When a regular working man or woman sits down for dinner with the kids, what problems are probably on their mind?
Can I keep putting food on the table? Will I still have my job tomorrow? Can we afford housing and insurance? Will my kids get a good education and have a fair shot at a good life?
These aren't abstract political questions. They are everyday questions.
In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, many of them sit near the bottom of the pyramid: food, shelter, income, and safety. More Americans seem worried about securing the basics — not reaching the top of the pyramid.
We aren't political pundits, and we didn't want to pretend to be. So we started with problems ordinary people can actually feel in their daily lives: cost of living, wages, housing, food, energy, jobs, education, healthcare, and safety.
1. The 20 problems
Eventually, the list became 20 problems in 5 groups — all 50 states, all published as of September 10, 2026.
| Group | Count | Problems |
|---|---|---|
| Economic Reality | 7 | Cost of Living & Inflation · Wage Stagnation & Income Inequality · Housing Affordability · Food Insecurity · Energy Costs · Job Availability · AI Displacement Risk |
| Social & Public Service Infrastructure | 5 | Education Quality · Healthcare Access · Mental Health & Addiction Crisis · Crime & Safety · Transportation & Traffic |
| Environmental & Resource Security | 4 | Climate Vulnerability · Water Scarcity · Grid Reliability · Pollution & Public Health |
| Systemic & Governance Frictions | 3 | Political Polarization · Government Inefficiency · Corporate Influence in Politics |
| Digital Access | 1 | Digital Divide |
Two things about that table are worth explaining.
Climate Vulnerability covers 48 states, not 50. The data source doesn't reach Alaska or Hawaii, so those two show nothing rather than a made-up number. Every other problem covers all 50.
Digital Access holds only one problem, on purpose. Keeping it separate means broadband isn't averaged in with five unrelated issues, which would bury it in exactly the states where it's worst.
2. The other reason we chose these problems
There was a second reason these problems made the list.
They could be measured.
Federal agencies and public databases track the conditions behind every one of them. Every Polipad score traces back to a public source — the Census, FBI, CDC, FEMA, EPA, and others.
Not an opinion. Not a poll. Not a pundit.
We wanted hard numbers, and this was the way to get them.
3. What is the Problem Intensity Score?
A number by itself doesn't tell you very much.
Suppose you learn that 17.4% of Texans have no health insurance. Is that good? Bad? Normal? Alarming?
You can't really know until you have something to compare it with. So we decided to use comparison:
How bad is this problem in your state compared with the rest of the country?
4. How do we measure it?
For each of the 20 problems, we collect the same government measurement for all 50 states. We establish the national benchmark, then ask a simple question: how far from normal is this state?
That becomes the Problem Intensity Score.
- 50 means average.
- Higher means worse.
- 80 or above means crisis-level intensity.
Because every problem uses the same 0–100 scale, you can put housing next to crime next to the power grid and quickly see which problems deserve your state's attention first.
That's the point of the score. It turns thousands of government statistics into something a regular voter can actually use.
Now find your state and see which problems surprise you.