How The Population Of Manhattan Grows And Shrinks Over The Course Of A Day
Just about everyone in New York likes to think of themselves as unique and self-directed, but it turns out we're all more predictable than we might realize. At least, that's what it seems like when you look at an animation showing the extremely consistent growth and contraction of Manhattan's population over a given 24 hours. Using subway turnstile counts from the Metropolitan Transit Authority, data scientist Justin Fung put together a truly enlightening visualization of the flow of humans into and out of Manhattan during an average spring week. Here's what Monday looks like:
The spikes in population in Midtown and the Financial District aren't surprising, but it's pretty amazing to see just how many more people Manhattan holds during the day than at night. Read more about Fung's methodology on Github, and check out the full interactive visualization here. Unsurprisingly, most weekdays look about the same — but those blessed weekends, when people tend to stay in Brooklyn/Queens/New Jersey, are a lot quieter.