More than half of U.S. counties are what experts call “local news deserts” that have either no newspaper or only one (often a weekly or a thinly staffed daily). Southerners are more likely to live in news deserts, as 75% of Southern counties are news deserts, compared to 50% of non-Southern counties.

Despite substantial new federal subsidies, 11 states (7 of them in the South) have still not adopted Medicaid expansion. Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi— all states that did not adopt Medicaid expansion— had very high uninsured rates, of 24% (the highest), 19%, 18%, and 18%, respectively.

In the current Congress, 48% of Southerners are represented by a 2020 election denier, as are 22% of non-Southerners.

The 118th Congress, convened on January 3rd, is the most racially and ethnically diverse Congress in American history, with more than a quarter of current members of Congress identifying as non-White and/or Hispanic.

Improving the Population Estimates Program could mitigate issues in the 2020 Census, which undercounted people of color, the very young, and the population of 6 states, according to the Census Bureau’s own measures of accuracy. (Populations of 8 states, white people, and older Americans were overcounted.)

Extreme weather events tend to cause the longest electric power interruptions. From 2013 to 2021, Louisiana had the highest cumulative hours (183) of power interruptions of all states, and West Virginia had the third highest hours of interruptions (111).

Over the last three years, climate disasters have compounded the nation’s misery. Southerners have been most likely to experience a disaster, with 75% of Southerners living in a county that has had a disaster since March 2020 compared to 64% of non-Southerners.

Since 2000, the growth in corporate profits has greatly outstripped growth in employee compensation.1

Enabled by a strong economy and a tight labor market, more than 4 million workers quit jobs in November 2022 in pursuit of better jobs.

While almost 22 million jobs were lost when Covid hit, they have now, some two years later, been largely recouped. By the end of 2022, the nation had reached a new record of 153.7 million jobs (1.2 million more than the pre-pandemic February 2020 level) and had an unemployment rate of 3.5% (equal to the pre-pandemic February 2020 level).

Motor vehicle death rates in the U.S. increased two consecutive years, reaching 14.3 in 2021. Non-white Americans saw the largest increases in motor vehicle death rates.

Among those who previously had Covid, 30% of Southerners (and 27% of non-Southerners) are currently experiencing prolonged symptoms, known as Long Covid. A new study finds that most Long Covid patients experienced a mild initial Covid infection, yet still developed prolonged symptoms that affected their daily lives.

Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped in 2021 for a second year in a row, losing 25 years of progress and reaching its lowest level since 1996. Based on provisional 2021 data, the declines were greater for Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) populations.

As of January 7, 2023, elderly people ages 70 and up were 9 times more likely to be hospitalized than adults between the ages of 18-59. Though Covid hospitalizations are below the Omicron surge in early 2022, the CDC’s Community Transmission map shows high levels of community transmission across the nation.

Life expectancy in 2020 declined by 1.8 years – from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.0 in 2020. This is the largest single-year drop in the U.S. since 1947.

Though Covid case counts are trending downwards — with the caveat that many people using at-home tests are not reporting their results — Covid deaths were still high at roughly 400 daily in August and September 2022.

The number of adults in the U.S. reporting symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorder has tripled from 11% in 2019 to 36% in September 2022.

From July through December 2021, the American Rescue Plan provided low and middle-income families with monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments. But after the CTC expiration in December 2021, child poverty spiked to 17% in January 2022, where, according to the most recent monthly estimates, it remains (after a dip in March/April when families received tax refunds).

A multitude of coinciding factors make it difficult for Americans to have accessible and affordable food options. In the South, 12% of households sometimes or often went hungry. Food insecurity was most severe in Louisiana (20%), Mississippi (19%), Arizona (16%), and Arkansas (15%).

In May 2022, the median rent in the U.S. reached a record high of $2,002 per month. As housing prices have increased, so has the fear of losing one’s home. 1 in 3 Americans who are past-due on rent/ mortgage fear that eviction or foreclosure is likely.