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2026-04-26 21:49:52

Ranked: U.S. Cities by Share of Income Spent on Food and Housing

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How much of your income goes to basic living costs?

This chart ranks major U.S. cities by the share of income spent on food and housing for a single adult in 2025, based on data from the Urban Stress Index, along with market rents and Numbeo food prices.

In the most expensive cities, the burden is steep. San Diego tops the list at 47%, meaning nearly half of income goes toward just these two categories. By contrast, in San Jose, that share drops to 18.3%—showing how higher wages can offset even the highest costs.

Where Cost of Living Hits Hardest

San Diego (47%) and Miami (45.4%) stand out as the most strained cities, where food and housing alone consume nearly half of income. In both metros, rent growth continues to outpace wage gains, while strong population inflows in Miami are keeping housing demand elevated.

The pressure isn’t limited to coastal hubs. In Florida, Orlando and Tampa both exceed 34% of income, highlighting how affordability challenges have spread to fast-growing Sun Belt cities once seen as lower-cost alternatives.

This table shows the share of income spent on food and housing for a single adult in each city, based on market-rate one-bedroom rents and Numbeo food price indices.

Boston and Los Angeles remain firmly in the “stretched” category, where over a third of income goes to basics. Notably, cost burdens in these metros exceed those in New York City, despite the Big Apple having the second-highest rental costs in the country.

The Cities Where Income Goes Furthest

At the other end of the spectrum, San Jose flips the equation. Despite some of the highest prices in the country, residents spend just 18.3% of income on food and housing, less than half the burden seen in San Diego.

Beyond the tech hub, other relatively affordable cities include:

• Detroit: 23%
• San Francisco: 23%
• Houston: 25.5%
• Austin: 26.2%

San Francisco’s presence here is especially notable. While prices are among the highest in the U.S., incomes are also elevated enough to reduce relative strain. Additionally, rent prices have increased just 2% since 2021, among the slowest rates across major U.S. cities.

Ultimately, affordability isn’t just about how much things cost; it’s about how much income those costs consume. And in a growing number of U.S. cities, that share is rising faster than many workers’ paychecks.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the average annual cost of living by state.

2026-04-26 19:45:55

Mapped: Where Gas Costs Are Highest—and Why

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Gas prices only tell part of the story.

Across the U.S., drivers can pay more than twice as much annually for fuel, even in states where gas is relatively cheap. The difference comes down to how much people drive.

Using data from AAA and the Federal Highway Administration via FinanceBuzz, this map estimates annual gasoline costs by state based on April 15, 2026 prices, average miles driven, and a fuel efficiency of 25.6 miles per gallon.

The result is a clear divide: states with longer driving distances, often rural, face the highest total costs, while shorter commutes in the Northeast keep annual spending far lower.

Ranked: Where Gas Costs Add Up the Most

Wyoming tops the list at $3,343 per year, over $1,000 above the national average, not because of high gas prices but because of how much people drive.

Drivers in the state log nearly 22,000 miles annually, about 50% more than the U.S. average, pushing total fuel costs higher despite below-average prices at the pump.

Other rural states, like Indiana ($2,928) and Mississippi ($2,912), also rank among the highest due to longer driving distances, even with gas prices below the U.S. average of $4.07 per gallon.

The table below breaks down estimated annual gas costs by state, combining April 15, 2026 fuel prices, average miles driven, and a fuel efficiency of 25.6 miles per gallon.

