ROCKINGHAM — It’s no secret that Richmond County is known as a rural area, but now anyone with internet access can see for themselves where it ranks as an undesirable place to live in the state.
RoadSnacks, a website that uses data and science to determine which North Carolina cities are the worst to live in, has the city of Rockingham ranked No. 2 and Hamlet No. 5 out of the 147 most populous cities in the Tar Heel State.
According to the site, criteria that people like or dislike about a place such as low crime, solid education, great weather, things to do and a stable economy were used to form the list. They used FBI crime data, the government census, Bureau of Labor statistics and Sperling’s Best Places to determine the top 10.
To crunch the numbers, the website included population density (the lower the worse), highest unemployment rates, adjusted median income (median income adjusted for the cost of living), high housing vacancy rate, education (low expenditures per student and high student-teacher ratio) and high crime.
Although the commentary from the list is opinion-based from writer Nick James, the numbers are based on fact. James said the list is all data found from around the internet and is put into a spreadsheet.
“This list not only rings true, but it’s written with a support level to it,” said James. “It’s no opinion, it’s based in fact.”
With a population of 9,524, according to the website, Rockingham has a very high crime rate. Residents have a one in 10 chance of having something stolen from them. The unemployment rate is 8 percent, and the home value is lower than Forest City, whose values are the sixth-lowest in the state at $97,000 and is the list’s number one selection.
Hamlet has a smaller population of 6,554, but according to RoadSnacks is the fifth-most dangerous place in the state. Residents have a one in 18 chance of being the victim of a crime. The unemployment rate is also around 8 percent, and residents earn $33,000 a year in combined income. There is even a reference on the site to the city’s Facebook page having only 559 likes.
Officials from both cities, as well as county leaders, aren’t necessarily sure Richmond County is as bad off as the list has led people to believe. Jobs, or a lack thereof, seem to be biggest catalyst for the other contributing factors.
“Nothing takes place of having a job,” said County Commissioner John Garner. “It’s a lack of jobs locally and nationally. People have too much free time and too much internet freedom to delve into these kinds of things. They let the mind wander and go off in the wrong direction.”
Garner said he was surprised to see both Rockingham and Hamlet so high up on the list but said the high unemployment rate is a direct correlation to everything else.
Hamlet Mayor Bill Bayless echoed Garner’s response saying the local economy was playing the biggest role.
“If somebody had the answer to it, it would be a miracle. It’s the economy,” said Bayless. “They made an opinion poll on it, but I don’t think any of us are as bad off as they say. I think it’s a wonderful place to live. I know we don’t have the amenities that other cities have, but I don’t think we’re as bad off as they say. All of us are constantly working on things to make it better. The problem is the largest part of it is the lack of jobs and the number of people in the lower income as opposed to some of these other places. I don’t know if it necessarily makes it a bad place to live, but it’s some things we don’t have any control over.”
James anticipated when constructing the list, that feedback would be quick. His website, which has only been online for four months and N.C.’s top 10 list for less than a week, has already made similar countdowns for half of the 50 states, but he said there’s no “cherry picking” when it comes to each state’s top 10 list.
“Most of the time, I get a lot of feedback,” James said. “People saying, ‘You’ve never been there, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ It was taken very seriously. Some civil groups were getting involved. I’ve talked to a lot of people that have reacted to this. It’s bringing up some issues to light that no one is talking about. Some people say we’re pushing the envelope of upsetting people.”
Rockingham City Council member Denise Sullivan joined Garner in being taken aback by the list, calling it “a negative.”
“I’m not afraid of living here. It said something about you or your neighbor being a victim of a crime, and I don’t believe that,” she said. “I’m not afraid of living in Rockingham. When you see what crimes are in the paper, most of it is drugs stuff.”
Drugs have been a large contributing factor in Rockingham and Hamlet and in the county as a whole, said Hamlet Police Chief Scott Waters. He also, however, doesn’t understand why two Richmond County cities made the top five.
“On the crime side, it just depends on how the reports are coded,” Waters said. “If you’ve got multiple people entering in those reports, it could get coded in and actually be another way. An example would be common law robbery and armed robbery. Stats are stats. It’s about how you go about getting those numbers.
“As far as our part, I was born and raised in East Hamlet, I’m 46 years old, I went through the education system here and then Richmond Community College. I think Hamlet is a good place to live. I don’t think it should be in the top 10. I know numbers are numbers, and they crunched them and formed that top 10 list, and we’re No. 5 on that list, but in my heart, Hamlet is not a bad place to live or raise a family cause here I am, born and raised.”
It seems, though, that a lack of higher paying jobs and a high unemployment rate is what is trickling down and causing the other numbers to put two county cities in the top five.
“I’m sure jobs play a part in it, but I didn’t like the article at all,” said Sullivan. “I think they need to come see Rockingham and see what is going on here. I think we’re trying hard. I think Rockingham is moving forward.”
Waters agreed that a lack of jobs has caused an uptick in crime, especially involving drugs.
“We’ve got a good place, but the economy plays a lot into it with crime and drugs,” he said. “You’ve got to fight drugs here. We are getting tougher as far as fighting the war on drugs so to speak. A bad economy has people out here selling drugs to make money. I think if we had jobs that would help a lot. I want to see everything positive. People are always gonna have negative things to say, but we want to be positive.”
Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.
