US Census

Maps that look at the US Census at the macro-perspective of all counties in the United States.

Most Similiar Income Distributions to New York

Most Similiar Income Distributions to New York

The Census bureau breaks down household income into 15 different ranges, e.g. Less than $10,000, $10,000 to $14,999.  You can then convert them into percentages to get an income distributions. Then you can use distance formula to calculate the distance between distributions to see how similar income distributions are.
 
New York State's income distribution is most similar to California, Virginia, Illinois, Connecticut and Rhode Island. If you looked at just median income, and not the individual income classes, you would see states that are most similar would be Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, Illinois and Utah. This is misleading, as under emphasizes the poverty and very wealthy parts of the big states.

 

New York State 1790 Census

New York State 1790 Census

The original 16 counties in New York State and their population density. Manhattan (New York County) in 1790 had a population density similar to the Town of Colonie today, while Albany County was closer to the Town of Caroga in Fulton County or Town of Smithville in Chenango County. Dotted overlay shows current county boundaries.

Data and maps from National Historical Geographic Information System / IPMUS