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2026-03-16 20:02:23

Mapped: The Income Needed to Be Middle Class in Each State

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What does it take to be considered middle class in the United States today? The answer varies widely depending on where you live.

This visualization maps the minimum income required to qualify as middle class in each U.S. state, based on the lower bound of middle-income households.

The data comes from SmartAsset, using U.S. Census Bureau median income figures and Pew Research Center’s definition of middle income as two-thirds to double the median household income.

Where the Bar for Middle Class Is Highest

The highest thresholds for middle-class income are concentrated in the Northeast.

Massachusetts ranks first, where households must earn roughly $69.9K to enter the middle-income range. New Jersey and Maryland follow closely behind at $69.5K and $68.6K, respectively. High wages and high living costs in these states push the threshold upward.

Other states with high thresholds include Hawaii, California, and New Hampshire, where the minimum middle-class income exceeds $66K.

The Lowest Thresholds Are Concentrated in the South

Many Southern states require significantly lower incomes to reach middle-class status.

Mississippi ranks last, with a lower bound of just $39.4K, followed by West Virginia at $40.5K and Louisiana at $40.7K. Arkansas and Kentucky also appear near the bottom of the list.

Overall, these lower thresholds largely reflect lower median incomes and lower living costs in the region.

The West Splits Between High-Cost and Mid-Tier States

The Western U.S. shows significant variation in middle-class income thresholds. States like California and Washington rank among the highest, with thresholds above $66K.

Meanwhile, several Mountain West states fall closer to the middle of the ranking. Arizona requires about $54.3K to be considered middle class, while Idaho and Nevada are both around $54K.

Lower-cost states such as New Mexico rank further down the list, with a middle-class threshold of about $45.2K.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out America’s Workforce, By the Numbers on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

2026-03-16 01:41:01

Ranked: Americans’ Favorite News Sites

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Americans get their news online from a wide mix of sources, including legacy newspapers, cable networks, digital platforms, and sports media brands.

This graphic ranks the 20 news websites with the highest positive opinion among Americans, based on YouGov polling from the fourth quarter of 2025. The results highlight a fragmented media landscape, with many well-known outlets clustered closely together in approval ratings.

London Surprises At The Top

Despite surveying American audiences, the top-ranked news website is BBC News, with 51% of respondents expressing a positive opinion.

The BBC is the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster. Founded in 1922, it has grown into one of the largest global news organizations.

The table below ranks the 20 news sites with the highest approval among Americans.

BBC stands out as the only news website to surpass the 50% approval mark. No American outlet achieves the same level of broad popularity among respondents.

One possible explanation is distance from U.S. politics. As an international broadcaster, the BBC may avoid some of the domestic partisan divisions faced by American news organizations.

The Strong Domestic Contenders

Following BBC, 48% of Americans express a positive view of Yahoo News, making it the second-ranked site overall and the top U.S.-based brand.

Although Yahoo was founded in 1996, it only began producing original journalism in 2011. Before that, it primarily functioned as a news aggregator, republishing stories from other outlets—an approach that helped it build a large and familiar audience.

Further down the ranking, sports media brand ESPN (43%) outranks the newspaper of record, The New York Times (41%). The result highlights the broad appeal of sports coverage compared with more politically focused news.

The Cable News Kings Online

The Times is not the only major brand that ranks lower than expected in online popularity.

Well-known television networks such as CNN (39%) and Fox News (38%) have large cable audiences but receive more modest approval ratings among Americans online.

Growing political polarization in the U.S., along with ongoing debates over media bias, may help explain why these outlets generate more divided public opinion.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Ranked: The 20 Most Visited Websites in the World in 2026 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

2026-03-15 22:26:57

Mapped: Where Americans Use Claude AI the Most

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

AI usage is spreading quickly across the U.S., but adoption isn’t happening evenly.

New data from Anthropic reveals which states use its Claude chatbot the most relative to their working-age populations, based on the Anthropic AI Usage Index.

The results show that while large states like California dominate total usage, smaller states and tech hubs often have the highest adoption intensity.

New York And California Lead in Claude Usage

Dive into the data below, collected during the week of Nov. 13–20, 2025.

Each score represents usage relative to what would be expected based on a state’s working-age population.

New York has the highest Anthropic AI Usage Index among U.S. states at 2.68x relative to its working-age population. California, however, accounts for the largest share of total Claude usage at 17.58%, with New York close behind at 15.74%.

This contrast highlights the difference between total usage and usage intensity. While California generates the most activity overall due to its size, New York shows higher adoption relative to its workforce.

