“Jogger” one of top search terms in well-off U.S. counties

In the United States’ most well-off counties the term “jogger” is an oft-searched term that shows up less often in the more difficult regions to live in.

The New York Times‘ data desk, known as The Upshot, ranked all the counties in the United States as harder or easier to live in. The rankings were based on six categories — the rate of residents with a bachelor’s degree or more schooling, median household income, unemployment rate, disability rate, life expectancy and obesity. They then correlated Google search terms with the best- and worst-off areas to see which search terms were uniquely popular to those regions.

Aamong digital cameras and their accessories, such as the top-ranking Canon Elph, iPad applications, popular travel destinations and travel accessories, “jogger” ranked second as a common search term that was much less frequently searched in the rougher areas.

This doesn’t mean ‘jogger’ is the second-most searched term, which wouldn’t make any sense. The correlation finds terms that are common in specific regions but are not common elsewhere. Plenty of terms are much mroe popular all over the United States, regardless of median incomes, obesity levels or life expediencies.

The Upshot team does point out that jogger being ranked so high is likely boosted to the top by it being another name for a baby stroller, something that also scored well in the better-off regions. Other baby items, such as baby Bjorns and baby massages made the list in the easier to live regions.

The three most correlated terms in the easiest places to live were “elph,” “jogger” and “digital elph.” In the hardest places to live the top three were “free diabetic,” “antichrist” and “38 revolver.”