The country's population fundamentals are part of all that too. For housing developers, there's every incentive to choose to build pricey houses because there are still plenty of people buying them.

I saw this recently in a city in the south. Dozens of recently built (<20 years old) developments, each with a hundred or so houses...and none of them affordable on an average income, because there were always plenty of above-average earners ready to buy them.

Did the school ever sue?

It's definitely unsettling to see a mountain in the distance that's an hour drive away, as one would in parts of Colorado. Imagine getting off a boat in Portland, Maine, and having someone say "And if you glance to the west there, those are the White Mountains over in New Hampshire."

Though it's also considered an aesthetic feature, the "breathing" of Appalachian-range mountains in the morning as the sun heats overnight dew and obscures the view with rising fog at each ridge. While many find it beautiful, I've met a couple western-U.S. natives who found it almost claustrophobic.

Looks like that why the org added categories in its rankings for equity...having energy be expensive is great at increasing efficiency but stinks for people who can't afford it.