Washington, D.C. stands out as the strongest outlier, with an index value of 4.00x. The capital’s high concentration of professionals and government workers likely contributes to this elevated adoption. Neighboring Maryland, by comparison, records a much lower index of 1.05x, though it still ranks near the top nationally.

At the other end of the spectrum, West Virginia has the lowest index at 0.25x, followed by Mississippi (0.29x) and Kentucky (0.38x). These results highlight the uneven pace of AI adoption across the country.

Many of the leading states are concentrated along the West Coast and in the Northeast, regions known for strong technology sectors, major financial institutions, and highly educated workforces.

Massachusetts, for example, ranks second on the index at 1.60x and is home to institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. California, where Anthropic is headquartered, follows at 1.48x and hosts universities such as Stanford, Caltech, UC Berkeley, and UCLA.

Given these ecosystems, it’s unsurprising that common Claude use cases include academic work, web and app development, and business planning.

AI’s True Impacts Are Difficult To Track

Anthropic positioned its data release as a way to better understand AI’s broader economic impact.

JPMorgan attributed 1.1% of total GDP growth in the first half of 2025 to AI-related capital expenditures. While the technology has already contributed to breakthroughs in healthcare and medicine, other analyses paint a more mixed picture.

For example, Goldman found limited near-term boosts to the economy, and debate continues over AI’s long-term effects on productivity and the workforce.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about AI adoption, check out this graphic which charts adoption by country.

2026-03-15 20:06:38

Mapped: Which Countries Use Claude AI the Most

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

New data from Anthropic reveals where its Claude AI chatbot is gaining the most traction worldwide.

While Israel tops the overall ranking, the United States leads among countries with at least 10,000 Claude conversations, scoring 3.69x on the index.

This visualization maps which countries use it the most relative to their working-age population, according to the Anthropic AI Usage Index.

Where Claude Usage Is Highest by Country

Dive into the data below, which was collected across 116 countries in the week of Nov 13-20, 2025.

Each score represents usage relative to what would be expected based on a country’s working-age population.

Rank		Index score
1	Israel	4.90x
2	Singapore	4.19x
3	United States	3.69x
4	Australia	3.27x
5	Switzerland	3.21x
6	Canada	3.15x
7	South Korea	3.12x
8	New Zealand	3.11x
9	Luxembourg	3.07x
10	Estonia	3.05x
11	France	2.66x
12	Malta	2.63x
13	The Netherlands	2.61x
14	United Kingdom	2.59x
15	Norway	2.43x
16	Ireland	2.39x
17	Sweden	2.29x
18	Portugal	2.23x
19	Belgium	2.17x
20	Georgia	2.17x
21	Cyprus	2.15x
22	Denmark	2.10x
23	Lithuania	2.09x
24	Finland	1.95x
25	Latvia	1.92x
26	Austria	1.88x
27	Slovenia	1.85x
28	Germany	1.79x
29	Taiwan	1.77x
30	Spain	1.62x
31	Italy	1.62x
32	United Arab Emirates	1.61x
33	Japan	1.59x
34	Czechia	1.54x
35	Moldova	1.47x
36	Poland	1.41x
37	Qatar	1.39x
38	Bulgaria	1.33x
39	Croatia	1.31x
40	Serbia	1.24x
41	Mauritius	1.24x
42	Greece	1.21x
43	Peru	1.19x
44	Tunisia	1.14x
45	Costa Rica	1.12x
46	Uruguay	1.10x
47	Ukraine	1.09x
48	Slovakia	1.08x
49	North Macedonia	1.08x
50	Ecuador	1.05x
51	Chile	1.04x
52	Hungary	0.98x
53	Romania	0.98x
54	Armenia	0.97x
55	Panama	0.95x
56	Trinidad and Tobago	0.93x
57	Puerto Rico	0.92x
58	Colombia	0.88x
59	Bahrain	0.85x
60	Sri Lanka	0.82x
61	Lebanon	0.78x
62	Morocco	0.76x
63	Argentina	0.75x
64	Dominican Republic	0.74x
65	Bolivia	0.71x
66	Brazil	0.70x
67	Albania	0.68x
68	Malaysia	0.66x
69	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.60x
70	Thailand	0.59x
71	Jamaica	0.56x
72	Turkey	0.56x
73	Vietnam	0.56x
74	Kazakhstan	0.56x
75	Indonesia	0.48x
76	Philippines	0.48x
77	Paraguay	0.47x
78	El Salvador	0.47x
79	Saudi Arabia	0.45x
80	Mexico	0.44x
81	Iraq	0.43x
82	Kenya	0.43x
83	South Africa	0.38x
84	Jordan	0.37x
85	Kuwait	0.37x
86	Kyrgyzstan	0.35x
87	Oman	0.35x
88	Algeria	0.34x
89	Palestinian Territory	0.32x
90	Nepal	0.32x
91	Rwanda	0.30x
92	Azerbaijan	0.29x
93	Egypt	0.28x
94	Ghana	0.27x
95	Senegal	0.27x
96	Guatemala	0.26x
97	Benin	0.25x
98	Cameroon	0.23x
99	Ivory Coast	0.23x
100	Pakistan	0.22x
101	India	0.22x
102	Nigeria	0.22x
103	Honduras	0.21x
104	Laos	0.20x
105	Cambodia	0.19x
106	Togo	0.17x
107	Zimbabwe	0.15x
108	Uzbekistan	0.13x
109	Madagascar	0.13x
110	Zambia	0.11x
111	Burkina Faso	0.10x
112	Bangladesh	0.09x
113	Uganda	0.09x
114	Mozambique	0.07x
115	Angola	0.05x
116	Tanzania	0.03x

