Yes, really! An interesting study conducted in 2014 by the Business Insider lists the 11 most normal states in the U.S. This article explains in detail the analysis that went into their ranking, including the indicators that were used for their study. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-average-states-in-america-2014-4#.

Try it Yourself! Your state might not be as normal as Illinois across the board, but maybe your state is normal in one way or another. Try using just one indicator, average population, for example, to compare your state to the rest of the country. This is actually pretty easy to do using ArcGIS Online. Go to www.arcview.com and follow along with this video to see how.

Why is this information important? The recent primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire have put those states under the microscope (zoomed in). However, to really understand the significance of the primary results in those states, it’s important to step back and look at the big picture (zoomed out). Questions might arise as you go from zoomed in to zoomed out. How representative are the populations of these states? How average are these states? How predictive are these primaries? Political pundits, voters and candidates want to know!