Data Visualization

Chart: The Population Rank of Every U.S. State Over 100 Years

Published

2 years ago

February 7, 2018

Jeff Desjardins

The Population Rank of Every U.S. State Over 100 Years

The Population Rank of Every U.S. State Over 100 Years

“Go west, young man, and grow up with the country.”

Popularized by Horace Greeley, the editor of the New-York Tribune, these words formed one of the great catchphrases at the height of the Manifest Destiny era in the 19th century.

Although that period is still a few chapters back in the history books, the fact is the West Coast is still relatively new today. Los Angeles was only incorporated in 1850, Portland in 1851, and Seattle in 1869.

And throughout the 20th century – Americans were moving westward in droves, ultimately culminating in California taking over the title of the most populous state in the union by the year 1960.

Population Rank by State

Today’s visualization is a bump chart from Aaron Penne, and it shows the population rank of U.S. states and D.C. over the timeframe of a century (1917-2017) using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

When a state passes another in population in a given year, it “bumps” the other state from that place in the ranking. Big movers are also highlighted in orange (up) and black (down) on the graph.

Let’s look at the numbers for the first year on the graph, which is 1917:

Rank	State	Population (1917)
#1	New York	9,993,000
#2	Pennsylvania	8,578,000
#3	Illinois	6,313,000
#4	Ohio	5,510,000
#5	Texas	4,563,000
#6	Massachusetts	3,738,000
#7	Missouri	3,470,000
#8	Michigan	3,451,000
#9	California	3,171,000
#10	New Jersey	2,976,000
#11	Indiana	2,910,000
#12	Georgia	2,885,000
#13	Wisconsin	2,587,000
#14	North Carolina	2,546,000
#15	Kentucky	2,421,000
#16	Iowa	2,382,000
#17	Alabama	2,361,000
#18	Tennessee	2,331,000
#19	Minnesota	2,329,000
#20	Virginia	2,313,000
#21	Oklahoma	1,960,000
#22	Mississippi	1,820,000
#23	Lousiana	1,795,000
#24	Kansas	1,748,000
#25	Arkansas	1,737,000
#26	South Carolina	1,675,000
#27	West Virginia	1,439,000
#28	Maryland	1,428,000
#29	Connecticut	1,327,000
#30	Washington	1,287,000
#31	Nebraska	1,285,000
#32	Colorado	910,000
#33	Florida	895,000
#34	Maine	777,000
#35	Oregon	763,000
#36	North Dakota	661,000
#37	Rhode Island	606,000
#38	South Dakota	599,000
#39	Montana	505,000
#40	New Hampshire	447,000
#41	Utah	444,000
#42	Idaho	413,000
#43	District of Columbia	385,000
#44	Vermont	372,000
#45	New Mexico	361,000
#46	Arizona	311,000
#47	Delaware	222,000
#48	Wyoming	186,000
#49	Nevada	81,000

New York led the pack with just short of 10 million people, which made up 10% of the population of the country as a whole. Meanwhile, California had only 3.2 million people – and amazingly, Nevada only had 81,000 people in 1917.

Now let’s jump forward 50 years to 1967, when the U.S. population was closer to 200 million.