Rank	State	Annual Fuel Cost	Price of Gas per Gallon April 15	Annual Miles per Driver
1	Wyoming	$3,343	$3.89	21,986
2	Indiana	$2,928	$3.88	19,296
3	Mississippi	$2,912	$3.74	19,910
4	New Mexico	$2,833	$3.96	18,321
5	Missouri	$2,733	$3.67	19,049
6	California	$2,705	$5.88	11,780
7	Alabama	$2,657	$3.84	17,728
8	Utah	$2,587	$4.21	15,725
9	Kentucky	$2,541	$3.98	16,330
10	Tennessee	$2,497	$3.86	16,558
11	Idaho	$2,483	$4.34	14,643
12	North Dakota	$2,480	$3.62	17,560
13	Nevada	$2,465	$4.96	12,716
14	Arkansas	$2,463	$3.65	17,287
15	Arizona	$2,458	$4.66	13,501
16	Hawaii	$2,454	$5.65	11,115
17	Oklahoma	$2,426	$3.44	18,031
18	Georgia	$2,411	$3.68	16,763
19	Louisiana	$2,409	$3.75	16,452
20	Montana	$2,406	$3.90	15,775
21	Vermont	$2,404	$4.09	15,048
22	Texas	$2,373	$3.77	16,125
23	Oregon	$2,345	$5.00	12,016
24	Virginia	$2,309	$3.97	14,877
25	Wisconsin	$2,299	$3.78	15,580
26	Florida	$2,296	$4.15	14,179
27	North Carolina	$2,292	$3.86	15,198
28	South Carolina	$2,232	$3.79	15,075
29	Maine	$2,230	$4.02	14,185
30	South Dakota	$2,220	$3.68	15,424
31	Kansas	$2,184	$3.51	15,941
32	West Virginia	$2,164	$3.93	14,091
33	Nebraska	$2,148	$3.63	15,157
34	Washington	$2,132	$5.39	10,125
35	Maryland	$2,120	$4.10	13,228
36	Illinois	$2,072	$4.36	12,154
37	Minnesota	$2,066	$3.71	14,272
38	Alaska	$2,026	$4.64	11,173
39	Iowa	$2,005	$3.65	14,077
40	Ohio	$1,981	$3.80	13,345
41	Michigan	$1,976	$3.92	12,906
42	New Hampshire	$1,934	$3.96	12,511
43	Massachusetts	$1,932	$3.97	12,472
44	Colorado	$1,921	$3.96	12,426
45	Connecticut	$1,908	$4.08	11,974
46	Pennsylvania	$1,807	$4.13	11,189
47	New Jersey	$1,804	$4.00	11,536
48	Delaware	$1,684	$3.97	10,854
49	Rhode Island	$1,616	$3.97	10,411
50	New York	$1,582	$4.13	9,815
--	U.S. State Average	$2,285	$4.07	14,558

California ranks sixth at $2,705 per year. Despite having the highest gas prices in the country, shorter driving distances, about 11,780 miles annually versus the 13,916 national average, keep total costs lower than in many cheaper states.

Why Northeast Drivers Spend the Least on Gas

The same pattern plays out in reverse in the Northeast.

In New York, drivers spend just $1,582 per year, about $700 below the national average, largely because they drive the fewest miles (9,185 annually). States like Rhode Island, Delaware, and New Jersey follow a similar pattern, where shorter commutes keep total fuel costs low even when gas prices are relatively high.

Ultimately, the states with the highest gas prices aren’t always the most expensive places to drive. Instead, longer commutes in rural America push total costs higher, changing how fuel affordability is actually experienced.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the top countries by oil reserves.

2026-04-25 23:12:12

Charted: AI Articles Have Overtaken Human-Written Ones

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AI-written articles have gone from a small share of the web to a majority of sampled articles in just five years.

This visualization is part of Visual Capitalist’s AI Week, sponsored by Terzo. It visualizes monthly data from Graphite, which studied 65,000 English-language URLs from Common Crawl and tracked how the share of AI-generated articles changed between January 2020 and May 2025.

When AI-Written Articles Passed Human-Written Ones

In January of 2020, 97.8% of written content analyzed by Graphite was written by humans, with just 2.2% written by AI. One year after ChatGPT’s launch, in November 2023, AI-written content had risen to make up 39%.

The data table below shows the estimated share of sampled published web articles classified as human-written versus AI-generated over time from January 2020 to May 2025:

According to Graphite, AI-generated articles eventually surpassed human-written ones in November 2024, marking a major turning point in web publishing. As of May 2025, AI-written articles accounted for 51.7% of Graphite’s sample, slightly above the human-written share.

A Plateau After Rapid Growth

While AI-written content grew quickly, the trend has leveled off more recently. Graphite found that the proportion of AI-generated articles has remained relatively stable since May 2024, suggesting that the first wave of explosive adoption may have cooled.

Importantly, this does not mean most web traffic goes to AI-written content. Graphite notes that publishing volume and audience visibility are different measures, and AI-generated articles appear less visible in Google and ChatGPT than their prevalence in published articles suggests.

How Articles Were Classified

Graphite split each article into 500-word chunks and used Surfer’s AI detector to estimate how much of it was AI-written. An article was labeled AI-generated if more than 50% of its content was flagged as AI-written.

This study focused specifically on English-language articles and listicles, not all online content. To be included, URLs had to have article schema markup, contain at least 100 words, and have publish dates between January 2020 and May 2025.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Jobs Most Exposed to Generative AI on Voronoi.

2026-04-25 21:22:18

Mapped: The States Where Businesses Use AI Most

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AI adoption among U.S. businesses is spreading beyond the country’s traditional tech hubs.

In 2026, Colorado and Arizona report the highest shares of businesses using AI, while California ranks 13th nationally. At the other end of the list, West Virginia, Arkansas, and North Dakota have some of the lowest adoption rates.

