By — Megan Thompson Megan Thompson Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/writer-called-a-minnesota-county-the-worst-place-to-live-then-he-moved-there Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Writer called a Minnesota county ‘the worst place to live.’ Then he moved there Arts Oct 5, 2019 3:39 PM EDT In 2015, Washington Post data reporter Christopher Ingraham wrote an article about an obscure U.S. Department of Agriculture list. The “Natural Amenities Scale” ranked every American county according to things like climate and scenery. At the very bottom of the list was Red Lake County, in rural northwest Minnesota. Ingraham described Red Lake County as “the absolute worst place to live.” And then comments from Minnesota readers started pouring in. (All very polite, of course, this is Minnesota, after all). After being convinced by locals to visit Red Lake County, Ingraham found that he loved it. At the time he and his wife were stressed out and struggling with the high cost of living and long commutes that the Washington, DC, area is known for. So they decided to pick up and move their entire family to Red Lake County. In a new book, “If You Lived Here You’d Be Home by Now,” Ingraham describes his extraordinary decision and his family’s new life in the land of lakes, loons and hot dish. He recently spoke to NewsHour Weekend’s Megan Thompson. By — Megan Thompson Megan Thompson Megan Thompson shoots, produces and reports on-camera for PBS NewsHour Weekend. Her report "Costly Generics" earned an Emmy nomination and won Gracie and National Headliner Awards. She was also recently awarded a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship to report on the issue of mental health. Previously, Thompson worked for the PBS shows and series Need to Know, Treasures of New York, WorldFocus and NOW on PBS. Prior to her career in journalism she worked in research and communications on Capitol Hill. She originally hails from the great state of Minnesota and holds a BA from Wellesley College and a MA in Journalism from New York University. @megbthompson
In 2015, Washington Post data reporter Christopher Ingraham wrote an article about an obscure U.S. Department of Agriculture list. The “Natural Amenities Scale” ranked every American county according to things like climate and scenery. At the very bottom of the list was Red Lake County, in rural northwest Minnesota. Ingraham described Red Lake County as “the absolute worst place to live.” And then comments from Minnesota readers started pouring in. (All very polite, of course, this is Minnesota, after all). After being convinced by locals to visit Red Lake County, Ingraham found that he loved it. At the time he and his wife were stressed out and struggling with the high cost of living and long commutes that the Washington, DC, area is known for. So they decided to pick up and move their entire family to Red Lake County. In a new book, “If You Lived Here You’d Be Home by Now,” Ingraham describes his extraordinary decision and his family’s new life in the land of lakes, loons and hot dish. He recently spoke to NewsHour Weekend’s Megan Thompson.