Rank	State	Population (1967)
#1	California	19,176,000
#2	New York	17,935,000
#3	Pennsylvania	11,681,000
#4	Illinois	10,947,000
#5	Texas	10,599,000
#6	Ohio	10,414,000
#7	Michigan	8,630,000
#8	New Jersey	6,928,000
#9	Florida	6,242,000
#10	Massachusetts	5,594,000
#11	Indiana	5,053,000
#12	North Carolina	4,952,000
#13	Missouri	4,539,000
#14	Virginia	4,508,000
#15	Georgia	4,408,000
#16	Wisconsin	4,303,000
#17	Tennessee	3,859,000
#18	Maryland	3,757,000
#19	Minnesota	3,659,000
#20	Louisiana	3,581,000
#21	Alabama	3,458,000
#22	Washington	3,174,000
#23	Kentucky	3,172,000
#24	Connecticut	2,935,000
#25	Iowa	2,793,000
#26	South Carolina	2,533,000
#27	Oklahoma	2,489,000
#28	Mississippi	2,228,000
#29	Kansas	2,197,000
#30	Colorado	2,053,000
#31	Oregon	1,979,000
#32	Arkansas	1,901,000
#33	West Virginia	1,769,000
#34	Arizona	1,646,000
#35	Nebraska	1,457,000
#36	Utah	1,019,000
#37	Maine	1,004,000
#38	New Mexico	1,000,000
#39	Rhode Island	909,000
#40	District of Columbia	791,000
#41	Hawaii	723,000
#42	Montana	701,000
#43	New Hampshire	697,000
#44	Idaho	688,000
#45	South Dakota	671,000
#46	North Dakota	626,000
#47	Delaware	525,000
#48	Nevada	449,000
#49	Vermont	423,000
#50	Wyoming	322,000
#51	Alaska	278,000

In just half of a century, California gained 16 million people, and jumped to the #1 spot in the process. That’s a 504% increase over its 1917 population.

The Largest Increases in Population

For a final table data, we’ll show you the 2017 state populations compared to the 1917 state populations.

The table is sorted by the percentage increase over the course of that 100 years of time.

Rank	State	Population (1917)	Population (2017)	% Increase
#1	Nevada	81,000	2,998,039	3,601%
#2	Florida	895,000	20,984,400	2,245%
#3	Arizona	311,000	7,016,270	2,156%
#4	California	3,171,000	39,536,653	1,147%
#5	Utah	444,000	3,101,833	599%
#6	Texas	4,563,000	28,304,596	520%
#7	Colorado	910,000	5,607,154	516%
#8	New Mexico	361,000	2,088,070	478%
#9	Washington	1,287,000	7,405,743	475%
#10	Oregon	763,000	4,142,776	443%
#11	Delaware	222,000	961,939	333%
#12	Maryland	1,428,000	6,052,177	324%
#13	Idaho	413,000	1,716,943	316%
#14	North Carolina	2,546,000	10,273,419	304%
#15	Virginia	2,313,000	8,470,020	266%
#16	Georgia	2,885,000	10,429,379	262%
#17	Wyoming	186,000	579,315	211%
#18	New Jersey	2,976,000	9,005,644	203%
#19	New Hampshire	447,000	1,342,795	200%
#20	South Carolina	1,675,000	5,024,369	200%
#21	Michigan	3,451,000	9,962,311	189%
#22	Tennessee	2,331,000	6,715,984	188%
#23	Connecticut	1,327,000	3,588,184	170%
#24	Lousiana	1,795,000	4,684,333	161%
#25	Minnesota	2,329,000	5,576,606	139%
#26	Indiana	2,910,000	6,666,818	129%
#27	Wisconsin	2,587,000	5,795,483	124%
#28	Ohio	5,510,000	11,658,609	112%
#29	Montana	505,000	1,050,493	108%
#30	Alabama	2,361,000	4,874,747	106%
#31	Illinois	6,313,000	12,802,023	103%
#32	Oklahoma	1,960,000	3,930,864	101%
#33	New York	9,993,000	19,849,399	99%
#34	Kentucky	2,421,000	4,454,189	84%
#35	Massachusetts	3,738,000	6,859,819	84%
#36	District of Columbia	385,000	693,972	80%
#37	Missouri	3,470,000	6,113,532	76%
#38	Rhode Island	606,000	1,059,639	75%
#39	Arkansas	1,737,000	3,004,279	73%
#40	Maine	777,000	1,335,907	72%
#41	Vermont	372,000	623,657	68%
#42	Kansas	1,748,000	2,913,123	67%
#43	Mississippi	1,820,000	2,984,100	64%
#44	Nebraska	1,285,000	1,920,076	49%
#45	Pennsylvania	8,578,000	12,805,537	49%
#46	South Dakota	599,000	869,666	45%
#47	Iowa	2,382,000	3,145,711	32%
#48	West Virginia	1,439,000	1,815,857	26%
#49	North Dakota	661,000	755,393	14%
#50	Alaska		739,795	n/a
#51	Hawaii		1,427,538	n/a

Not surprisingly, Nevada takes the cake with a 3,601% gain, going from 81,000 people to today’s 2,998,039.