Israel topped the Anthropic AI Usage Index at 4.9x, putting it well ahead of other countries. Israel has been labeled the “Start-up Nation” since a book of the same name charted its rapid growth and technological innovation.

Singapore has the second-highest uptake at 4.19x. The small city-state also performed well on last year’s Global Innovation Index, which ranks countries on research and entrepreneurship.

Because the index measures usage relative to workforce size, smaller tech-driven economies can rank highly even if their overall user base is smaller.

However, among countries with at least 10,000 conversations, the United States leads at 3.69x. It also dominates in share of actual usage, though raw usage numbers don’t necessarily equate to broad penetration, given that countries with larger populations would naturally rank higher.

Brazil ranks among the largest users of Claude in raw terms, but its score drops to 0.7x when adjusted for workforce size, showing how population size can inflate raw usage totals.

Asia fares well overall, as South Korea ranks among the top adopters per capita at 3.12x. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand occupy other top spots at 3.27x, 3.15x, and 3.11x respectively.

Most of the highest-ranking countries are in North America, Europe, Oceania, and parts of East Asia.

Malta and Georgia also made the top 20, with scores of 2.8x and 2.17x. Malta consistently punches above its weight as a European startup hub, despite being a tiny island in the Mediterranean, while efforts are underway to institutionalize AI use in Georgia.

At the bottom of the index were Tanzania and Angola, at 0.03x and 0.05x respectively.

Some smaller countries were not included due to an insufficient number of conversations over the observation period.

Uses For AI Vary

Claude usage also varies depending on economic conditions. In lower-income countries, the chatbot is commonly used for homework help and programming tasks, while wealthier countries show a broader mix of professional uses.

The dynamic could also reflect the ages of those using chatbots in different countries. In lower-income areas, there may be higher uptake among students.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about how AI, check out this graphic which charts the rise of AI chatbots.

2026-03-15 02:13:43

Ranked: The World’s Top Arms Exporters

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.

The global arms trade is heavily concentrated among a handful of countries, with the United States far ahead of every other supplier. From 2021 and 2025, the U.S. accounted for 42% of global arms exports, more than four times the share of the next-largest exporter.

This visualization, created by Aneesh Anand using data from the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, shows the share of global arms exports by country from 2021–2025.

Here are the world’s largest arms exporters based on SIPRI data for 2021–2025.

The U.S. stands far ahead of all competitors, accounting for roughly 42% of global arms exports. France, Russia, China, and Germany form a distant second tier. Meanwhile, emerging suppliers like South Korea are rapidly expanding their global footprint.

Why the U.S. Dominates Global Arms Exports

The United States has long been the world’s largest arms exporter, but its dominance has expanded in recent years.

Several factors help explain this lead:

• Technological superiority in advanced systems such as fighter jets, missile defense, and surveillance technologies
• Large-scale defense production capacity supported by massive domestic military spending
• Extensive alliance networks, including NATO partners and security agreements across Asia and the Middle East

As geopolitical tensions rise, many countries are turning to the U.S. for advanced weapons systems. European demand in particular has surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, contributing to a nearly 10% increase in global arms transfers.

These exports are also closely tied to broader geopolitical influence, reinforcing the U.S. position as a central supplier to allied nations.

Germany Overtakes China in Arms Exports

One notable shift in the rankings is Germany overtaking China as the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter. Germany now accounts for roughly 6% of global exports, slightly ahead of China. The shift reflects increased German defense manufacturing and growing demand for European-made military equipment.

