US state map

Paste a table of states and numbers and get a map with each state coloured by its value. Choose the colours and the classes; the legend is made for you.

How to use it

  1. Paste one state per line with its number, or upload a CSV. Names or two-letter codes both work.
  2. Press Draw the map.
  3. Choose a colour ramp, the number of classes and how the breaks are chosen.
  4. Hover a state for its value. Download the map as PNG.

5 practical uses

  1. Map a survey result, a sales figure or a rate by state.
  2. Show election, health or economic data by state for a report.
  3. Compare states on a metric for a slide or an article.
  4. Make a quick map from a spreadsheet without a GIS.
  5. Illustrate a blog post or a lesson with state data.

The maths behind it

Values are put into classes by one of three rules. Quantiles sort the values and cut them into groups of equal count. Equal intervals cut the range from the smallest to the largest value into equal steps. Natural breaks (the Jenks method) choose the cuts that minimise the sum of squared differences within the classes, by dynamic programming over all partitions. Each class takes one colour of the ramp.

Classes and breaks

Quantiles put the same number of states in each class, so every colour is used and the map shows rank. Equal intervals cut the range into equal steps, which shows the shape of the distribution but can leave classes empty. Natural breaks (Jenks) puts the cuts where the gaps in the data are. For rates and percentages, quantiles usually read best; for a few big outliers, natural breaks.

The states come from the Census Bureau's cartographic boundaries at 1:10m. Alaska and Hawaii are where they are; zoom out to see them.

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Questions and answers

What is a choropleth map?

A map in which each area is coloured by a value, such as population or a percentage. The classes and the ramp decide how the values become colours.

Which breaks should I use?

Quantiles for rates and percentages, so every colour is used. Natural breaks when a few values are much larger than the rest. Equal intervals to show the shape of the distribution.

Where are Alaska and Hawaii?

In their real positions. Zoom out to see them; the states are not moved as on some printed maps.

Embed this tool on your website

Paste this code where the tool should appear. It shows the tool alone, without this page's text, and links back here. It is free to use; the map data credit stays on the map.

<iframe src="https://waymorphic.com/tools/us-state-map?embed=1" width="100%" height="760" style="border:0;border-radius:12px;max-width:100%" loading="lazy" allow="geolocation; fullscreen; clipboard-write" title="US state map – Waymorphic Map"></iframe>

Change height to suit your page. To open the tool with a place already set, add the settings from this page's address bar (the part after #) to the end of the src. The embedded tool asks the visitor's browser for their location only when they press the button, and the allow attribute lets that work inside the frame.