Ventura County has been voted the No. 1 Most Desirable County in America according to the Washington Post.

I disagree. I live in San Luis Obispo which is known as the “Happiest Town in America,” and therefore, should be the most desirable county as well. Even Oprah has a video posted about our county. But it was only ranked 21 out of 3,111 counties calculated by the data from the USDA Economic Research Service.

To my surprise Santa Barbra County beat San Luis Obispo and was ranked third.

San Luis Obispo has the best beaches- Morro Bay, Avila and Cayucos just to name a few and numerous hiking/biking trails.

Attending California Lutheran University in Ventura County I have been to the beaches and trails and they are not as private as the ones from home.

The only reason why I could see Santa Barbra County and the Los Angeles County ranking seventh beating SLO is because of the abundance of job opportunities. But then again San Luis Obispo County is home of the Mid State Fairgrounds in Paso Robles, and to us that is a big deal. Also if there are not a lot of jobs the people of SLO create them and are therefore happier because they are working for themselves.

Ventura County resident and senior Steffanee Sawyer agrees that Ventura County is not the most desirable.“Honestly, Ventura doesn’t place No. 1 for me. Maybe it’s just the age I’m at or that I grew up in a bigger, more bustling area than Ventura, but to me it doesn’t rank No. 1. Sure you have good schools in the area for kids and it is a nice place to be if you’re staying home and not going out much, but that’s not where I am at in life,” Sawyer said. “Ventura is one of those places that is a great contender to where you should start your family and/or retire, but not if you want to be out and living your life. Look at Britney Spears and Wayne Gretzky. Both moved to the area after the high points of their careers, to raise their families and to retire.”

As a college student in Ventura County I had this impression too where the county is mostly made up of families and elderly who come to settle down for the rest of their career. I did a quick search for Ventura County on the United States Census Bureau and when I tried to search for the percentages of the age ranges, I noticed something that was odd. There were only three possible age range searches: “persons under 5 years”, “persons under 18 years” and “persons 65 years and over.”

It turned out to be just the way that the Census apparently does things on their site because I typed in San Luis Obispo County knowing that there were people between the ages of 18 and 65 since it is a college town. At first it was just funny because I thought that I was on to something. Next time.

The United States Department of Agriculture gathers the information to decide which county is most desirable through the “natural aspects of attractiveness” with qualities that “include mild, sunny winters, temperate summers, low humidity, topographic variation and access to a body of water.” So of course the coast of California would prove as the highest ranking.

Senior Devin Demattia believes Los Angeles should be the most desirable county.      

“Although Ventura has more agriculture, landscapes and scenic routes alongside its county, I feel more towards Los Angeles being No. 1 Most Desirable County,” Demattia said. “Los Angeles has the cleaner part of the Pacific Ocean running on its shores, and a great deal of this county offers real estate of all kinds near the ocean as well as the majestic mountains that circle the cities within the county.”

Despite the fact that some people have different opinions about what county actually deserves to be voted No. 1, when it comes to the title of Most Desirable I believe that it is not Ventura.

Samantha Steele
Staff Writer
Published September 16th, 2015