Urban America

Four out of five of we Americans live in cities.  In fact, most demographers believe the majority of humans on this planet now live in cities; an amazing shift.  For most of our species' history, most of us have lived in the country; in forests and on farms.  So the growth of huge metropolitan areas in the past century or two is a relatively new experiment among our kind.

This week I begin a re-posting of a series on urban America.  I hope you enjoy it.

Updated Civil Marriage Maps

Today's updated marriage maps show new information.  Now that there is a pending lawsuit seeking civil marriage for same-sex couples in every state, I've moved to showing where civil marriage is already legal (see map below) and an update on current court rulings (see map above).  On the map above the orange color (in North Carolina for example) means a Federal appeals court has issued a pro-marriage ruling for the appellate circuit that includes that state but not specifically on a case from that state.  In the example of North Carolina, the appellate court ruled on a case from Virginia (green).  The appellate circuit, however, includes Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia making similar bans on same-sex marriage in those states also likely unconstitutional.

New Civil Marriage Map

Between travels and moving, I've not had access to my mapping software.  Here finally is a quick update to my marriage map.  Let me know if you see any updates or changes I've not captured for the months I was away.

While I was overseas it appears Oregon and Pennsylvania added civil marriage for same-sex couples.  The Freedom to Marry folks who closely follow all the litigation report that since the Supreme Court's Windsor decision, 24 courts have ruled in favor of same-sex marriage with 0 ruling against.

Is the Typical American Fat?

Two out of every 3 American adults are now overweight (35.8%) or obese (27.6%) based on their BMI. While most American adults report being physically active in the past month, most of us do not eat our recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July...so say we all!

Where the Typical American Eats

Apparently Jennifer, our Typical American, likes the Golden Arches and thinks things do taste better on a Ritz.

Asian Urban America

This rather oddly laid out map reflects that all the metro areas where Asian Americans constitute 10% or more of the population are in the West.  Asian Americans make up 44% of residents in Honolulu.  Greater than 1 in 4 residents in Silicon Valley are also Asian.