European arms suppliers have benefited from heightened security concerns on the continent, which has accelerated procurement across NATO and neighboring states.

China, meanwhile, remains a significant exporter but tends to sell more regionally, particularly to countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

South Korea’s Rapid Rise as an Arms Supplier

One of the fastest-rising players in the global arms market is South Korea.

With roughly 3% of global arms exports, the country has rapidly expanded its presence by focusing on competitive pricing, fast production timelines, and modern weapons systems. South Korean firms have secured major deals for tanks, artillery systems, and fighter jets, particularly in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

The country has made defense exports a strategic national priority, aiming to become one of the world’s top arms exporters in the coming decades.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Interested in exploring the companies behind global defense spending? Check out this visualization on the largest defense contractors by market cap, showing the biggest players shaping the global arms industry today.

2026-03-15 00:53:04

The 50 Countries With the Most Agricultural Land

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Agricultural land spans more than 18 million square miles worldwide, forming the foundation of global food production.

This graphic ranks the top 50 countries by agricultural land area, using the most recent FAO data compiled by the World Bank. China leads the world by a wide margin, followed by the United States and Australia.

The ranking highlights where the world’s largest agricultural footprints are located, spanning major producers across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Why China Has the World’s Most Agricultural Land

At 2 million square miles, China has more agricultural land than any other country worldwide. Roughly a fifth of the national population works in agriculture, and China today is the world’s largest producer and consumer of agricultural goods.

The data table below features all of the world’s countries and their total square mileage of agricultural land:

