Older Than Dirt

My Pappy, though steadfastly lower class, had a yen for "U.S. News & World Report", an organ of the Lunatic Right which was more than happy that he and his family (and all others similarly situated) remain lower class. Consume the necessities produced by American corporations, leaving the good stuff for the more deserving. Yahoo! has some deal with the progeny of US News to run feature articles. And today is such a day.

Now, if the Lunatic Right were correct, then the idyllic wastelands of rural America would be the peachy keen place to live. You and the rest of the Tea Baggers living to a ripe old age, spitting and cursing city folk for their new fangled ways. And all that.

Turns out, at least in the US, that city living is the place to be if you want to get old. Being naturally female (surgically altereds don't benefit) makes a big difference too.

A large majority of the oldest U.S. citizens live in urban areas.

States with the largest populations generally have the most centenarians. California has the largest number of centenarians (5,921), followed by New York (4,605), Florida (4,090), and Texas (2,917). Alaska has the fewest residents age 100 and older (40). Wyoming (72), Vermont (133), and Delaware (146) are also among the states with the fewest centenarians.

It is overwhelmingly women who live to age 100.

So there you have it: Green Acres (and the 19th century) is the place to be, but only in fiction.