Empty Homes in America's Cities

This map shows the percentages of vacant housing units in the 363 metros in the Lower 48 states.  It appears to highlight vacation homes.  Popular beach destinations such as Fort Myers (FL), Naples (FL), Panama Beach (FL), and Wilmington (NC) all show 25-50% of their housing units as vacation.  In one oceanside metro (Ocean City, NJ), 58% of housing units were recorded as vacant in April 2010.

Alaska to New Jersey

Are you more a city or country person?  Well, this map and the graph below can help you decide where to move.  In 2012 the median number of residents per square mile in the US was about 98 people per square mile.  Alaska on the other hand had just over 1 person pers square mile.  On the other extreme is DC with 9,927 people per square mile and New Jersey with 1,169 people per square mile.

The graph below may help you to better grasp the huge differences between Alaska and New Jersey.  If each of these blue squares is a square mile, then each person symbol represents the number of people per square mile in each of these two states and the median population density for the US as a whole.