Concentrations of people and economic activity

The USA is a big country.  But its population and economic activity are not evenly spread across the country.

Here are the counties where half the U.S. population lives.

Here are counties where half of U.S. economic activity takes place.

And, below, the counties carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016—in blue, of course.   She carried 88 of the 100 largest U.S. counties.

Click to enlarge.

Here’s a map showing Clinton counties as an archipelago.

Click to enlarge.

What is the significance of these patterns and overlaps?  It makes sense that economic activity would be concentrated in areas of large population.  Other than that, I’m not sure there is any great significance.

I like maps and find these patterns kind of interesting.   Make of them what you will.

LINKS

Half of the United States Lives in These Counties by Walter Hickey and Joe Weisenthal for Business Insider.

Understanding America’s ridiculously large $18 trillion economy by comparing the GDP of US metro areas to entire countries by Mark J. Perry for AEI’s Carpe Diem blog.

2016 US Presidential Election Map by County and Vote Share by Brilliant Maps.

The Two Americas of 2016 by Tim Wallace for the New York Times.

America’s 100 Richest Places by Vincent del Guidice and Wei Lu for Bloomberg News.

Six charts that illustrate the divide between rural and urban America on The Conversation.

Tags: Democratic Voters, Election 2016, Election Map 2016, Population Density, Population Geography, United States Economy, United States Maps, United States population, Wealthiest U.S. Counties