Rank	Country Name	Ag land (sq. mi)
1	China	2,009,326
2	United States	1,627,576
3	Australia	1,402,492
4	Brazil	914,131
5	Russian Federation	832,826
6	Kazakhstan	827,284
7	India	689,466
8	Saudi Arabia	670,418
9	Argentina	448,405
10	Sudan	435,002
11	Mongolia	414,933
12	Mexico	380,486
13	South Africa	371,975
14	Nigeria	267,948
15	Canada	219,596
16	Indonesia	212,828
17	Chad	194,353
18	Iran, Islamic Rep.	181,727
19	Niger	179,918
20	Angola	177,850
21	Somalia, Fed. Rep.	170,384
22	Mali	167,103
23	Mozambique	160,280
24	Algeria	159,633
25	Ukraine	159,503
26	Madagascar	157,896
27	Colombia	156,306
28	Mauritania	153,321
29	Turkmenistan	152,812
30	Tanzania	152,592
31	Bolivia	149,867
32	Namibia	149,854
33	Turkiye	148,989
34	Ethiopia	148,483
35	Afghanistan	147,167
36	Pakistan	138,977
37	Congo, Dem. Rep.	135,505
38	Morocco	115,013
39	Kenya	111,076
40	South Sudan	109,449
41	France	109,256
42	Cote d'Ivoire	106,175
43	Botswana	99,854
44	Uzbekistan	98,773
45	Spain	95,648
46	Peru	94,153
47	Zambia	92,043
48	Yemen, Rep.	90,549
49	Thailand	86,394
50	Venezuela, RB	83,012
51	Paraguay	82,730
52	Guinea	69,475
53	United Kingdom	65,674
54	Germany	64,039
55	Zimbabwe	62,422
56	Libya	59,267
57	Burkina Faso	56,413
58	Poland	56,294
59	Uganda	55,657
60	Uruguay	54,976
61	Syrian Arab Republic	52,533
62	Italy	50,531
63	Myanmar	50,183
64	Philippines	49,122
65	Romania	49,093
66	Ghana	48,663
67	Viet Nam	47,456
68	Chile	41,303
69	Congo, Rep.	41,125
70	Kyrgyz Republic	39,996
71	Cameroon	38,212
72	New Zealand	37,494
73	Tunisia	37,454
74	Senegal	36,722
75	Iraq	36,592
76	Bangladesh	36,290
77	Malaysia	33,093
78	Belarus	31,019
79	Eritrea	29,313
80	Cuba	24,714
81	Cambodia	23,762
82	Malawi	23,359
83	Central African Republic	21,887
84	Greece	20,742
85	Ecuador	20,656
86	Nicaragua	19,656
87	Hungary	19,626
88	Bulgaria	19,317
89	Azerbaijan	18,454
90	Benin	18,211
91	Guatemala	17,807
92	Japan	17,788
93	Ireland	16,174
94	Egypt, Arab Rep.	15,668
95	Portugal	15,328
96	Sierra Leone	15,247
97	Tajikistan	14,976
98	Togo	14,749
99	Nepal	14,456
100	Honduras	13,807
101	Czechia	13,646
102	Serbia	13,112
103	Sri Lanka	11,610
104	Sweden	11,514
105	Lithuania	11,093
106	Dominican Republic	10,301
107	Denmark	10,120
108	Austria	10,028
109	Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	10,021
110	Moldova	9,421
111	Georgia	9,158
112	Lesotho	9,115
113	Lao PDR	8,831
114	Finland	8,734
115	Panama	8,456
116	Burundi	8,317
117	Gabon	8,314
118	Latvia	7,610
119	Liberia	7,425
120	Rwanda	7,271
121	Slovak Republic	7,046
122	Netherlands	6,961
123	Haiti	6,931
124	Djibouti	6,579
125	Costa Rica	6,534
126	Armenia	6,380
127	Iceland	6,324
128	Korea, Rep.	6,054
129	Switzerland	5,765
130	Croatia	5,737
131	Oman	5,682
132	Papua New Guinea	5,425
133	Belgium	5,225
134	North Macedonia	4,830
135	El Salvador	4,617
136	Eswatini	4,614
137	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,297
138	Albania	4,033
139	Jordan	3,954
140	Estonia	3,815
141	Norway	3,792
142	Guinea-Bissau	3,245
143	Guyana	2,780
144	Lebanon	2,603
145	Gambia, The	2,448
146	Slovenia	2,360
147	Israel	2,072
148	Bhutan	2,035
149	Jamaica	1,610
150	United Arab Emirates	1,512
151	West Bank and Gaza	1,510
152	Timor-Leste	1,318
153	Fiji	1,203
154	Montenegro	1,017
155	Greenland	939
156	Vanuatu	722
157	New Caledonia	711
158	Belize	703
159	Puerto Rico (US)	652
160	Kuwait	579
161	Comoros	514
162	Luxembourg	514
163	Cyprus	498
164	Solomon Islands	422
165	Equatorial Guinea	404
166	Faroe Islands	371
167	Mauritius	332
168	Cabo Verde	305
169	Qatar	286
170	Suriname	276
171	Trinidad and Tobago	208
172	Samoa	189
173	Sao Tome and Principe	166
174	Isle of Man	152
175	Tonga	135
176	Kiribati	131
177	French Polynesia	116
178	Dominica	97
179	Andorra	72
180	Guam	62
181	Brunei Darussalam	52
182	Bahamas, The	50
183	Barbados	39
184	St. Lucia	38
185	Antigua and Barbuda	35
186	Malta	32
187	Bahrain	31
188	Grenada	31
189	Marshall Islands	27
190	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	27
191	British Virgin Islands	27
192	St. Kitts and Nevis	23
193	Maldives	23
194	Liechtenstein	20
195	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	19
196	Palau	17
197	Hong Kong SAR, China	15
198	Virgin Islands (U.S.)	13
199	American Samoa	11
200	Cayman Islands	10
201	San Marino	9
202	Aruba	8
203	Tuvalu	7
204	Seychelles	6
205	Turks and Caicos Islands	4
206	Singapore	3
207	Northern Mariana Islands	2
208	Nauru	2
209	Bermuda	1

China even has more agricultural land than larger countries like Russia (833,000 sq. mi) and Canada (220,000) owing to those countries’ vast frozen and tundra geographies.

However, climate change is likely to change the landscape of global agriculture, as new northern regions become more hospitable for agriculture.

The Top Agricultural Players

The United States (1.6 million), Australia (1.4 million), and Brazil (914,000) round out the top five countries worldwide. Each of these countries specializes in different crops.

For example, the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of corn, while Brazil is the top grower of both soybeans and sugarcane.

Meanwhile, Australia has overcome its mostly arid geography to become a major wheat and cereals grower, rivaling major producers like India (689,000) and Ukraine (160,000).

Africa’s Growing Desert Problem

African countries make up nearly half of the top 50 countries worldwide by square mileage of agricultural land area. They’re led by larger countries like Sudan (435,000), South Africa (372,000), and Nigeria (268,000).

As with peers in Eurasia and the Americas, African agriculture is increasingly facing challenges from climate change.

In particular, the growing desertification problem is reducing countries’ agricultural land, especially in the Sahel region, as temperatures rise and soil becomes less fertile for growing crops. Over-farming and over-grazing are exacerbating regional soil erosion and deepening desertification.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Which Economies Have the Largest Ecological Footprints? on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.