Lab 7 (Week 8)

The black population across the continental United States can be seen above. The greater the black people in the county, the closer the color is to red. Almost the entire United States is shaded in yellow, suggesting that most of the black population is localized to a few counties. Specifically, the Midwest is almost completely void of large black populations, with the exception of Detroit and Chicago. This can partly be attributed to the fact the areas are less urbanized. The most black-rich areas can be found in California, the Southeast, and the East Coast. Southern California in particular has a very large black population, which is accentuated by the large county areas neighboring Los Angeles. The South and East Coast have much smaller counties with respect to area, thus their black populations are less evident visually through this map. In reality, there are significant black populations throughout these regions, which amass to a greater number of blacks than in California. This conclusion is not evident through the above map.

The asian population across the continental United States is shown above. The color ramp used to display asian populations uses dark blue to signify the greatest asian population and yellow to signify the smallest asian population. The asian population is almost entirely localized to the West and East Coast. With the exception of Texas, Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan, the entire Midwest is absent of significant asian populations. California is visually the greatest asian containing state. From the Bay Area down to San Diego, there are asian rich populations in counties that span large areas relative to the East Coast. There is also a significant asian population ranging from Maryland to New York along the Atlantic, but the small county sizes make this group less visually evident. Historically, the asian population is very well-educated and localized around white collar business hubs like the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Manhattan.

The some other race alone population is shown above across the continental United States. The color ramp used shows large populations in purple and small populations in pink. Almost the entire continental United States is shaded in pink and absent of significant some other race alone populations. California, Arizona, Texas, Florida and the East Coast are in exception to this rule. California is again highlighted for its rich diversity. As the case before, the large county areas help highlight the some other race alone populations. While counties along the East Coast have significant some other race alone populations, they are less evident visually. The entire Midwest is once again almost completely void of some other race alone populations.

In conclusion, the census map series shown above have highlighted regions within the continental United States that are rich in population diversity. California is the most evident state with rich diversity. This is partially due to the almost 37 million person population of California, which accounts for more than 10% of the United States population. The large population coupled with large urban areas and the great number of blue collar and white collar jobs make California rich in diversity. In contrast, most Midwest states have populations on the order of 1 million, making those states incapable of possessing populations of minorities that meet the larger tier specifications. As a result, there appears to be limited diversity. In reality, some of these regions may be rich with minorities on a percentage basis. Looking at these census maps on a percentage black, asian, or some other race alone basis should provide an interesting contrast.