Mortality Rates of US Counties: Are they Reliable and Predictable?

We examine US County-level observational data on Lung Cancer mortality rates in 2012 and overall Circulatory Respiratory mortality rates in 2016 as well as their "Top Ten" potential causes from Federal or State sources. We find that these mortality rates have remarkably little in common. Thus, for predictive modeling, we use a single "compromise" measure of mortality that has several advantages. The vast majority of our new findings have simple implications that we illustrate graphically.