In 2015, reporter Christopher Ingraham wrote a story for The Washington Post that changed his life and put his family on a new path. As a data reporter for the paper, Ingraham mapped the USDA’s data for all U.S. counties and called Red Lake County, Minn., “the absolute worst place in America to live.” Needless to say, Minnesotans all over the state were upset and began sending pictures of the county to Ingraham. Even the state’s representatives and senators got in on the action, with the media in the state reporting regularly on the frenzy. A local resident even extended an invitation to Ingraham to visit Red Lake, a rural county of about 4,000 residents five hours north of Minneapolis. Ingraham accepted the invitation and was surprised at the quality of life issues that he and his family faced in the city that the residents of Red Lake didn’t. Six months later, he announced that he and his family were moving from their Maryland home to Red Lake County. What Ingraham discovered was that moving to “the worst place in America to live” gave him cheaper housing, eliminated his commute entirely because he could work from home, and he has more time to spend with his family. Ingraham’s wife Briana decided to run for city council and ended up getting elected. As a result of the throwaway line Ingraham wrote in 2015, his wife is now making decisions that guide the future of their new community. Who knows where our decisions will lead us, but Ingraham is grateful that his comment led his family to “the best place in America to live.”
