Off Centers

An exploration of the geographic balance of counties

In an area where the population is evenly and symmetrically distributed, the geographic center and the center of population will be close together. In an area where people live clustered on one corner or edge, these points will be far apart.

This visualization explores the most balanced and the least balanced counties (and county-like units) in the United States by comparing these points. Sort the table of counties by raw distance between the two points, or distance weighted by absolute area. Select a county to see its geographic center and center of population. You can also choose a county to explore by clicking on the map.

For a discussion of this project, see the accompanying blog post. For more about the data and the source code, see the GitHub repository.

2016 — Garrett Dash Nelson · @en_dash