For most people, airline rankings are subjective; they really depend on your beliefs, your personal experience, and your individual preferences. However, when looking at airlines through a data lens, there are some ways of measuring the best and worst airlines in the US. One such way is to use publicly available tools — such as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Airline Arrival Performance Dashboard — that can be used to effectively visualize and analyze flight data for any airline in the United States. By leveraging airline data, federal agencies can track and receive credible informati ..read more

Crime in Texas is a complex issue and there isn’t one singular piece of data that can effectively tell the entire story of crime within the state and the underlying issues associated with it. However, there are several data sources and tools that can be used at the city level to address the issue and some, like the FBI Crime Data Explorer used below, can be used to effectively visualize crime data for any city and/or agency in the State of Texas. By using data, communities can engage in a collaborative decision-making process while also addressing wider needs, gaps in funding, and existing re ..read more

Childhood obesity continues to be a major challenge within the US, and despite our best attempts to tackle the issue, 1 in 5 children and adolescents are affected by it. And although we have several means of collecting the data — to include the Center of Disease Control (CDC), the National Center for Children’s Health (NSCH), and others — rarely does the data point us to one, singular causation. However, there are several health tools that can be used to examine the issue, and some, like the CDC Data, Trends, and Maps tool (as we’ve used below), can be used to effectively visualize ..read more

Divorce rates differ from state to state and unfortunately, some states are a little higher than others. And although we have fairly accurate scientific surveys — such as the American Community Survey used below — there isn’t one singular source of information that can effectively tell the entire story of divorce in the United States and why certain states fare better than others. However, there are several data sources and tools that can be used to examine the issue, and some, like the U.S. Census Data Profile Mapper (as seen below), can be used to effectively visualize marriage an ..read more

Given the ever-increasing cost of living in the United States, low-wage working families and individuals are continually unable to meet and maintain the bare necessities of life. This is especially true in New York City, where a working adult with 2 kids needs to make $53 an hour just to get by and afford basic items needed to support his or her family. That’s why the minimum wage — which sits at just $15 an hour in NYC — needs to not only go up, but make financial, social, and geographic sense. One that factors in a host of everyday expenses and ultimately increases an individual’s chances o ..read more

Most people mistakenly believe that when you plan a city with an efficient road system, there isn’t really room to make it walkable. However, these features are not mutually exclusive. With people-oriented city planning, you can improve a city’s walkability without compromising its car accessibility (although compromising car accessibility isn’t necessarily a bad thing). The best way for cities to do this is to get inspiration from the most walkable cities in the US — the one’s that have proven that “people infrastructure” works. But is it really worth the effort? Absolutely! Some people are ..read more

Mortgage calculators are a great way to figure out if you can afford a home, but depending on which one you use, some may be more accurate than others. Most calculators, like those from real estate giants Zillow and Redfin, show you a pretty decent estimate of your potential monthly payments, but they don’t exactly include every expense or expand on the details of how they came to that estimate. That’s because mortgage companies, to include the ones that offer calculators, are in the business of selling homes. So while monthly payments can be pretty large sums of money, mortgage companies don ..read more

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is the main federal organization responsible for providing the United States and its Trust Territories with geospatial data on wetlands and related aquatic environments. Similar to other federal agencies, the USFWS provides a stewardship of their data through the National Wetlands Inventory, making wetland information accessible to the public by means of their “Wetlands Mapper” and “Wetlands Project Mapper.” The goal of the National Wetlands Inventory, according to the USFWS, is to, “provide the citizens of the United States and its Trust Territories ..read more

As human demands for convenience increase, so too does our appetite for physical space. And space, regardless of how much we think we have, is disappearing at an alarming rate, showing a human appetite that is not only irresponsible, but one that is entirely unsustainable and inherently selfish. Some of our choices, like development and highway construction, have direct, visible impacts on our earthen surroundings, while other events, such as sea level rise, are more subtle, having long-lasting, damaging effects on land but in a way that’s so gradual, it never changes the social status quo, c ..read more

Homelessness is a complex issue and there isn’t one singular piece of data that can effectively tell the entire story of homelessness and the greater need for housing in the United States. However, there are several data sources and tools that can be used at the community level to address the issue and some, like the USICH Homeless Population by State map, can be used to effectively visualize a large swath of homelessness data for any state and/or territory in the United States. By using data, communities can engage in a collaborative decision-making process while also addressing wider needs ..read more