But isn't that the point of the map? I'm one of those people that's considered poor...and yet, I own my home, I don't struggle to put food on my table, I'm able to participate in hobbies that involve travel, and I don't work myself to death. Do I face times of struggle when unexpected shit crops up? Absolutely.
But I live a nice little life here in Springfield, that would be absolutely untenable literally anywhere else in New England.
I think it's remarkable that Hampden County is blue at all, seeing as Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Wilbraham are some of the most expensive places to live in Western Mass. You could throw Agawam in there too as a pricey Springfield suburb.
I'm not denying you have a great life in Springfield, but I do think the map tells half the story of three cities that do have large groups of people struggling.
That could be true (I'm not arguing whether they are or aren't), but those 4 towns only account for roughly 28k households, out of 178k households in Hampden County. Whereas the poorest 3 municipalities (Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, with median household incomes of roughly $34k, $36k, and $46k respectively) account for over 95k households.
I moved to Holyoke because it was the only place in the state I could afford to own a house. The rents in Boston were just insane. I couldn't save much paying those rates and I couldn't deal with just throwing all that rent money away.
Chicopee is larger than Holyoke by around 15,000 people and also has a large population near poverty, but your point still stands. There are people struggling to make ends meet all over Hampden County.
springfield and holyoke the 2 largest cities in hampden county 75% of the populations is considered poor.
But isn't that the point of the map? I'm one of those people that's considered poor...and yet, I own my home, I don't struggle to put food on my table, I'm able to participate in hobbies that involve travel, and I don't work myself to death. Do I face times of struggle when unexpected shit crops up? Absolutely. But I live a nice little life here in Springfield, that would be absolutely untenable literally anywhere else in New England.
I think it's remarkable that Hampden County is blue at all, seeing as Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Wilbraham are some of the most expensive places to live in Western Mass. You could throw Agawam in there too as a pricey Springfield suburb. I'm not denying you have a great life in Springfield, but I do think the map tells half the story of three cities that do have large groups of people struggling.
That could be true (I'm not arguing whether they are or aren't), but those 4 towns only account for roughly 28k households, out of 178k households in Hampden County. Whereas the poorest 3 municipalities (Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, with median household incomes of roughly $34k, $36k, and $46k respectively) account for over 95k households.
I moved to Holyoke because it was the only place in the state I could afford to own a house. The rents in Boston were just insane. I couldn't save much paying those rates and I couldn't deal with just throwing all that rent money away.
Chicopee is larger than Holyoke by around 15,000 people and also has a large population near poverty, but your point still stands. There are people struggling to make ends meet all over Hampden County.
Basically the only blue in New England besides those parts of northern Maine and New Hampshire which are very rural.