Articles
Essays and explainers on U.S. geographic data, ZIP codes, counties, and how to choose the right spatial unit for analysis.
- ZIP Codes Are Not Geography
Why ZIP codes are a delivery artifact, not a spatial unit—and why this matters for analysis.
- Why County-Level Data Persists
The historical, political, and practical reasons counties remain the backbone of U.S. data.
- Choosing the Right Geographic Unit: A Decision Framework
A practical framework for deciding between ZIPs, counties, tracts, and more.