Demographics, Diversity, and the 2010 Census

by Ben Lorica (last updated Aug/2011)

Using data from the 2010 Census, I've created a series of diversity heat maps. I took a few of the major ethnic groups used by the U.S. Census Bureau and grouped the over 3,000 counties in the U.S. (The raw data I started with was the percent share of ethnic groups within individual counties.) In the maps below, a darker shade signifies a higher/larger value. So in the case of the ethnic groups, a darker shade of red means the share of the selected group is higher in a county. Similarly for population density, a darker shade of red means a higher population density.

There is one exception to the coloring scheme:

Rate-of-change (population growth from Census 2000 to Census 2010): Light Red (rapid decrease) to Black (roughly no change) to Light Green (rapid increase).
This is a work in progress, and I'll refine the interface over the next few weeks.

A few observations:

  • African Americans have their highest share of county populations' in the South.

  • Hispanics have their highest share of county populations' in the Southwest.

  • Asians have the highest share in the SF Bay Area and Hawaii, a fact I noted in a blog post.
  • [Data is from the fabulous USA Today Developers Network.]



    Back to Resources page.

    [Related post in The Practical Quant]



    NOTE: Reproduction & reuse allowed under Creative Commons Attribution.    Creative Commons Attribution