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Using Census data, we've figured out that half of the United States population is clustered in just the 146 biggest counties out of over 3000. Here's the map, with said counties shaded in. Below the map is the list of all the counties, so you can see if you live in one of them. See link for list of names.

Using Census data, we've figured out that half of the United States population is clustered in just the 146 biggest counties out of over 3000. Here's the map, with said counties shaded in. Below the map is the list of all the counties, so you can see if you live in one of them. And here's the whole list of counties that are shaded in. Los Angeles County, CA Cook County, IL Harris County, TX Maricopa County, AZ San Diego County, CA Orange County, CA Miami-Dade County, FL Kings County, NY Dallas County, TX Queens County, NY (rest of list...

American politics turn on a now familiar set of categories: red states vs. blue states, rich states vs. poor states, Frostbelt vs. Sunbelt. But these generalizations mask deeper, less visible fissures in our political geography. We have written a great deal about the role of density in metropolitan voting patterns, highlighting the remarkably consistent and robust political red-to-blue tipping point that occurs when a metro reaches a density of roughly 800 residents per square mile. I took a deeper look at our emerging political geography in a recent feature for Politico magazine, where I argued that the suburbs have become...

With more people in the world living in cities than ever before, cities’ share of global GDP is rising: 25 cities account for approximately 50% of the world’s GDP. But not all cities can be winners, and not all are destined for greatness. The following smorgasbord of charts highlight how successful cities have typically had natural advantages such as location, time zone and resources; but more importantly, to remain successful they need education, a skilled workforce, strong property rights, a broad base of industries and in some cases, policies aimed at attracting capital and talent. Conversely, As Goldman notes,...

<p>Planning a trip abroad? It’s probably best to check out the State Department’s list of travel warnings for countries with unsafe political situations. At the moment, the State Department has issued travel warnings for 34 countries, from the Central African Republic and El Salvador to Iraq and North Korea.</p>

Crowdfunding has worked for films, political candidates, disaster relief and now real estate. Crowdfunding, the act of soliciting funds from the public, most recently on the Internet, is already a powerful tool. Now it is being used by cities to raise funds bypassing the traditional muni bond market. Central Falls, the Rhode Island city that filed for bankruptcy two years ago, is seeking to finance a park project through a crowdfunding website rather than the municipal-bond market. The city of about 19,000 wants $10,044 to put five trash cans in Jenks Park, which is currently “\”littered with garbage and debris,”...

<p>Ipsos, a market research organization, recently conducted a poll to find The World's Favorite City.</p> <p>The company polled more than 18,000 people in 24 countries to find out the best cities to do business in, live in, and visit.</p> <p>Ipsos then tallied the responses to determine which global cities ranked the highest across all three categories.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) — Fast-food customers in search of burgers and fries on Thursday might run into striking workers instead. Organizers say thousands of fast-food workers are set to stage walkouts in dozens of cities around the country, part of a push to get chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages. It's expected be the largest nationwide strike by fast-food workers, according to organizers. The biggest effort so far was over the summer when about 2,200 of the nation's millions of fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in seven cities. Thursday's planned walkouts follow...

Violent crime reports rose in America for the first time in 2006, according to FBI statistics. However, the recent 1.2% increase belies a long-term trend: America is becoming a much safer country. To find out which parts of America are the safest, we looked at the FBI's latest report on crime and found cities with violent crime rates substantially below the national average. We only included cities with populations of more than 200,000 to exclude suburban areas. Many of the cities are repeat winners from our 2011 report on America's safest cities. Irvine, Calif. has been the safest city in...

"Redistributing" the Wealth

Singapore is currently the most competitive city in the world, beating out New York and London, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which focuses on global research. However, says the EIU, by 2025, New York City will be number one. In order for a city to be globally competitive, it must have a large and growing economy, a good legal system, an inviting and productive culture, good infrastructure and it must have good policy on things that determine long-term stability and success, like the environment. The EIUÂ’s latest report attempts to identify those cities that, as of 2012, best...