This visualization is part of Visual Capitalist’s AI Week, sponsored by Terzo. It maps AI adoption by businesses by state in 2026 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), averaged across six releases published from January 15, 2026 to March 26, 2026.

Where Business AI Adoption Is Highest in the U.S.

Colorado tops the country with 23.2% of businesses adopting AI on average in 2026. It’s followed closely by Arizona (22.9%) and Washington, D.C. (22.5%), with Oregon and Utah tied for fourth at 21.1%.

The data table below shows the share of businesses by state that are using AI in their workflows in 2026:

Rank	State or District	Share of businesses reporting AI use in any business function in 2026
1	Colorado	23.2%
2	Arizona	22.9%
3	District of Columbia	22.5%
4	Oregon	21.1%
5	Utah	21.1%
6	Nevada	20.9%
7	Florida	20.9%
8	Maryland	20.7%
9	Washington	20.4%
10	Delaware	20.0%
11	Minnesota	19.8%
12	Texas	19.8%
13	California	19.5%
14	Massachusetts	19.4%
15	North Carolina	18.6%
16	Virginia	18.4%
17	South Carolina	18.3%
18	Georgia	18.2%
19	Montana	18.2%
20	Rhode Island	18.0%
21	Wyoming	17.8%
22	Ohio	17.8%
23	Tennessee	17.7%
24	New Hampshire	17.7%
25	Maine	17.5%
26	Missouri	17.5%
27	South Dakota	17.5%
28	Indiana	17.4%
29	Idaho	17.0%
30	Illinois	16.8%
31	Hawaii	16.4%
32	Wisconsin	16.1%
33	Pennsylvania	16.1%
34	Connecticut	16.0%
35	Kentucky	16.0%
36	New Jersey	15.9%
37	Alabama	15.7%
38	New York	15.3%
39	Michigan	15.2%
40	Nebraska	15.0%
41	Kansas	15.0%
42	Louisiana	14.5%
43	Alaska	14.4%
44	Mississippi	14.4%
45	New Mexico	14.1%
46	Vermont	14.0%
47	Iowa	13.8%
48	Oklahoma	13.3%
49	North Dakota	12.3%
50	Arkansas	11.8%
51	West Virginia	10.8%
--	U.S. Average	18.2%

The leaderboard is dominated by Western and Mountain states. Nine states and D.C. report AI use at 20% or above, with most of them west of the Mississippi. California, often assumed to be the AI heartland, ranks 13th at 19.5%—above the national average of 18.2% but still behind the leading states.

A few non-Western standouts appear near the top. Maryland (20.7%) and Delaware (20.0%) benefit from proximity to federal agencies and the mid-Atlantic professional services corridor. Florida (20.9%) and Texas (19.8%) reflect the Sun Belt’s rapid growth in tech employment and startup formation over the past several years.

Where AI Usage Still Lags in America

At the other end of the map, West Virginia trails every state at 10.8%, followed by Arkansas (11.8%), North Dakota (12.3%), Oklahoma (13.3%), and Iowa (13.8%). Vermont (14.0%) and New Mexico (14.1%) round out the bottom seven.

These states share a common profile: smaller average firm sizes, heavier concentrations in agriculture, extraction, and manufacturing, and fewer professional services businesses—the sectors that have driven most AI adoption so far. Vermont is a partial exception, but its small-business-heavy economy tracks with the broader pattern.

Several large-population states also sit below average. New York reports just 15.3% AI use, Michigan 15.2%, and New Jersey 15.9%. Despite dense corporate footprints, their economy-wide averages are pulled down by the long tail of small firms that have been slower to deploy AI tools.

Firm Size Shows a Big Divide in AI Adoption

The state-to-state spread is wide, but the gap between large and small businesses is wider. Businesses with 250 or more employees report 32.5% AI use on average. Businesses with just 5 to 9 employees report 17.3%.

In other words, business size appears to matter even more than geography. The gap between large and small firms is bigger than the gap between the highest-adoption state, Colorado, and the lowest, West Virginia. Larger firms have the IT staff, vendor relationships, and structured workflows that make it easier to pilot and scale AI. Smaller firms face a steeper cost-per-seat and often rely on whatever AI is bundled into the software they already use.

As off-the-shelf AI gets cheaper and more embedded in everyday tools, the size gap is likely to narrow. But as of early 2026, where a business operates matters less for its AI adoption than how big it is.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out which countries lead AI Adoption in Europe on Voronoi.

