All techniques
Framing & context
The missing denominator
More of everything happens in California. More people live there.
a.k.a. raw counts · land doesn’t vote
Raw counts mostly measure population. Big places top every list — sales, crimes, disease — until you divide by the thing the question is actually about.
How to spot it
- A map that is secretly a population map.
- Rankings dominated by the biggest cities or countries.
- “Record numbers” of anything measured against a growing base.
The honest version
Per capita, per user, per 100k — pick the denominator the question implies, and show it.
In the gallery
No exhibits charged with this — yet.
The wall is still being hung. When a chart pulls this trick, it'll be exhibited here.
Browse the gallery