The N.Y. Times reports those two Alabama counties area among 1,700 where 5% of the U.S. population lives, who were worse off in 2019 than they were in 2016.
"How We Measured a County’s Economic Health
We considered a county worse off if it was behind in two of three economic measures compared with 2016. The three measures are fewer jobs, lower inflation-adjusted average wages and a higher unemployment rate.
Among the 3,142 U.S. counties, more than 1,700 had either fewer jobs, lower inflation-adjusted average wages or a higher unemployment rate in 2019 than in 2016. Almost 500 counties had setbacks in at least two of these three measures (meeting our definition of worse off). A handful of small counties were especially unfortunate, declining on all three measures."
The two Alabama counties are somewhat polar opposites. Rural Crenshaw County supported Trump 72% to 27% in the 2016 election. Urban Montgomery County supported Clinton 61% to 35%. Unemployment in both counties is under 3%. Montgomery's population is 57% African American. Crenshaw's population is 73% white. Crenshaw's median income is $38,937. Montgomery's is $46,545. Montgomery's total population is 226,646, while neighboring Crenshaw has 13,871 people.
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