Author Archives: Miguel Barrientos

Church Membership in the US

Religion in the US - Rates of Adherence County Map

We recently came across a study about church membership in the US conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The study compiled data on the number of congregations and adherents for 236 religious groups in each county of the US. We were curious about what the data would look like displayed on a map, so we created the thematic map shown above (click on it for the larger version). We chose three colors to represent the rate of adherence: the lighter color is for counties where the rate of adherence is less than 333 per 1000 inhabitants. The medium color is for counties with a rate of adherence between 333 and 667, and the darkest color is for counties with rate of adherence greater than 667 per 1000.

Note: The data were downloaded from the Association of Religion Data Archives, www.TheARDA.com

West Nile Virus Cases by County

West Nile Virus cases in the US as of August 21, 2012

The current outbreak of West Nile virus in the US is the most serious since the disease was first detected in the country in 1999. Thus far, 1118 cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including 41 deaths. Find out if any cases have been detected in your county by clicking on the map above.

Visualizing Presidential Election Results

Presidential election results for North Carolina counties 1996-2008

As we get closer to the 2012 presidential elections in the U.S., we are taking another look at the results of past elections to see if we can discern any patterns. Our first attempt consists of visualizing the margin of victory of each major party in the state of North Carolina. The map above shows the county by county results for the past four elections (click on the map for a larger version). Counties shaded red were won by the Republican party, while counties shaded blue were won by the Democratic party. Deeper shades are used to represent counties where the margin of victory was relatively large. Take Yadkin county for example. In 1996 it was the only county in the state where the Republicans won by over 40%, hence its deeper red color. Note that counties where the margin of victory was less than 5% are colored white.

For those of you wondering how we created the map, we used the IndexMundi thematic map creator. The election results data came from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Animated Map Visualizations

You can now explore 11 years worth of changes in the demographic characteristics of all U.S. counties through our animated map visualizations. Try the following indicators:

The True Size of Africa

true size of africa

Most maps do not show the true size of Africa due to the way they represent the surface of the Earth (a sphere) on a flat surface (the map). To illustrate the point, Kai Krause recently created a map which showed the outlines of other countries crammed inside the outline of the African continent. The Economist created a more accurate version of Krause’s map using a different type of map projection. The results are shown in the image above.

The Rise of Residential Segregation by Income

residential segregation by income

A new report by the Pew Research Center shows that residential segregation by income in the U.S. has increased during the past 30 years in 27 of the 30 largest major metropolitan areas. Check the report to find out details about your city. You can also click on the map above to see visualizations of income segregation for the largest metropolitan areas, e.g. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston.