For every Internet commenter who enters online arguments about the USA with facts they got from their butt, there's a map that presents hard data bare and allows the viewers to make their own interpretations.
From light pollution and tree coverage to out-of-service railways and streets and highways, maps may not immediately look as exciting as a viral cat video -- which might explain why we often overlook them when -- but that doesn't mean that are boring. To prove that, we put together a selection of maps that explain the United States better then most textbooks and if broadening your worldview isn't thrilling, I don't know what is.
This post may include affiliate links.
Most Commonly Spoken Language In The Us After English And Spanish
There’s often overlapping features between maps. For example, a topographic map could be utilized to show the distribution of a local orchid, making it both a topographic and thematic map. It could also be used to show well-known features of specific interest to travelers making this topographic, general reference, and thematic maps all in one.
The most widely used maps are “Political maps”. They are the ones that are usually mounted on the walls of classrooms throughout the world. They show the geographic boundaries between governmental units such as countries, states, and counties. They show roads, cities, and major water features such as oceans, rivers, and lakes.
The United States Of America: Alaskan Perspective
Political maps are really good at helping people to understand the geography of the world. They are usually the first type of map that students are introduced to in school, too. They are often called “reference maps” because people refer to them again and again when they have questions.
According to Geology.com, thousands of different political reference maps have been prepared to explain the United States. There are maps of the entire nation, maps for each of the 50 states, and even maps of the 3142 counties (parishes in Louisiana, and boroughs in Alaska) that make up the states. Most counties, boroughs, and parishes are further subdivided into even smaller political units. An incredible number of political maps have been prepared just to display the geography of the United States alone.
How I, A Brit, See The United States (Sorry If It Offends Anyone)
Patrick McGranaghan, who is a land surveyor in Colorado, USA, and the creator of one of the biggest online cartography communities, r/MapPorn, did an analysis on its most popular posts on Twitter. McGranaghan collected the 10 best-performing posts from the previous 18 months -- about 200 maps in total -- and went through each of them individually, tagging them based on the content, style, and subject matter. He then sorted the tags to see which ones were the most common.
States With A Smaller Population Than Los Angeles County
"The most popular subject was history," McGranaghan told Bored Panda. "In this category, the most popular maps were about World War II." Maps about other wars were also well liked, as well as those about the ancient Romans and historic trade routes.
"Another popular category was natural science. Especially popular are maps about wildlife, such as those that use tracking data to show animal migration patterns. Other topics included geology and astronomic maps."
Interestingly, quite a few viral maps focused on language. These include etymology, dialect and various pronunciation maps.
US Watersheds
"Another topic that I grouped together are 'political re-alignments'. These are maps that deal with boundaries. Subjects like separatist movements, re-drawing borders, and user-created idealizations. Many of these are satirical and funny," McGranaghan explained.
McGranaghan, however, wouldn't say that all of these maps are scientific. "I think the data is a bit noisy, but it's interesting nonetheless. Users sometimes want a magic formula to make their maps go viral and I don't think there is one. The tastes of the masses are fickle and change over time."
Red And Orange Areas Have Equal Populations
This is not at all surprising, since nearly half the population in this country lives within 30 miles of the coast.
When it comes to maps that best describe a country, McGranaghan thinks that it depends on the goal of the mapmaker. "All maps are generalizations, some good, some bad. They are not true representations and a good 'reader' should know that. I think good data visualization will take disparate datasets and find meaningful connections that weren't known before. It sounds simple but it is not so straightforward. A good mapmaker should be familiar with many matrices of knowledge and should be able to sift through them and make new connections."
McGranaghan created r/MapPorn in May 2011 while living in Taiwan, and it currently has over 995K members. He thinks the reason why the community is becoming so big is the same one why people like maps so much: they are easily digestible. So go ahead folks, continue scrolling and enjoy the rest of the post. Bon appétit!
United States Population Lines
The Most Efficient Route Between Every Springfield In The United States
Tree Cover Map Of The US
How Much Snow Does It Usually Take To Cancel Schools?
Nice. I always get a kick out of the places that close school for an inch of snow. You don't even need to wear a coat for 1" of snow.
Most Common Surname In The United States By State
Every State's Least Favorite State
Its Very Interesting
More People Live Inside The Red Area Than The Grey Area
... and this is the downfall of the American election system called the electoral college.
Drug Overdose Deaths In The United States Per 100,000 Persons For 1999 And 2014
US States Scaled Proportionally To Population Density
The Loudest And Quietest Spots In The Continental US
my house is in the border of very loud and very quiet. I can hear trains, a freeway, coyote howls, and owls hooting.
Out Of Service Railways
The U.S. Mapped By Residents’ Desire To Move To A Different State
Use Of The Word "Dang" Across The Continental US
How America Utilizes Its Land
Percentage Of People Born Outside The U.S. In Each State
Regions Of The U.S. That Don't Officially Celebrate Christopher Columbus Day
Popular Coffee Shop Chains By Number Of Locations
Map Of Lowest Recorded Temperature In Each Us State (Fahrenheit)
This is Hilarious to me, my ex-husband was raised in Alaska from 7 year's old until 22 year's old & heard a ton of weather stories 😅 😄 😂 😆 🙃 🤣 😅 😄 I've been there 4 time's but alway's in summer though!
Light Pollution In The United States
Air Traffic Control Zones In The USA
U.S. Education Spending Map
Explains why so many US citizens show a heartbreaking ignorance and why a guy like Trump could become president.
Funny you should say that, Trump was the winner in two states where education investment is far above average, kind of blows that theory.
Load More Replies...Money spent doesn’t determine quality. NY spends a boatload of $ on education but has some of the worst performing school districts
One of these days we'll get a clue and start valuing our education more than entertainment. I hope......
You have no idea. These are the people we let rule our country! 👍🏻
Load More Replies...This doesn't account for cost of living differentials...NY doesn't have the best public schools in the country it just costs a lot...in fact it isn't even in the top 10...meanwhile Northern WI is largely green but part of that is increased student transportation costs....same with West Texas...Florida meanwhile is in the top 10 for best public education but spends below average.
IHow exactly are you judging your education numbers? A popular way is by SAT scores. FL is ranked 41th out of 48 states. Well below CA at 21. Even Texas which didn’t exactly have scores to yell Yee Haw had much better scores. Texas!! You did beat out West Virginia which is known more for incest than any resemblance of an education system.
Load More Replies...I grew up in one of the red zones. It was terrible. Raising my son in a green zone.
I’d really like to see this compared to SAT scores to demonstrate if funding equates to smarter people. So often those who advocate for reduced federal spending are accused of being anti-education. Does the data show correlation?
More money does not equate to higher test scores or a higher education. All of the information is available through the NCES.
Load More Replies...Thinking spending equates to quality education is something most uneducated people would assume. If you compare New York, a blue state with the nations highest spending per student, with Kentucky, a red state with consistently lower spending per student, then by your assumption students in New York should be much better educated. However, students from Kentucky outperform New York students on testing in both Language and Math. Alaska spends the second most on education and is second to last on education ranking. Money does not mean a quality education.
Load More Replies...It goes to the schools exactly as was promised.
Load More Replies...Ah Utah (and NC and like four other states). Land of home schooling. Also land of "at least we aren't mississippi." Meanwhile, Huntsville AL - such a problem with public schooling that they are actually breaking laws and have little to no choice. Yet they import engineers, scientists and other highly educated people because years ago the government decided to make it the city of defense spending. Because they cannot produce an educated population.
i go to a private school 6th grade and i can easily out do a 9th grader in a public school so please fix the map
If you go to a private school, you aren't really part of the map.
Load More Replies...One of the worst things in the US is that schools are funded by property taxes in an area. So if you live in a wealthy area with expensive homes, your schools are really well funded. If you live in a poor or rundown area, with low house ownership and lost cost buildings, your schools are badly funded. So even your basic education in the USA is completely dependent on personal wealth.