2026-04-25 19:12:32

Mapped: Where Gas Prices Have Surged Over 100%

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Gasoline prices are rising worldwide, but in some countries the increase has been extreme. In the hardest-hit countries, fuel costs have more than doubled in just a few weeks, underscoring how sharply energy markets can react to geopolitical shocks.

This map, created by Iswardi Ishak using data from Global Petrol Prices, tracks changes in gasoline costs across 128 countries between February 23 and April 13, 2026, following the outbreak of the Iran conflict.

The sharpest increases are clustered in a handful of regions, particularly across Southeast Asia, where reliance on imported fuel has amplified the impact. If disruptions persist, these price pressures could continue to build, particularly in regions most dependent on imported fuel.

Where Gas Prices Are Rising the Fastest

The countries below have seen the steepest gasoline price increases since late February, with several experiencing rapid double-digit—and even triple-digit—growth.

Southeast Asia accounts for half of the top 10 largest gasoline price increases. Myanmar leads globally with a staggering 101% surge, followed by the Philippines and Malaysia.

Rank	Location	Gasoline Price Changes (Feb 23–Apr 13, 2026)
1	Myanmar	101.1%
2	Philippines	72.6%
3	Malaysia	68.1%
4	Laos	45.6%
5	Zimbabwe	42.9%
6	Pakistan	42.0%
7	United Arab Emirates	40.8%
8	Cambodia	40.4%
9	Nepal	39.5%
10	Panama	38.5%
11	Guatemala	37.7%
12	Tanzania	37.0%
13	Peru	35.6%
14	United States	35.1%
15	Malawi	34.4%
16	New Zealand	34.0%
17	Sri Lanka	33.8%
18	Lebanon	32.6%
19	Lesotho	31.6%
20	Puerto Rico	29.7%
21	Honduras	29.7%
22	Thailand	29.3%
23	Australia	29.3%
24	Canada	28.9%
25	China	28.0%
26	Morocco	26.9%
27	Czech Republic	25.3%
28	Moldova	25.0%
29	Chile	24.7%
30	Bosnia and Herzegovina	24.7%
31	Andorra	23.1%
32	Sierra Leone	22.8%
33	Vietnam	22.6%
34	Lithuania	21.9%
35	Sweden	21.7%
36	Argentina	21.4%
37	Bulgaria	21.3%
38	Paraguay	21.1%
39	Estonia	21.1%
40	El Salvador	20.6%
41	Belgium	20.1%
42	United Kingdom	20.0%
43	France	19.8%
44	Mayotte	18.7%
45	Greece	18.6%
46	Germany	18.6%
47	Jamaica	18.2%
48	Taiwan	18.1%
49	Latvia	17.7%
50	Ukraine	17.5%
51	Ghana	16.8%
52	Georgia	16.7%
53	South Korea	16.5%
54	South Africa	16.5%
55	Netherlands	16.5%
56	Israel	16.4%
57	Iceland	16.4%
58	Aruba	16.1%
59	Luxembourg	16.0%
60	Jordan	15.9%
61	Rwanda	15.8%
62	Liechtenstein	15.8%
63	Cyprus	15.8%
64	Denmark	15.3%
65	Curacao	15.3%
66	Cape Verde	15.2%
67	Fiji	14.9%
68	Croatia	14.9%
69	Egypt	14.3%
70	Guyana	14.1%
71	Austria	13.9%
72	Suriname	13.4%
73	Singapore	13.3%
74	Portugal	13.3%
75	Slovakia	13.0%
76	Slovenia	12.8%
77	Namibia	12.8%
78	Grenada	12.5%
79	Romania	12.3%
80	Switzerland	11.6%
81	Macedonia	11.6%
82	Montenegro	11.5%
83	Qatar	10.8%
84	Mexico	10.1%
85	Finland	9.6%
86	Ecuador	9.6%
87	Cayman Islands	9.6%
88	Turkey	9.5%
89	Hong Kong	9.1%
90	Japan	8.2%
91	Ireland	8.2%
92	Bahrain	7.7%
93	Brazil	7.5%
94	Italy	7.2%
95	Poland	6.8%
96	Serbia	6.7%
97	Hungary	6.4%
98	Uruguay	5.8%
99	Dominican Republic	5.2%
100	Spain	4.6%
101	Indonesia	2.8%
102	Belarus	2.7%
103	Norway	2.1%
104	Russia	1.5%
105	Costa Rica	0.8%
106	Wallis and Futuna Islands	0.7%
107	Tunisia	0.0%
108	Saudi Arabia	0.0%
109	Saint Lucia	0.0%
110	Oman	0.0%
111	Nicaragua	0.0%
112	Mozambique	0.0%
113	Mauritius	0.0%
114	Malta	0.0%
115	Kuwait	0.0%
116	Kenya	0.0%
117	Côte d'Ivoire	0.0%
118	Cameroon	0.0%
119	Burkina Faso	0.0%
120	Bolivia	0.0%
121	Benin	0.0%
122	Bangladesh	0.0%
123	Algeria	0.0%
124	India	-0.1%
125	Colombia	-0.7%
126	Barbados	-1.1%
127	Zambia	-2.6%
128	Madagascar	-3.9%

Several Southeast Asian countries are posting increases above 40%, placing the region at the center of the global price surge.