Meanwhile, North Dakota had the smallest gain – it only added 14% more people over a whole century of time.

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Data Visualization

Visualizing the Decline of Confidence in American Institutions

Americans rely on several institutions for their services and safety—but how has their confidence in institutions changed since 1975?

Published

2 months ago

October 1, 2019

Iman Ghosh

Every day, the public relies on a number of major institutions for services and safety. From banks and governments, to media and the military—these institutions play an important role in shaping life as we know it.

Yet, today’s interactive data visualization from Overflow Data shows that America’s confidence in institutions has drastically waned. The data relies on the General Social Survey (GSS) to provide a 40-year overview of how sentiment has changed with respect to 13 different institutions.

Select an institution from the drop-down menu below to see how confidence has changed over time

The Erosion of Confidence

Overall, confidence in most institutions has eroded. Americans find it especially hard to trust their government: the “great deal of confidence” metrics for Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Executive Branch were low to begin with, and have declined further since 1975.

That said, the biggest overall drop belongs to the press, which saw 50% of surveyed Americans saying they have “hardly any confidence” in it in 2016. This is nearly a three-fold increase from 1975, when that number was just 19%. Of course, with the rise of fake news in more recent years, the erosion of confidence in media doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

Here’s a look at the two extremes of sentiment regarding the studied institutions, showing how the opposite measures of “hardly any confidence” and a “great deal of confidence” have changed since 1975:

Institution	Confidence level	1975	2016	Change
🏦 Banks & Financial Institutions	Hardly any	10.9%	31.2%	+20.3 p.p.
	Great deal	32.3%	14.1%	-18.2 p.p.
🗳️ Congress	Hardly any	26.2%	52.6%	+26.4 p.p.
	Great deal	13.6%	5.9%	-7.7 p.p.
🏫 Education	Hardly any	13.0%	17.5%	+4.5 p.p.
	Great deal	31.5%	25.6%	-5.9 p.p.
🏛️ Executive Branch	Hardly any	29.7%	42.4%	+12.7 p.p.
	Great deal	13.4%	12.8%	-0.6 p.p.
🏬 Major Companies	Hardly any	22.9%	17.3%	-5.6 p.p.
	Great deal	20.5%	18.3%	-2.2 p.p.
🏥 Medicine	Hardly any	17.8%	13.4%	-4.4 p.p.
	Great deal	51.8%	50.6%	-1.2 p.p.
🎖️ Military	Hardly any	14.8%	7.6%	-7.2 p.p.
	Great deal	36.3%	53.4%	+17.1 p.p.
💪 Organized Labor	Hardly any	31.5%	22.6%	-8.9 p.p.
	Great deal	10.2%	13.9%	+3.7 p.p.
🙏 Religion	Hardly any	23.0%	26.4%	+3.4 p.p.
	Great deal	25.8%	20.0%	-5.8 p.p.
📰 Press	Hardly any	19.0%	50.0%	+31 p.p.
	Great deal	24.5%	7.6%	-16.9 p.p.
🥼 Scientific Community	Hardly any	7.4%	6.1%	-1.3 p.p.
	Great deal	41.7%	42.1%	+0.4 p.p.
📺 Television	Hardly any	23.4%	43.1%	+19.7 p.p.
	Great deal	18.4%	9.8%	-8.6 p.p.
⚖️ U.S. Supreme Court	Hardly any	19.2%	17.4%	-1.8 p.p.
	Great deal	31.8%	26.3%	-5.5 p.p.

Banks and financial institutions have also suffered a bad rep in the public eye. Their “great deal of confidence” metric has dropped sharply from 32.3% to 14.1% in four decades.

One major exception is the military, which emerges as the most trusted institution. Americans’ faith in the military has also shown the most improvement, with a 17.1 p.p increase in a “great deal of confidence” since 1975.

