Where do you live?

There are a lot of fascinating studies done on a variety of state and city attributes. I adore these because they always make it seem as though the country is actually just one big beauty contest, with each state trying to oust the other for "best educated," "safest," or "most congenial." Below is a list of some of the fun "my state is better than your state" studies published in the recent past:

• Healthiest cities -#1 - Seattle (no surprise there, we're all pretty jittery thanks to all the caffeine). Biggest surprise? Houston wins fattest city for the fourth out of five years (in your face, Milwaukee).
• Top 100 best educated cities - This particular study is done based on folks holding bachelor degrees. I was surprised to see that Boston and Seattle are not on the list.
• Smartest State - Not all that surprising to see Massachusetts lead the list here, thanks to the preponderance of colleges in the area. New Mexico pulls up the rear...
• Dangerous and Safe States - They measure across six different crimes: burglary, mv-theft, murder, rape, robbery, and assault. New Mexico is also not the place to be if you are concerned about assault and robbery. They've just published an update to the listing that specifies safe and dangerous cities.
• The census - Always a great way to lose an hour or so of your time. Rankings on income (state with the lowest average income? Missouri.), mobile home population (most mobile homes? South Carolina), and state with the most senior residents (Florida - shocking.)
• Snowiest Cities - And to think, I always thought it was Buffalo. Luckily, the weather service is always there to revel in and reveal the details of any weather-related question.