Thursday, June 13, 2013 Little Brother in the Big City Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments When the big things start getting out of control, we start focusing on the little ones instead. Tackling small problems we can't solve is a good way to feel good about the big ones that we can't. Can't do anything about the nice young men from Nigeria, Somalia and Bangladesh who occasionally stop maxing out social welfare and working odd jobs to set off bombs in the London Underground or butcher a soldier within sight of his base? Just...

American households are under stress again, according to the latest consumer distress index by CredAbility. “Despite the growth in jobs and an improved housing market, our index shows that the average U.S. household has seen little improvement in the past year and took a step back in 2013’s first quarter,” according to Phil Baldwin, CEO of CredAbility. Baldwin is referring to the rise in payroll taxes at the start of the year, which has forced people to save more. CredAbility adds that 49 million people are still on food stamps, and nearly 12 million are still unemployed. American households on...

Which U.S. cities have the highest costs of living? The Council for Community and Economic Research recently measured the prices of common purchases in 307 urban areas to find the cost of the professional standard of living in each location. The index, its fifth edition, crunched more than 50,000 prices -- everything from grocery items to transportation to housing. The national average on the index is 100. Following is a look at each of the 10 most expensive cities in the United States.

Gallup is out with its latest batch of "well-being" data, and a new city has fallen to the lowest spot in the rankings. This year, Charleston, W.Va. ranked lowest on the pollster's index of well-being in metropolitan areas. It displaced Huntington-Ashland, W.Va.-Ky.-Ohio, which came in last place the previous two years. The index ranks well-being by averaging scores in six categories: Life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities.

Detroit for the fourth year in a row, is ranked as the "most dangerous city" in America according to Forbes online. The statistics indicate that Detroit suffered about 2,137 acts of violent crime per 100,000 residents. However, when we rank the extraordinary crime levels for each of these 'dangerous' cities, we noticed a startling trend in our quick research, and we weren't the only ones who noticed it, apparently. You see, each of these cities has one commonality being that each is also led by a Democrat Mayor, and these days you know what Democrat actually means.... "Liberal." Indeed, if...

Many qualities separate the best-run and worst-run cities. But perhaps the most important is access to jobs. The economies of the best-run cities fall into two categories. They either have a booming industry or are near other major urban areas that create employment opportunities. The worst-run cities simply do not have the same access to jobs. 24/7 Wall St.Â’s analysis of the best-run and worst-run cities demonstrates that encouraging businesses to prosper and create jobs is the most important function of local government.Read the Best-Run Cities in AmericaRead the Worst-Run Cities in America24/7 Wall St. has completed its first...

Forget Wal-Mart and skip your local gun show. The murderers of tomorrow will not be found wearing orange vests at your local sporting goods store. They won't have NRA memberships or trophies on their walls. You won't find them in America. Look for them in Obamerica. 67% of firearm murders took place in the country's 50 largest metro areas. The 62 cities in those metro areas have a firearm murder rate of 9.7, more than twice the national average. Among teenagers the firearm murder rate is 14.6 or almost three times the national average. Those numbers are from six years...

9. Chandler, Ariz. > Violent crime per 1,000 people: 2.86 (14th lowest) > Poverty rate: 8.2% (6th lowest) > Adult population graduated from high school: 91.5% (13th highest) > Credit rating: Aaa (stable outlook) > Population: 236,775 Chandler is one of the newest large cities in the U.S. The city was incorporated in 1951, but the population did not truly expand until very recently. In 1980, Chandler, which is located within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, had a population of 30,000. Now, it has a population of 247,000. There are countless examples of cities that experienced this level of growth,...

Despite the global economic slowdown, Asia's cities are continuing to widen the perceived technological gap between its American counterparts. The juxtaposition is visible from the moment your feet leave the plane. Many of the airports in Asia's biggest cities are stunning, engineering marvels — and make those in the U.S. seem outdated. Has America's early leadership in technology and engineering evaporated? Or is it hidden at first glance? 1) The Shanghai Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) floats on magnets and is the world's fastest commercially operated train, traveling at speeds up to 268 mph. 2) Seoul's local government has launched a $44...