The Split Widens Further

While measuring public confidence in institutions can be subjective, it provides an understanding of where Americans want to see change and reform take place.

For more on how Americans perceive different institutions and the issues that affect them, see how the public is divided based on political affiliation.

Data Visualization

All the S&P 500 Women CEOs in One Timeline (2000-2019)

Since the turn of the century, only a meager 5.6% of S&P 500-indexed companies have been led by women. Today’s interactive timeline highlights their tenures.

Published

2 months ago

September 17, 2019

Iman Ghosh

All the S&P 500 Women CEOs in One Timeline (2000-2019)

Gender equality has made significant strides since the days of Rosie the Riveter. The iconic wartime image continues to symbolize womens’ empowerment in the present—especially in politics and the workforce.

Yet, the higher and further women get in their careers, it’s clear that barriers still remain. Today’s interactive timeline comes to us from Alex Architektonidis of BoardEx, and it tracks all the women chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies listed in the S&P 500 index since the turn of the century.

The kicker? Across the 500 large-cap companies in the index, only 70 women have ever held the position of CEO or similar titles—and only 28 women currently have this status.

Which Industries Have the Most Women CEOs?

The S&P 500 covers approximately 80% of the U.S. equity market by capitalization. Since the index is fluid and regularly updated, women CEOs were selected based on whether their company was listed in the index during their tenure.

Out of all the sectors represented on the timeline, the top categories are retail with 14 women CEOs, engineering and tech with 10 women CEOs, and finance with 9 women CEOs. Food & beverage and utilities are tied with 7 women CEOs each.

Women Leading in the Corporate World

Topping the list is Marion Osher Sandler, the first and longest-serving woman CEO in the United States. She held the title for nearly 27 years at Golden West Financial Corp (from 1980 to 2006), a company she co-founded and grew to $125 billion in assets.

The next person in line for the longest female-led CEO term is Debra A Cafaro, from the healthcare-focused real estate investment trust Ventas Inc. Cafaro has been CEO of Ventas for 20 years, and generated a cumulative total return of 2,559% since 1999—the S&P average for returns over the same time period was only 215%.

Only two women CEOs show up more than twice on the timeline. The first is Meg Cushing Whitman, who served as President/CEO of Ebay from 1998–2008, Chairman/President/CEO of HP Inc. from 2011–2015, and finally as the CEO of Hewlett Packard from 2015 to 2018. In total, Whitman has spent over 16 years as CEO of these S&P 500 companies.

However, Carol Ann Bartz also has an impressive CV, with nearly 17 years as a CEO under her belt. Bartz was the Chairman/President/CEO of the software corporation Autodesk from 1992–2006, and later on at Yahoo from 2009 to 2011.

The most recent addition to this list is Julie Spellman Sweet, who became the CEO of Accenture on September 1st. She was previously the CEO of Accenture’s North American division, and has been crowned on Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” list from 2016–2018 consecutively. Sweet’s appointment aligns well with Accenture’s corporate diversity targets—the company is aiming for 25% women in managing director roles globally by 2020.

There’s More Work To Be Done

There’s a growing body of evidence that corporate diversity improves a company’s financial bottom line. A recent CNBC analysis shows that in 2019, over half of female CEOs led their company’s stocks to outperform the S&P 500 index, with some even showing quadruple-digit percentage returns (as previously mentioned with Ventas).

Despite womens’ contributions to nearly half the labor force and consistent success as CEOs, they are disproportionately represented higher up the ladder. Women CEOs still lead a meager 5.6% of S&P 500 companies overall—in fact, women CEO appointments are actually slowing down, averaging less than 6% since 2015.

Such stunted growth is setting back equality at the C-suite level drastically. A joint report between the non-profit Lean In and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. offers some insight into the reasons underlying this disparity:

Since 2015… corporate America has made almost no progress in improving women’s representation. From the outset, fewer women than men are hired at the entry level. And at every subsequent step, the representation of women further declines.

—Women in the Workplace 2018