Louisiana vs. Illinois

Before I looked at the report card for both states, I thought Louisiana will get a lower score than Illinois, but surprisingly to me, Illinois scored lower. But then I realized that the socores were given pre-Katrina. The reason why I thought Louisiana scored lower was because the way Katrina was handled. So I guess you can say it's just a guess with no hard evidence. I've never been to Louisiana nor have I been to many parts of Illinois. I thought these scores are based on the large cities that the state is known for, so for Illinois, it's Chicago and for Louisiana, it's New Orleans because I don't know anything else about Louisiana and minimal about Illinois.