Prosperous counties, according to Andrew Isserman, an economist at the University of Illinois, graduate their kids from high school. People work in prosperous counties, and unemployment rates are low. There is less poverty in prosperous counties, and the housing people live in is both affordable and in good repair.
To get rid of the spill-over from metropolitan areas, Isserman looked at what he called "strictly rural" counties. Isserman found that 289 of the 1,371 strictly rural counties were more prosperous than the national average.
No New Mexico counties made the list. Mineral County was the closest "prosperous" Colorado county. Creede is the county seat. It is immediately north of Archuleta County which has Pagosa Springs as the county seat.
Beaver County in the Oklahoma Panhandle made the list. Kane County was the closest Utah County. It is north of the Grand Canyon.
Isserman's study is described at http://www.dailyyonder.com/finding-rural-americas-prosperous-communities.
HIs paper is at http://www.ace.uiuc.edu/Reap/Papers.htm. The paper is in the Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Vol 37, No. 1.
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