Mapping the New South

The maps for Southbound’s Index of Southerness were created by Dr. Rick Bunch at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, using publicly available datasets from the United States Census Bureau, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the United States Agricultural Census, among other sources. Cluster maps, such as those displayed here, group together nearby counties that are characterized by relatively high concentrations of various indicators; for Southbound, these include things such as specific business names or farmland used for crops like peanuts.

These maps are derived from hundreds of millions of data points that have been analyzed to map dimensions of life in the United States, ranging from the prevalence of churches to names of streets to reading habits. By clustering counties where those factors are significant, we can see their impact regionally. The resulting maps underline, in demographic, cultural, and historical terms, among others, the resilience of that place we call the South.

Image Credit: Stacy Kranitz. Island Road, 2010. From The Island series. Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana