# What benefits do you see from living in a blue state vs living in a red state **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648 "2024-11-04T02:45:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/41 "2024-11-11T23:02:20Z")
Those figures differ quite a bit from what [this source](https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2024/09/10/record-federal-grants-to-states-keep-federal-share-of-state-budgets-high#) reports. Kentucky is said to get 46% of its state funding from federal grants, with New York and Pennsylvania not that far behind at 39%. California, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Hawaii and Virginia are well behind in the percentage of state funding from federal sources, while the three top beneficiaries are Louisiana, Alaska and Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/42 "2024-11-11T23:46:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Those figures differ quite a bit from what [this source](https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2024/09/10/record-federal-grants-to-states-keep-federal-share-of-state-budgets-high#) reports. The site I linked uses (my bold): > Rankings account for political affiliation, **the net benefits individuals and organizations in the state receive** , state government revenue from federal sources and GDP per capita. The site you link is strictly Federal Grants to states. So I’d expect some discrepancy. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/43 "2024-11-12T16:32:19Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Less crime. Red states have much higher rates of violent crime. Highest crime rate states: 1. New Mexico - BLUE 2. Arkansas - RED 3. Louisiana - RED 4. Colorado - BLUE 5. California - BLUE 6. Tennessee - RED 7. Missouri - RED 8. South Carolina - RED 9. Nevada - BLUE 10. Alaska - RED Seems like a fairly even distribution, especially based upon size. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/44 "2024-11-12T19:25:07Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I have to admit, I guess I’ve lived in California for so long that the idea that one could make it to another state before needing to stop for gas didn’t even occur to me. From CT, I can get through Massachusetts and New Hampshire and into Maine before I need to fuel up. I don’t usually because I typically stop for lunch along the way, but I could. I suppose I might be able to take a somewhat longer route and go through Rhode Island as well. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/45 "2024-11-12T19:36:35Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Highest crime rate states: > > 1. New Mexico - BLUE > 2. Arkansas - RED > 3. Louisiana - RED > 4. Colorado - BLUE > 5. California - BLUE > 6. Tennessee - RED > 7. Missouri - RED > 8. South Carolina - RED > 9. Nevada - BLUE > 10. Alaska - RED Madmonk said violent crime, your list purports to be crime. This list for violent crime is from [https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/crime-and-corrections/public-safety/violent-crime-rate?sort=rank-desc](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/crime-and-corrections/public-safety/violent-crime-rate?sort=rank-desc) New Mexico Blue Alaska Red Arkansas Red Louisiana Red Tennesee Red California Blue Colorado Blue South Carolina Red Missouri Red Michigan Purple does seem tilted red ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/46 "2024-11-15T13:20:56Z")
What’s your source for this? Here are a couple about red state violent crime. - The red state murder rate was 33% higher than the blue state murder rate in both 2021 and 2022. - 2022 was the 23rd consecutive year that murder plagued Trump-voting states at far higher levels than Biden-voting states. - 8 out of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2022 voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. - From 2000 to 2022, the average red state murder rate was 24% higher than the average blue state murder rate. - Red states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama are America’s murder capitals and have had the highest three murder rates for 15 of the last 23 years. - The excuse that sky high red state murder rates are because of their blue cities is without merit. Even after removing the county with the largest city from red states, and not from blue states, red state murder rates were still 20% higher in 2021 and 16% higher in 2022. [The 21st Century Red State Murder Crisis – Third Way](https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-21st-century-red-state-murder-crisis) [HHRG-118-JU08-20231213-SD004.pdf](https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116676/documents/HHRG-118-JU08-20231213-SD004.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/47 "2024-11-16T19:59:43Z")
I’m not even sure what a Red or Blue state is. I live in Arizona. The state went for Trump this year. But, we have two Democratic senators. The Governor is a Democrat. The Attorney General is a Democrat. The state legislature is barely Republican. Our we a Red state, or a Purple state, like most? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/48 "2024-11-16T20:55:54Z")
There are not really blue states. I live in Oregon, a reliably blue state when voting in the Electoral College, but it is very red outside of the urban areas. The benefits are very high taxes and little results for those taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/49 "2024-11-18T17:33:39Z")
I live in Missouri, my son and his family are in Illinois. My son has a special needs daughter and the early childhood programs for her are much better than they’d find even in St. Louis or KC. That’s pretty much true for any social service/safety net program in Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/50 "2024-11-18T19:32:44Z")
I think that’s the general answer to the OP: If, for any reason, you need extra government support, you’ll get more in a blue state. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/51 "2024-11-19T04:51:43Z")
I can refer to my husband in conversation and expect not to get a shocked reaction in my blue state (California). I don’t think I can express how much that means to me. I spent a very long time hiding who I am (sometimes not very successfully, sometimes without needing to) and it’s still hard for me to say those words “my husband” to someone for the first time. I don’t think I would be able to live in a place where I have to hide again, which is how I picture most red areas. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/52 "2024-11-19T10:14:08Z")
