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| Alphabetical Cartogram |
 Title text: Poor Weeoming. |
Explanation
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This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a SUSPICIOUSLY SMALLER-THAN-USUAL BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. |
This comic shows a map of the United States, with every state resized based on where it appears in an alphabetical list of states. Hence Alabama is the largest state, Wyoming is the smallest.
Wyoming shrank the most, while Delaware grew the largest proportionally in geographical size. In the ranking of US states by area, Texas's position dropped the most (41 places), while Delaware and Connecticut's positions rose the most (also 41 places).
This coincides with a recent study from the University of Michigan showing that the alphabetical order of surnames leads to differences in grading.
The title text creates a portmanteau of the words “wee,” which means “little,” and “Wyoming,” making fun of how small it is on this map, since "W" appears at the end of the alphabet.
Bias resulting from alphabetical order was also the topic of 2789: Making Plans.
Table of states
| Real Life | Listings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Total Area | % of the US |
Area # |
Alpha # |
Rank dif. | |
| sq mi | km2 | |||||
| Alaska | 665,384 | 1,723,337 | 17.53% | 1 | 2 | 1 ▼ |
| Texas | 268,596 | 695,662 | 7.07% | 2 | 43 | 41 ▼ |
| California | 163,695 | 423,970 | 4.31% | 3 | 5 | 2 ▼ |
| Montana | 147,040 | 380,800 | 3.87% | 4 | 26 | 22 ▼ |
| New Mexico | 121,590 | 314,915 | 3.20% | 5 | 31 | 26 ▼ |
| Arizona | 113,990 | 295,254 | 3.00% | 6 | 3 | 3 ▲ |
| Nevada | 110,572 | 286,382 | 2.91% | 7 | 28 | 21 ▼ |
| Colorado | 104,094 | 269,601 | 2.74% | 8 | 6 | 2 ▲ |
| Oregon | 98,379 | 254,806 | 2.59% | 9 | 37 | 28 ▼ |
| Wyoming | 97,813 | 253,335 | 2.58% | 10 | 50 | 40 ▼ |
| Michigan | 96,714 | 250,493 | 2.55% | 11 | 22 | 11 ▼ |
| Minnesota | 86,936 | 225,163 | 2.29% | 12 | 23 | 11 ▼ |
| Utah | 84,897 | 219,882 | 2.24% | 13 | 44 | 31 ▼ |
| Idaho | 83,569 | 216,443 | 2.20% | 14 | 12 | 2 ▲ |
| Kansas | 82,278 | 213,100 | 2.17% | 15 | 16 | 1 ▼ |
| Nebraska | 77,348 | 200,330 | 2.04% | 16 | 27 | 11 ▼ |
| South Dakota | 77,116 | 199,729 | 2.03% | 17 | 41 | 24 ▼ |
| Washington | 71,298 | 184,661 | 1.88% | 18 | 47 | 29 ▼ |
| North Dakota | 70,698 | 183,108 | 1.86% | 19 | 34 | 15 ▼ |
| Oklahoma | 69,899 | 181,037 | 1.841% | 20 | 36 | 16 ▼ |
| Missouri | 69,707 | 180,540 | 1.836% | 21 | 25 | 4 ▼ |
| Florida | 65,758 | 170,312 | 1.732% | 22 | 9 | 13 ▲ |
| Wisconsin | 65,496 | 169,635 | 1.725% | 23 | 49 | 26 ▼ |
| Georgia | 59,425 | 153,910 | 1.565% | 24 | 10 | 14 ▲ |
| Illinois | 57,914 | 149,995 | 1.525% | 25 | 13 | 12 ▲ |
| Iowa | 56,273 | 145,746 | 1.482% | 26 | 15 | 11 ▲ |
| New York | 54,555 | 141,297 | 1.437% | 27 | 32 | 5 ▼ |
| North Carolina | 53,819 | 139,391 | 1.418% | 28 | 33 | 5 ▼ |
| Arkansas | 53,179 | 137,732 | 1.401% | 29 | 4 | 25 ▲ |
| Alabama | 52,420 | 135,767 | 1.381% | 30 | 1 | 29 ▲ |
| Louisiana | 52,378 | 135,659 | 1.380% | 31 | 18 | 13 ▲ |
| Mississippi | 48,432 | 125,438 | 1.276% | 32 | 24 | 8 ▲ |
| Pennsylvania | 46,054 | 119,280 | 1.213% | 33 | 38 | 5 ▼ |
| Ohio | 44,826 | 116,098 | 1.181% | 34 | 35 | 1 ▼ |
| Virginia | 42,775 | 110,787 | 1.127% | 35 | 46 | 11 ▼ |
| Tennessee | 42,144 | 109,153 | 1.110% | 36 | 42 | 6 ▼ |
| Kentucky | 40,408 | 104,656 | 1.064% | 37 | 17 | 20 ▲ |
| Indiana | 36,420 | 94,326 | 0.959% | 38 | 14 | 24 ▲ |
| Maine | 35,380 | 91,633 | 0.932% | 39 | 19 | 20 ▲ |
| South Carolina | 32,020 | 82,933 | 0.843% | 40 | 40 | 0 ◀ |
| West Virginia | 24,230 | 62,756 | 0.638% | 41 | 48 | 7 ▼ |
| Maryland | 12,406 | 32,131 | 0.327% | 42 | 20 | 22 ▲ |
| Hawaii | 10,932 | 28,313 | 0.288% | 43 | 11 | 32 ▲ |
| Massachusetts | 10,554 | 27,336 | 0.278% | 44 | 21 | 23 ▲ |
| Vermont | 9,616 | 24,906 | 0.253% | 45 | 45 | 0 ◀ |
| New Hampshire | 9,349 | 24,214 | 0.246% | 46 | 29 | 17 ▲ |
| New Jersey | 8,723 | 22,591 | 0.230% | 47 | 30 | 17 ▲ |
| Connecticut | 5,543 | 14,357 | 0.146% | 48 | 7 | 41 ▲ |
| Delaware | 2,489 | 6,446 | 0.066% | 49 | 8 | 41 ▲ |
| Rhode Island | 1,545 | 4,001 | 0.041% | 50 | 39 | 11 ▲ |
Transcript
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This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks. |
- A More Fair Map
- Instead of giving more area to larger states, this map improves fairness by sizing the states alphabetically.
- [A labeled map of the United States where states are resized based on their alphabetical order]
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