Wisconsin's Population Distribution

araman0 · August 2nd, 2008, 05:03 PM

I’ve always wanted to have a good visual on how Wisconsin’s population was distributed across the state, but never found any good diagrams for this. So why not create my own?

A couple hours later here’s what I came up with:

This map is based on the 2007 county populations, and each color represents 100,000 people living within that county. This is a very telling diagram, and I’ll express my lessons learned in a later post. For now I would be very interested to know what Wisconsinites and others learned from this map that perhaps they didn’t know before.

To make things more fun, who can guess the following counties?

It’s pretty simple to make these maps and I wouldn’t mind making them for other states on requests.

atrain5371 · August 2nd, 2008, 09:11 PM

I'd guess E is Milwaukee, F is Waukesha, J is Dane. G Racine? H Kenosha, C is Brown county.
B Outagamie?

Lmichigan · August 3rd, 2008, 03:00 AM

How about this one?

araman0 · August 3rd, 2008, 03:27 AM

Those types of images are pretty easy to find, but not as interesting or telling as the 3D models.

Atrain, you are correct.

Twoaday · August 4th, 2008, 12:59 AM

araman0> Might it be possible to do these by zipcode? or some smaller category than county? That would be really helpful..

araman0 · August 4th, 2008, 05:13 AM

Good question.

It's my understanding that zip codes are created based population, so you would probably end up with a "pancake" effect across the state, with more zip codes in more populated areas. I'm not sure what other ways exist to carve the state up into somewhat equally-sized geographical areas.

edsg25 · August 4th, 2008, 08:23 PM

A: Don’t know co. but think it is Fox Cities; Lake Winnebago
C: I believe GB is Brown Co
D: Sheybogan
E: MIlw
F: Waukesha
G: Racine
H: Kenosha
I: Walworth
J: Dane/Mad
K: LaCrosse?
N: Superior

mgk920 · August 4th, 2008, 08:30 PM

A - Winnebago
B - Outagamie
C - Brown
D - Sheboygan
E - Milwaukee
F - Waukesha
G - Racine
H - Kenosha
I - Walworth
J - Dane
K - La Crosse
L - Saint Croix
M - Eau Claire
N - Marathon

Mike

araman0 · August 4th, 2008, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edsg25

A: Don’t know co. but think it is Fox Cities; Lake Winnebago
C: I believe GB is Brown Co
D: Sheybogan
E: MIlw
F: Waukesha
G: Racine
H: Kenosha
I: Walworth
J: Dane/Mad
K: LaCrosse?
N: Superior

Real good, especially for not being from WI! The only correction is I=Rock County (Janesville + Beloit). Walworth is kinda hidden (shadowed) between Kenosha and Rock counties.

araman0 · August 4th, 2008, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgk920

A - Winnebago
B - Outagamie
C - Brown
D - Sheboygan
E - Milwaukee
F - Waukesha
G - Racine
H - Kenosha
I - Walworth
J - Dane
K - La Crosse
L - Saint Croix
M - Eau Claire
N - Marathon

Mike

We have a winner!

bjkeys321 · August 5th, 2008, 04:24 AM

This is pretty nifty, although I wish I could see real numbers.

Good work!

araman0 · August 5th, 2008, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjkeys321

This is pretty nifty, although I wish I could see real numbers.

Good work!

Thank you bjkeys.

As you might imagine fitting the counties to a grid was a fine art, but all the major ones ended up landing correctly relative to each other.

Paule · August 5th, 2008, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by araman0

Real good, especially for not being from WI! The only correction is I=Rock County (Janesville + Beloit). Walworth is kinda hidden (shadowed) between Kenosha and Rock counties.

The only correction? Yeah, pretty good for him but your bad on not correcting him on N (Marathon Cty). It's not Superior.

araman0 · August 5th, 2008, 11:36 PM

Woops, my bad. I totally missed that one.

Bay2Bay · August 6th, 2008, 01:42 AM

One other catch: Fond Du Lac county is more populous than Eau Claire county, yet it was omitted on the list.

Jason · August 8th, 2008, 08:05 PM

This is cool. Thanks for you work on this.

