Nobody Lives Here

 

Nik Freeman made a map of the United States based on census data from 2010. The green parts are census blocks in which nobody lives. Keep in mind that a census block is not a fixed measurement, but a handy grid of locations for the census people to keep up with. You can see that some of the green areas are lakes, some are federal lands and parks, a lot of it is grazing land or desert, and some are just plain remote and hard to live in (Alaska). Green blocks may also be industrial areas and shopping centers, so “uninhabited” doesn’t always mean “undeveloped.” Commenters at Metafilter explained that much of the green in Maine is land owned by logging companies. The map, and a lot of information about its creation, are at mapsbynik.