This region’s vulnerability is closely tied to its reliance on oil imports flowing through the Strait of Hormuz—one of the world’s most critical chokepoints. Disruptions here can quickly ripple across Asian markets.

Compounding the issue, many Southeast Asian economies lack domestic energy buffers, making them especially sensitive to price volatility and shipping risks.

Africa’s Rising Cost Burden

While Southeast Asia dominates the rankings, several African nations—including Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Malawi—are also seeing fuel prices climb more than 30%.

For these economies, higher gasoline prices translate directly into increased transportation and living costs. In regions where incomes are lower and energy imports are essential, these spikes can quickly strain households and businesses alike.

Southern and eastern Africa, in particular, are facing a dual challenge: rising fuel costs and limited infrastructure to cushion supply disruptions.

Energy Shock Spreads to Food Systems

The impact of rising gasoline prices extends well beyond the pump. Energy is a key input in fertilizer production, and higher oil and gas prices are already pushing fertilizer costs upward.

This creates a direct cost shock across global agriculture, raising production expenses and increasing the likelihood of higher food prices in the months ahead, especially in import-dependent economies.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

For a closer look at how Europe is navigating this energy disruption, check out Europe’s Fuel Index: Tracking the Iran War Shock on the Voronoi app.

2026-04-25 13:02:31

Ranked: What Makes Europeans Most Proud of Their Country?

What people take pride in says a lot about how they see their country.

Across Europe, those sources range from culture and history to political systems and personal freedoms. But in some countries, a notable share of people say they feel little pride at all.

This visualization by The European Correspondent, based on Pew Research Center data, breaks down the top three sources of national pride in each country surveyed.

Top Sources of National Pride, by Country

Here’s a closer look at the top three sources of national pride cited by adults in each country:

Country	Top Source	Second Source	Third Source
Sweden	Politics (53%)	Landscape (32%)	People (26%)
Italy	Culture (38%)	Landscape (24%)	People (23%)
Greece	History (37%)	People (31%)	Negative feeling (19%)
Germany	Politics (36%)	Economy (18%)	Freedom (16%)
Spain	People (32%)	Negative feeling (25%)	Culture (16%)
UK	Negative feeling (29%)	People (25%)	Politics (22%)
France	Culture (26%)	People (24%)	Freedom (22%)
Netherlands	Freedom (24%)	Economy (21%)	Politics (21%)
Hungary	Negative feeling (23%)	History (21%)	People (20%)
Poland	Identity (21%)	History (20%)	People (18%)
Türkiye	People (20%)	History (12%)	Identity (10%)

Culture dominates in countries like Italy (38%) and France (26%), while history plays a major role in Greece (37%). Meanwhile, Sweden stands out with 53% citing politics—by far the highest single-category share.

The Core Drivers of Pride Across Europe

In much of Europe, national pride is rooted in shared identity and heritage. Southern European countries like Italy and Greece emphasize culture and history, reflecting their deep historical legacies and global cultural influence.

Elsewhere, people themselves are a key source of pride. Spain (32%) and France (24%) rank highly in this category, suggesting a strong sense of national community and social cohesion.

Where National Pride Is Weakest

Not all sentiment is positive. In the UK, 29% of respondents cite “negative feeling” when describing their country, which is higher than any single positive category. Hungary (23%) and Spain (25%) also show notable shares of dissatisfaction.

This aligns with broader research. According to Pew, individuals who express less pride are often those who do not identify with the governing political parties. In the UK specifically, findings from British Social Attitudes surveys suggest national identity has become more fragmented in recent years, often tied to political divisions.

These dynamics help explain why politics can be both a source of pride—as in Sweden—and frustration, as seen elsewhere.

Politics as a Source of Pride—and Division

Sweden stands out sharply, with 53% of respondents citing politics as a source of pride, which is the highest share of any single category in the dataset.

Germany (36%) follows at a distance. Meanwhile, in other countries, political dissatisfaction helps explain rising negative sentiment, particularly among those who feel disconnected from leadership.