August 2nd, 2008, 05:03 PM	#1
araman0 Purdue U. / Marquette U. Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Madison Posts: 1,346 Likes (Received): 8	Wisconsin's Population Distribution I’ve always wanted to have a good visual on how Wisconsin’s population was distributed across the state, but never found any good diagrams for this. So why not create my own? A couple hours later here’s what I came up with: This map is based on the 2007 county populations, and each color represents 100,000 people living within that county. This is a very telling diagram, and I’ll express my lessons learned in a later post. For now I would be very interested to know what Wisconsinites and others learned from this map that perhaps they didn’t know before. To make things more fun, who can guess the following counties? It’s pretty simple to make these maps and I wouldn’t mind making them for other states on requests. __________________ "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi Madison, Wisconsin construction rundown \| My Flickr Page

August 2nd, 2008, 09:11 PM	#2
atrain5371 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 460 Likes (Received): 23	I'd guess E is Milwaukee, F is Waukesha, J is Dane. G Racine? H Kenosha, C is Brown county. B Outagamie? __________________ 76 sq. miles surrounded by reality and proud of it. My Pics:Ames, Madison,Fitchburg,Milwaukee,Racine,Chicago http://community.webshots.com/user/a_train5371

August 3rd, 2008, 03:27 AM	#4
araman0 Purdue U. / Marquette U. Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Madison Posts: 1,346 Likes (Received): 8	Those types of images are pretty easy to find, but not as interesting or telling as the 3D models. Atrain, you are correct. __________________ "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi Madison, Wisconsin construction rundown \| My Flickr Page

August 4th, 2008, 12:59 AM	#5
Twoaday Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Milwaukee Posts: 764 Likes (Received): 7	araman0> Might it be possible to do these by zipcode? or some smaller category than county? That would be really helpful.. __________________ Urban Milwaukee "Championing Urban Life In The Cream City" My Flickr Photos

August 4th, 2008, 05:13 AM	#6
araman0 Purdue U. / Marquette U. Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Madison Posts: 1,346 Likes (Received): 8	Good question. It's my understanding that zip codes are created based population, so you would probably end up with a "pancake" effect across the state, with more zip codes in more populated areas. I'm not sure what other ways exist to carve the state up into somewhat equally-sized geographical areas. __________________ "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi Madison, Wisconsin construction rundown \| My Flickr Page

August 3rd, 2008, 03:00 AM	#3
Lmichigan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Mid-Michigan Posts: 2,722 Likes (Received): 5	How about this one?

August 4th, 2008, 08:23 PM	#7
edsg25 BANNED Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 9,399 Likes (Received): 0	A: Don’t know co. but think it is Fox Cities; Lake Winnebago C: I believe GB is Brown Co D: Sheybogan E: MIlw F: Waukesha G: Racine H: Kenosha I: Walworth J: Dane/Mad K: LaCrosse? N: Superior

August 4th, 2008, 08:30 PM	#8
mgk920 Nonhyphenated-American Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Appleton, WI USA Posts: 2,581 Likes (Received): 3	A - Winnebago B - Outagamie C - Brown D - Sheboygan E - Milwaukee F - Waukesha G - Racine H - Kenosha I - Walworth J - Dane K - La Crosse L - Saint Croix M - Eau Claire N - Marathon Mike

August 5th, 2008, 04:24 AM	#11
bjkeys321 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Manhattan and Milwaukee Posts: 124 Likes (Received): 0	This is pretty nifty, although I wish I could see real numbers. Good work!

August 5th, 2008, 11:36 PM	#14
araman0 Purdue U. / Marquette U. Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Madison Posts: 1,346 Likes (Received): 8	Woops, my bad. I totally missed that one. __________________ "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi Madison, Wisconsin construction rundown \| My Flickr Page

August 6th, 2008, 01:42 AM	#15
Bay2Bay Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Oakland Posts: 596 Likes (Received): 9	One other catch: Fond Du Lac county is more populous than Eau Claire county, yet it was omitted on the list.

August 8th, 2008, 08:05 PM	#16
Jason Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 636 Likes (Received): 1	This is cool. Thanks for you work on this.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode