Dimension 7

Nick Powers is a creator on TikTok. He is a data nerd. He has gathered data from many sources, put all of it into a spreadsheet book, and has the ability to contrast and compare data. If you follow through to his page on TikTok, he has his sources and the collected data available for download. 

In the attached video, Nick was asked to find and compare two states with similar population, one red state (republican/conservative) and one blue (democrat).

The two states compared here are Rhode Island, population 1.09 million, and Montana, 1.08 million. A difference of about 1%. Rhode Island is deeply blue, while Montana is deeply red. I’m listing the highlights here. 

Montana leads in the following categories:

– Firearm deaths

– Homicide

– Robbery

– Breaking and Entering

– Violent crime

– Suicide

– Child and teen suicide

– Teen pregnancy

– Number of food insecure adults

– Number of food insecure children

– Number of children in foster care

– Poverty rate

All of those categories are lower in Rhode Island. Additionally, Rhode Island leads in these categories:

– Disposable income. (Income left after the bills are paid)

– Literacy

As Nick explains, this is not the fault of immigration, Rhode Island has a much higher rate of immigration than Montana. 

Not the trans population, because the trans population appears higher in Rhode Island. Or it might be they just hide more in Montana… for their own safety. 

Rhode Island is more diverse than Montana, so it’s not a race issue. 

If nothing else, this shows that diversity is better than a monoculture. It works for trees and other living things. 

Here is the link to the original video. Click through to Nicks profile to see more about the data he collects. Nick Powers on TikTok