S.?" in which every county (or parish) in American is ranked on such criteria as median income, obesity, unemployment, college education, percentage of people on disability and life expectancy.

Some of this is bull.  For instance, I'm a college graduate, but I know high school dropouts who make considerably more than I do.  (They got GEDs, got into the oilfield young and climbed up the ranks.)  Is one of us living a "harder" life than the other?  How, exactly?

If you look at the stats below, Allen Parish is noted the hardest parish to live in here in SWLA, and yet, they have the highest life expectancy -- despite being the most obese and the most unemployed.

So, get out your grains of salt.  Some of this makes sense.  Some of it doesn't.  Still, Southwest Louisiana is doing much better than the rest of the state as a whole.  If you're in Louisiana, this is still one of the better areas to live.  Certainly better than East Carroll Parish, which ranked as the fifth worst county/parish in the whole nation.  Yikes.

Here's some of the local info.  Keep in mind, there are about 3,100 counties in America, give or take a few.

OVERALL RANK IN AMERICA

  • Cameron Parish -- 1,559th
  • Vernon Parish -- 1,858th
  • Calcasieu Parish -- 1,990th
  • Beauregard Parish -- 2,074th
  • Jeff Davis Parish -- 2,416th
  • Allen Parish -- 2,606th

MEDIAN INCOME

  • Cameron Parish -- $62,353
  • Beauregard Parish -- $46,762
  • Vernon Parish -- $46,260
  • Calcasieu Parish -- 44,247
  • Jeff Davis Parish -- $41,777
  • Allen Parish -- $38,899

LIFE EXPECTANCY

  • Allen Parish -- 77.1 years
  • Vernon Parish -- 76.1 years
  • Beauregard Parish -- 74.9 years
  • Calcasieu Parish -- 74.5 years
  • Jeff Davis and Cameron Parishes -- 74.3 years

OBESITY

  • Allen Parish -- 45%
  • Jeff Davis Parish -- 44%
  • Vernon Parish -- 42%
  • Calcasieu, Cameron and Beauregard Parishes -- 41%

COLLEGE EDUCATION

  • Calcasieu Parish -- 19.8%
  • Vernon Parish -- 17.8%
  • Beauregard Parish -- 15.9%
  • Cameron Parish -- 14.2%
  • Jeff Davis Parish -- 12%
  • Allen Parish -- 9.6%

CITIZENS ON DISABILITY

  • Jeff Davis and Calcasieu Parishes -- 2.1%
  • Allen Parish -- 1.8%
  • Beauregard Parish -- 1.6%
  • Vernon Parish -- 1.4%
  • Cameron Parish -- 0.8%
UNEMPLOYMENT
  • Allen Parish -- 8.5%
  • Beauregard Parish -- 7%
  • Vernon Parish -- 6.5%
  • Calcasieu Parish -- 5.9%
  • Jeff Davis and Cameron Parishes -- 5.3%

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