The Iraq Death Toll, State By State
05/22/2007
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Rural states are paying the highest personal price in the Iraq War.


Coleman funeral, Pikeville

The funeral of U.S. Army Sgt. Gary Brent Coleman, 24, in Pikeville, KY, 11/30/03
Photo: Shawn Poynter, for AP

The country is waging a war, but the war isn't being waged equally. The death toll in North Dakota and Vermont, for example, is about five times that of Washington, D.C.

It is not surprising that the more rural states are the ones with the highest death rates. (To calculate a death rate, we divided the number of men and women killed from a state by the total number of people in the state of military age. Death rates are given in number of casualties per million people of military age.) Rural communities have a considerably higher rate of casualties than U.S. cities. (See this report from the Carsey Institute.)

The ten states with the highest death rates are Idaho, Delaware, Alaska, Maine, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota and Vermont.

The states with the lowest rates: Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Utah, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and D.C.

Anybody notice a pattern here?

Below is a numerical listing of all U.S. states' casualties in the Iraq War, ranked from the lowest death rate to the highest.

Rank   State   Number of Deaths   Death Rate
per million population 18-54
1   Washington, DC   4   11.9
2   New Jersey   61   13.7
3   Connecticut   28   15.7
4   New York   169   16.7
5   Utah   21   17.8
6   Rhode Island   10   17.9
7   Massachusetts   66   19.2
8   Minnesota   52   19.7
9   Illinois   134   20.2
10   Florida   163   20.5
11   North Carolina   90   20.5
12   California   384   20.9
13   Colorado   55   22.5
14   Washington   73   22.7
15   Georgia   104   22.8
16   Maryland   68   23.7
17   Missouri   71   24.4
18   Hawaii   16   24.7
19   Michigan   132   25.1
20   South Carolina   54   25.2
21   Alabama   59   25.3
22   Tennessee   79   25.9
23   Virginia   103   26.3
24   Indiana   85   26.4
25   Ohio   157   26.4
26   Kentucky   59   27.2
27   Wisconsin   79   27.9
28   Kansas   39   27.9
29   Pennsylvania   176   27.9
30   Texas   320   28.3
31   West Virginia   27   28.6
32   Iowa   43   28.7
33   New Mexico   29   30.9
34   Mississippi   48   32.4
35   Oklahoma   58   32.5
36   Nevada   35   32.5
37   Arkansas   45   33.0
38   Arizona   89   33.5
39   Louisiana   79   33.6
40   New Hampshire   23   34.4
41   Oregon   65   35.5
42   Idaho   24   35.7
43   Delaware   15   36.1
44   Alaska   15   38.4
45   Maine   26   39.0
46   Wyoming   11   41.9
47   Nebraska   38   42.8
48   Montana   20   42.9
49   South Dakota   18   47.2
50   North Dakota   17   51.0
51   Vermont   19   58.1
             
 
    Total   3,655   24

Comments

15 June 2007 - 11:00am — zinnia

rural death rates and guns

I wonder if the higher relative enlistment rates in rural America are in some way connected to the higher rates of gun ownership in the rural U.S. Could there possibly be a higher "comfort level" with weaponry and all that's associated with it?

23 June 2007 - 2:45am — Nick Stump

It's more complicated than just guns

Zinna, I know there's a tradition of gun ownership and military service in rural America, but that's not the whole story. Sure some of us have a certain comfort level with guns, but the old story of hillbilly sharpshooters is probably more myth than reality. Sgt York is not representative of rural American.

Rural Americans are plenty patriotic, but a big factor is the failing rural economy. Outsourcing factory and mill jobs has hit harder in rural America than anywhere. With fewer jobs rural folks are competing with their neighbors for minimum wage fast food jobs. Better paying jobs are often hours away from where we live, causing hours of daily travel just to keep food on the table. This situation, as they say, is a "tough road to hoe" for people facing the hard facts of a failing rural economy.

At the same time, we see the military offering bonuses and tuition help, (very little tuition help) but we can see how rural Americans would view the military as a viable way to make a living.

Jim Webb talks about this in his book Born Fighting. Webb believes rural Americans are becoming a "Warrior Caste". I tend to believe it's true, with generation after generation of young rural Americans following in their father's footstep into the military.

Something not talked about very much is the fact many rural Americans use the National Guard as a part-time job. Subsequently, we often see two generations, father and son in the same Guard unit. Now these Guard units are being called up in record numbers. These units are often poorly supplied and ofter don't have the latest in up-armored vehicles and weapons.

It's a complicated story and I haven't told it all, but for sure we're seeing more and more rural Americans turning to the military not just for patriotic reasons but as a way to solve their family economic difficulties.

23 June 2007 - 2:05pm — Bill Bishop

camels, sand and stuff

Bill Bishop
bill.bishop@dailyyonder.com To zinnia and Nick: Check out Arkansas blogger camels, sand and stuff on the Yonder blog roll. Young guy from rural Arkansas blogging from Iraq.......

7 July 2007 - 3:30pm — nowontonnotnow

rural deaths

perhaps more helpful if # breakout reflected rural deaths within each state, rather than overall per capital density of each state, since as you know, large & populated states also have rural expanses. certainly, one does not diminish the death or sacrifice sustained by any state, whether it totals 384, 320 or 19... nor for that matter urban, suburban or rural.
a more complete posting/study would also include a breakout by socio-economic standing and educational levels/opportunities as you appear to imply, but the scope of study did not cover, i surmise.

7 July 2007 - 5:05pm — Bill Bishop

rural deaths -- what we know

Bill Bishop
bill.bishop@dailyyonder.com
nowontonnotnow is exactly right -- and only if we had the information he/she asks for.

We don't. We know the stated "hometown" of each young man or woman who died in Iraq. We know the race. We don't know how far he or she went in school -- or how rich a family the soldier came from.

We have broken down the casualties to the county level, and it's there you can see more clearly that rural communities are over-represented in the casualties. Go here: http://www.dailyyonder.com/rural-war Or, go here http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/documents/RuralDead_fact_revised.pdf.

Or, if you look at cities, the smaller the town, generally, the higher the death rate. Anyway you look at it, the less dense the population, the higher the proportion of casualties.

Thanks, nowontonnotnow.....