County Maps US

Tools Map makers and file viewersUS only

Map with Counties

Two columns of data become a national map of all 3,144 counties. A sample dataset loads first so you can see the result before pasting your own.

How to use it

  1. Paste rows of "county, value". A county can be a name with its state ("Cook, IL") or a 5-digit FIPS code.
  2. Choose the classification (quantile, equal interval or natural breaks), the number of classes and a colour scheme.
  3. Press Draw map. Unmatched rows are listed under the map so you can fix them.
  4. Add a legend title and download the map as SVG or PNG.

How it works

County names are matched after removing suffixes such as County, Parish or Borough, and a state given as an abbreviation or a full name settles names shared by several states. FIPS codes match directly. The sample data is the population estimate this site already publishes for every county.

Breaks are computed in the browser: quantiles by equal counts, equal intervals by equal value ranges, and natural breaks by the Fisher-Jenks algorithm that minimises within-class variance. Boundaries are the 2025 Census cartographic file at 1:500k, generalised for the web, so the map is not for surveying.

Questions

Why is a row unmatched?
Usually the name exists in several states (there are 30 Washington Counties) and no state was given, or it is an independent city or a Connecticut planning region under a different name. Adding the FIPS code always works.
Which classification should I use?
Quantile gives each colour the same number of counties and hides outliers. Equal interval keeps ranges easy to read but can leave classes empty. Natural breaks puts the class edges where the data has gaps, which is usually the most honest picture.
Can I map a rate rather than a total?
Yes. Compute the rate in your spreadsheet first and paste the result. The tool colours whatever value it is given.

All map tools, free and without an account. Location data is processed in your browser and by the open geocoding services named on the sources page; nothing is stored by this site.