The Racial Dot Map

Demographers at the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service have created an interactive map that allows users to examine population groupings throughout the United States.

The map's creators used data gathered from the 2010 census to place 308,745,538 dots on a map of the United States. Each dot represents one person counted in that census. The dots are color-coded by race/ethnicity: whites are represented with blue dots, African Americans with green dots, Hispanics with orange dots, and Asians with red dots. People who don't fall under any of the above categories are represented with brown dots.

A view of the lower 48 states.

The map allows users to zoom in to see the demographics of local areas.

A close up view of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 

Each dot is smaller than a pixel. That makes viewing individual dots in rural areas challenging. The map allows users to turn off the racial color-coding, and every person is then represented with a black dot. This helps to better see people in rural areas.

A close up view of Stephenville, TX with color-coding removed. 

Take some time to explore this fascinating map.