I'd be very interested in exactly how this data was "adjusted for regional differences".
its hard to educate your own citizens when Mexico has a special bridge into each sister city for their children, who pay no taxes to support their educations, can come to school on Americans tax dollars. Don't criticize unless you have a solution. And you'll notice those cities with poor showings also are Sanctuary Cities
There's always an idiot with a name like "WilvanderHeijden" to draw the conclusion the map is clearly trying to communicate. Simpletons and midwits...who think they're educated... Hey Wilvander, does money = education? Because that's a f*****g stupid thing to think.
I'd be interested to see the spending proportional to average salary in that district. Does it mean that New York has to spend more because it costs so much to live there that you have to pay them more to live near the school, or that they're more invested in their children's education? It makes a difference.
Or at least recognize when the education you're getting isn't working...then find the path that's right for the student.
Load More Replies...Money spent on education does not automatically equate to quality of said education.
Though I DO believe more money should get sent to education, I also believe that money should be spent more efficiently and that more money does not always mean better education. I have felt for a while that our system could use some restructuring... but that's no easy task.
It parent who need to value getting an education and input that into their children . No money will help until parents encourage their children to pay attention and exhibit good manners
Load More Replies...So un-even. You need federal funding or failing that state funding- not local
Then New York must be full of geniuses. No wait, their students rank below average nationally. Even lower than Utah!
Load More Replies...But don't they need teachers the most? Or is it just way too difficult?
Load More Replies...Is that by year (already low) or the entire primary school periode (scarily low)?
I dissent. It may be part of it, but not the most. How do you balance underpopulated West Texas with densely-populated New York? It has more to do with political spine vs. socio-cultural mindsets, and locally mandated ceilings on spending-per-pupil, while maintaining federal mandates for reporting, and persons hired for reporting (which is why the most populous parts of CA are orange, not green, despite huge budgets). Having taught in CA, OR, & TX, and elected to a CA school board, I have seen both sides. As a teacher and taxpayer, the taxes spent could be more adequately distributed down to the classroom level, however, unless the people see benefit in advanced public education, the knowledge and skill levels of future generations are at risk. -Rev Dr M, retired trustee/teacher
Load More Replies...1) School funding is largely determined at the local level, and 2) those orange areas are mostly rural areas run by Republicans.
Load More Replies...What is sad is iowa used to have one of the best education systems in the U.S. back in the 50's 60's, and 70's then conservatives started getting elected enmasse to state houses and school boards. Now they are not doing as well as in the past. Conservative states WANT their populations under educated to keep themselves in office. The under educated are more likely to believe the scare stories that the right likes using to stir up the poor and under educated.
The left are scarier they seems to think money thrown at education has better outcomes. When it’s the value parentS input into their children to value or get the most out of their education
Load More Replies...The country America is a bit over 200 years old...
Load More Replies...Map Of The United States' 8 Million Miles Of Roads, Streets And Highways
USA Tree Diversity
Garbage Can vs. Trash Can In The United States
Portion Of Each State That Is Federal Land
All U.S. Counties With In-N-Out Burger As Of May 2020
A Tastier Map
Date Of Creation Of All 3,142 U.S. Counties
US Governors By Eye Color
Voters Who Didn't Vote For Hillary Or Trump
Average Size Of US Apartments By Region
Results Of The 1984 United States Presidential Election By County. The Most Lopsided Election In History, The Only State Reagan Failed To Win Was His Opponent’s, Minnesota
In reverse, this must be the outcome of the 2020 election. Trump is setting up the "corrupt election" playbook so that when he loses, he can claim the election was fraudulent. We need to do the same thing Reagan did and OVERWHELMINGLY vote the morbidly obese pathological lying vindictive narcissistic imbecile with the emotional maturity of a toddler (AKA tRump) out of office.
US Counties With Gdp Over $100b
USA Country Map Divided By 1/3rds Of Covid Deaths
As an American, I would be really interested in seeing maps like these for the UK and Europe.
Ooooh, id love to see that. You could use adoption data. You could also do one by most spent on vet bills and most food and toys purchased.