Oregon has had a state health care program for a long time. Not perfect, but it’s helped many people. /retired Oregon practitioner ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/53 "2024-11-21T02:22:06Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > In California, by law I get to roll over any unused vacation days to next year, rather than having to use 'em or loose 'em. Also, when I leave the company they’re required to cash out any unused vacation time. I’m jealous! My employer requires me to use-or-lose my vacation time each year. If I don’t use it all, I think the way it works is I accrue that much LESS the following year. I still get the full x weeks of vacation the following year, just not “x plus last year’s leftover”. A couple of times, I’ve been given permission to use some of that leftover time, but they really don’t like to do that, as we’re supposed to manage our time to avoid it. Never mind they complain about everyone’s billable hours plummeting in November and December; it’s their own damn fault. The one year I carried over 2 weeks (I get 5 a year) was when I started a major new project and we were slammed, the last half of the year. Now, I could use my full year’s allowance in the first month of the year, if I wanted - but if I quit in February, they’d dock me for the unearned vacation. If I had some left over from the previous year, I think they might not dock me for that part - but I have not tested this. I do know that if I quit partway through the year and have NOT used my earned vacation, they’d pay me for the unused part - e.g. if I took no time off, then quite June 30, I’d get 2.5 weeks of vacation pay. Re the question in the OP: my daughter was able to get Medicaid and SNAP (pittance that it is) more easily than she could have in a redder state. Hourly wages are a titch higher for minimum-wage-type jobs, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/54 "2024-11-25T14:05:58Z")
There’s a wonderfully self-indulgent article in the Boston Globe about people moving away from Massachusetts to (mostly) red states and missing the comforts of home, from snow blanketing the Back Bay to transit options to progressive politics. You can’t access quality medical care if you leave Boston for Florida (apparently there’s a dire shortage of doctors, hospitals and specialty clinics in the Sunshine State - who knew?). And one must be careful not to get stuck in a food desert. > [@](#): > > When she lived in Brighton and Newtonville, Caroline Meiners-Nesbitt looked forward to strolling to Star Market with her husband to pick out dinner ingredients. But since moving to Searcy, Ark., in 2023, “we have to plan the whole week’s menu when we drive to Walmart,” she said. > **[They moved out of Massachusetts. This is what they miss the most. - The...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/11/25/business/people-leaving-massachusetts-miss-politics-health-care-museums-sports-nature/)** > > From top-rated health care to walkable neighborhoods to cultural hotspots, people who have departed Greater Boston in the last few years say there's a lot they feel they left behind. And they get nostalgic for Massholes. > [@](#): > > “There’s a _je ne sais quoi_ about a Bostonian,” said Sirena Abalian, 27, who moved from Waltham to Austin in 2021 but would consider returning to raise a family. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/55 "2024-11-25T14:29:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > You can’t access quality medical care if you leave Boston for Florida (apparently there’s a dire shortage of doctors, hospitals and specialty clinics in the Sunshine State - who knew?). It does seem that there’s a relative shortage of health care professionals in basically all of Florida (Monroe country excluded) compared to Mass. and to Boston in particular. > **[Map of Health Professional Shortage Areas: Primary Care, by County, October...](https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/charts/5)** > > Map showing county-level data on Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), indicating counties that are entirely in a HPSA, partially in a HPSA, or not in a HPSA. Charts for dental care are similar and, perhaps unsurprisingly, especially bad for mental health professionals. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/56 "2024-11-25T14:33:46Z")
There are deficiencies in rural health care in many places, blue states included. Massachusetts seems to have its own problems when it comes to primary care availability. > **[Massachusetts Has a Primary Care Crisis Yet They Ignore An Obvious Solution](https://dpcnews.com/opinion/massachusetts-has-a-primary-care-crisis-yet-they-ignore-an-obvious-solution/)** > > I was sent this article by my friend Dr. Jeff Gold who is from Massachusetts. It is behind a paywall but I embedded the video from them above. Here are some highlights and a few salient quotes from… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/57 "2024-11-25T14:36:31Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There are deficiencies in rural health care in many places, blue states included. Right but the linked chart is nationwide by county, not rural specific. There are blue states with serious access issues in their counties but Massachusetts isn’t showing that and especially not Boston. Seems reasonable that a Boston transplant to FL would notice the difference. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/58 "2024-11-30T16:20:31Z")
you can get anything alcoholic delivered in STL ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/59 "2024-11-30T16:27:20Z")
you forgot that with Amtrak you can travel the entire West Coast up to Canada ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2024, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648/60 "2024-12-01T04:16:53Z")
My father, a Massachusetts doctor, had very unflattering things to say about the quality of doctors in Florida. I gather quacks were attracted to the retires… But maybe that was just his prejudice. Anyway, blue states tend to have higher taxes, better government services, more public transit, higher minimum wages, higher wages and higher cost of living in general, and are generally easier places to be if you don’t “fit in”. At least, i think it’s easier to be Jewish or Queer in blue states. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benefits-do-you-see-from-living-in-a-blue-state-vs-living-in-a-red-state/1009648.md?page=4)