Through Social Explorer, I created a map examining Wisconsin's population density per square mile using 5-year ACS data. I chose this state specifically because of its value as a swing state during election seasons.
NOTE: I used the pen tool on my computer to add some notes and marks drawing attention to the most important parts of these maps.
I think it's important to remember that land doesn't vote, people do.
The first map is just the general overview of the state, which I have outlined in purple so that we can see how much landmass we're working with. Right away, the eastern coast of the state jumps into focus-- specifically cities like Milwaukee, Appleton, Madison, Green Bay, and Kenosha. The city with the highest population density is Milwaukee with a pop. density/sq. mile of 3,864.3. In a drastic difference, Forest County only has a pop. density/sq. mile of 9.1.
Notice how the areas closest to the neighboring city, Chicago, tend to be darker-- becoming lighter as we move further away. Surprisingly, the northern counties near Lake Superior do not have the same demographic population as the counties near Lake Michigan. Usually, people are drawn to large bodies of water, but in this case, the highly populated cities have more of a pull on the state as a whole.
Just out of curiosity, I found a map documenting where the college campuses in Wisconsin were located. To no surprise, the population density matched up with the map of student locations. ( https://mycollegeselection.com/maps/colleges-in-wisconsin-map/ ).
Looking at the names of the cities and counties in Wisconsin (ex. Kewaunee, Waupaca, Chippewa, etc), I wanted to see if the state had a strong Indigenous population. I made a new map to look specifically at 5-year ACS data for "Total Population: American Indian and Alaskan Native Alone." By the looks of it, while the Indigenous populations seem to become darker towards the northern parts of the state, the only densely populated county for this demographic is Menominee County.
1 comment:
The one part of Wisconsin that I would find really interesting is that their is a big population of Native Americans in that one area of Wisconsin, and whether they would vote more to the left or the right. Another thing that I found particularly interesting about the map is that of colleges in your state. I also wonder if there is a statistic out there on whether college students usually vote more in the county they reside in or if they vote in their school county since they tend to vote more liberally in elections. You may want to select only your state, as results from other states tend to dilute the actual results.
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