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Statistics tell only a portion of the story. Earlier this week, smartasset.com in a study of that relies on data from MIT and other federal agencies noted that Forest County has the lowest cost of living in the state of Pennsylvania.
While that may sound comforting to some, there also can be a sense of insecurity with those findings. According to the best barometer -- the U.S. Census -- Forest County may be the county in the state with a cost of living under $30,000. However, there are other red flags that are not addressed.
When compared to here at home in Warren County, which was rated 20th in terms of cost of living by the same study, Forest County has a poverty rate of 19.6% compared to 12.3% here. The median household income is $43,958 compared to $55,796 here.
Those two categories are some of the most important when offering perspective on an economy --not cost of living.
By the way, the study said Warren County had a cost of living valued at $35,206. That's not much more than Forest County, but it's a good indication that seems to suit our 39,000 residents here just fine.