Load More Replies...Very interesting set of maps. I just wish they had a higher res ones because some of them were really hard to read.
yes and even if you could read them I still didn't understand some of them, like the light pollution one? Maybe I'm alone but whatever I just agree with jamie1707
Load More Replies...Trump wanted the electoral college defunded because he's against all that fancy edjumacation. His magic 8-ball beats any stupid scientists and their technologeez and advanced mints any day!
Load More Replies...more, please! Ma, Mom, Mama, Momma, Mother etc; Dad, Pop, Papa, Pa, Father, etc; education - and types of education; sleep patterns; loneliness; favorite fairy tales . . .
Most of those were interesting. The political ones, not so much. People's remarks just get rabid.
Quite annoying that when I entered a comment, you wanted me to log in. After I did so, I was taken back to the top of the story and when I scrolled down to see my comment, it had been disappeared. If it "works as designed", the designers need another needs analysis session.
I enjoy these maps. When we were looking for job interviews in locations we would like to live, we shaded areas color coded for forest, climate and bear habitat, correlated with job openings. Then we constructed a travel plan to interview in those places. It was remarkably effective strategy, and helped us focus our search. Searching by animal habitat was interesting as well.
The waffle house map doesn't make sense. The numbers are wrong if this is number of individual stores.
Awesome information. How did they find this information and I can’t find specific information shopping on the internet? I ask for “x” and “a,” “b,” “y,” and “z.”
What great way to show people why we have an electoral college, and why we WONT let California or New York elect our president...
Tyranny to the minority is soo MUCH better than tyranny to the majority. /s
Load More Replies...Pro tip; if you want people to take you seriously, learn how to spell
Load More Replies...None of this had anything to do with that. If you're going to take a poke at us, at least make it relevant.
Load More Replies...I don't think you realize how large the United States is. Many of our states are larger than European countries.
Load More Replies...The name of the continent is North America. Even if one accepts the argument that N and S America are a single continent, the accepted demonym for citizens of the USA is "American".
Load More Replies...As an American, I would be really interested in seeing maps like these for the UK and Europe.
Ooooh, id love to see that. You could use adoption data. You could also do one by most spent on vet bills and most food and toys purchased.
Load More Replies...Very interesting set of maps. I just wish they had a higher res ones because some of them were really hard to read.
yes and even if you could read them I still didn't understand some of them, like the light pollution one? Maybe I'm alone but whatever I just agree with jamie1707
Load More Replies...Trump wanted the electoral college defunded because he's against all that fancy edjumacation. His magic 8-ball beats any stupid scientists and their technologeez and advanced mints any day!
Load More Replies...more, please! Ma, Mom, Mama, Momma, Mother etc; Dad, Pop, Papa, Pa, Father, etc; education - and types of education; sleep patterns; loneliness; favorite fairy tales . . .
Most of those were interesting. The political ones, not so much. People's remarks just get rabid.
Quite annoying that when I entered a comment, you wanted me to log in. After I did so, I was taken back to the top of the story and when I scrolled down to see my comment, it had been disappeared. If it "works as designed", the designers need another needs analysis session.
I enjoy these maps. When we were looking for job interviews in locations we would like to live, we shaded areas color coded for forest, climate and bear habitat, correlated with job openings. Then we constructed a travel plan to interview in those places. It was remarkably effective strategy, and helped us focus our search. Searching by animal habitat was interesting as well.
The waffle house map doesn't make sense. The numbers are wrong if this is number of individual stores.
Awesome information. How did they find this information and I can’t find specific information shopping on the internet? I ask for “x” and “a,” “b,” “y,” and “z.”
What great way to show people why we have an electoral college, and why we WONT let California or New York elect our president...
Tyranny to the minority is soo MUCH better than tyranny to the majority. /s
Load More Replies...Pro tip; if you want people to take you seriously, learn how to spell
Load More Replies...None of this had anything to do with that. If you're going to take a poke at us, at least make it relevant.
Load More Replies...I don't think you realize how large the United States is. Many of our states are larger than European countries.
Load More Replies...The name of the continent is North America. Even if one accepts the argument that N and S America are a single continent, the accepted demonym for citizens of the USA is "American".
Load More Replies...